ONCHAN, Isle of Man,
May 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Sunday tournaments blew away
$28 million overall guarantee
PokerStars, an Amaya, Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand, hit a
new online poker tournament high yesterday when it achieved
record-breaking total prize pools of more than $39 million in a single day, smashing the
guarantee of $28 million by almost 40
per cent. The total prize pools made it the biggest day the online
poker industry has ever seen.
(Photo:
http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/514673/SCOOP_2017.jpg )
The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) events yesterday
delivered more than $29.5 million in
prize pools. The High Stake Main Event smashed its $5 million guarantee to reach a $6,930,000 prize pool, meaning that there is more
than $1.3 million set aside for
1st place and a massive $960,000 for the runner up when the tournament
concludes tomorrow.
"Thank you to all our players who participated in our
tournaments making it possible for us to break these records," said
Severin Rasset, Director of Poker
Innovations and Operations at PokerStars. "Being able to offer the
biggest day in the online poker history is a victory for everyone
in poker and we're delighted that so many of our players joined us
to make this a reality. We are proud to have been able to provide
so many winning moments to so many of our players and we're looking
forward to providing even more for a long time to come."
Day 2 of the SCOOP Main Event will continue at 14:00 ET today. Team PokerStars Pros Elky and
Andre Akkari are still in the
running in the High Stakes edition, sitting in 46th and
80th places respectively with 80 places paid. Other
players in contention include Phil 'MrSweets28' Galfond, Ole
'wizowizo' and Timothy 'Tim0thee' Adams. In the Medium Stakes
event, Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari is in second place with
Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree in 121st and PokerStars
Team Online Jaime Staples in 181st place, whilst
Canadian Ben 'Ben86' Tollerene, currently in eighth place.
Another millionaire is also expected in the High Stakes Event 01
Phase 2 tournament, which has $1
million set aside for the winner and $700,000 for second place. Team PokerStars Pro
Igor Kurganov finished in 52nd place for $10,012. The tournament resumes today at
12:30 ET.
Yesterday's total prize pool of $39
million surpasses the previous biggest day for online
tournament poker payouts - May 22,
2016 - which paid out $35
million. In NJSCOOP, the High Stakes Main Event also
exceeded its $200,000 guaranteed,
hitting a prize pool of $204,000
while the biggest non-SCOOP tournament was the Super-Sized Sunday's
$600,000 prize pool.
About PokerStars
PokerStars operates the world's most popular online poker sites,
serving the global poker community. Since it launched in 2001,
PokerStars has become the first choice of players all over the
world, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and with the
best online security. More than 165 billion hands have been dealt
on PokerStars, which is more than any other site.
PokerStars is the flagship brand of Rational Group, which is
ultimately owned by Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) and owns
gaming and related businesses and brands, including PokerStars,
PokerStars Casino, BetStars, Full Tilt, StarsDraft, and the
PokerStars Championship, the PokerStars Festival and the PokerStars
MEGASTACK live poker tour brands (incorporating the European Poker
Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour and
the Asia Pacific Poker Tour). PokerStars is the world's most
licensed online gaming brand, holding licenses or related operating
approvals in 17 jurisdictions. PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu
operate globally under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively.
Play Responsibly! For more information on responsible
gaming please visit our website at
http://www.pokerstars.com/about/responsible-gaming/
For further information, please contact:
press@pokerstars.com