When PokerStars came up with the idea of the PokerStars Players’ Championship a lot of discussions pertaining to the event erupted, especially with regards to how big it would be as well as how many people would actually come out and participate in it. Well, as it turns out, the originators of the idea had nothing to worry about but it is likely that even they did not expect the PokerStars Players’ Championship to make history by becoming the richest and biggest-ever $25,000 buy-in poker tournament.
The was a record-shattering 1,039 entries from players who wished to participate in the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) – this generated the largest-ever prize pool for any $25,000 buy-in poker tournament in the world. Only the 2007 World Poker Tour Championships’ 639 entries comes close to the number this tournament recorded. Keeping that in mind, the PSPC will be awarding over $26,455,500 to 181 players as well as a whopping $5.1 million to the ultimate winner of the championship – it is also worth noting that the final table alone will produce up to six millionaires. The winner will be crowned when the tournament comes to an end later this week
“Passion and interest in poker is alive and well in 2019, and this tournament highlights the global excitement for the game,” said Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars Director of Poker Marketing. “Tens of thousands of players participated in a year of unique promotions leading up to the event and that enthusiasm delivered one of the most exciting events in poker history.”
For quite some time it was expected that the $25,000 PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Championship would be a big deal. PokerStars, the globally recognized poker platform behind the event, had committed a total of $9 million into making the event what it was supposed to be. The first $1 million was to be awarded to the first place while the remaining $8 million was given away over the course of the just concluded year in the form of the Platinum Passes to the event.
Star-Studded Attendance
The PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Players’ Championship drew in almost all the biggest poker stars as well as stars from other sectors. This created a mix of players who, under normal ci4rcumstances, would never be found seated beside each other in an event of this level of buy-in. The tables were graced by some of the most highly regarded from both the online and live poker tournaments from all around the globe and they got to compete alongside the more familiar poker names like Patrick Antonius, Phil Hellmuth and Erik Seidel, not to mention PokerStars Ambassadors Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Somerville, Randy Lew, Jennifer Shahade and Lex Veldhuis. Also in attendance were a number of Twitch streamer, poker vloggers as well as a plethora of recreational poker players.
