PokerStars January 09 Newsletter - Poker Tours, Team PS Pro

[FISO Gambler]

Qualify NOW for the biggest weekly online tournaments anywhere
While some people spend their Sundays lazing around the house doing as little as possible, PokerStars players are battling to claim their share of millions of dollars in cash prizes. The action gets underway every Sunday at 12:45 ET when the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up guarantees a minimum $750,000 prize pool. At 16:30 ET, the action gets really serious when the PokerStars Sunday Million No Limit Hold'em tournament offers a weekly $1.5 million guaranteed prize pool. First place prize money is close to $200,000, and sometimes more! Take your shot at either of these tournaments by winning a seat through our regular satellites running all week long, which start from as little as $3.33 or 400 FPPs. Go to the Tourney > Satellite tab in your PokerStars lobby to play.

If you prefer, you can buy-in directly for just $215 to also have the chance at a huge payday from the biggest weekly tournament schedule on the planet. There are many other $215 tournaments in various games throughout the weekend; you can find them all under Tourney > Special in the PokerStars lobby.



World Record WeekWorld Record Week on PokerStars
PokerStars bid farewell to 2008 in record breaking style thanks to all our players! With your help, we were able to successfully create a new Guinness World Record for the ‘Largest Online Poker Tournament’ EVER! For the 35,000 players who came together to be a part of something special, we hope that you had a great time playing poker and breaking a record! Eventually it was ‘stan34powa’ who overcame this huge field to win the top prize of $30,000. Along with this record breaking tournament, we also had 10,000 player Sit & Go’s and Sunday Majors with raised guarantees. The Sunday Warm-Up was given a $1 million guarantee while the Sunday Million had its guarantee raised to $2.5 million.

Congratulations again to everyone who took part of the world's single biggest-ever tournament - you are all record breakers!



APPT» PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Review
The EPT welcomed in 2009 by transferring the action to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure (PCA). A record field of 1,347 players produced a massive $12,674,000 prize pool, creating the richest tournament in the world outside of the World Series in Las Vegas. It was Canadian PokerStars qualifier Poorya Nazari who was able to maintain his focus and claim a first place finish in the Main Event, collecting a life changing $3 million in prize money.

» $25k High Roller Event
Elsewhere at the event, Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier had yet more success in the tropical paradise by securing his second victory at the event. A year after winning the PCA Main Event worth $2 million, ElkY triumphed once again in the Bahamas with victory in the $25K High Rollers event, pocketing $433,500 in prize money.

» Side Events
The success for PokerStars players didn’t end there. Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan also got in on the action by winning the $2,000 side event. Khan dominated the final table to take first place and the $200,000 in winnings. Not to be outdone, Peter Eastgate proved his really is a rising star of poker by winning a $5,000 side event. Fresh from his World Series Main Event win worth $9.1 million, this boosted the 22 year olds bank balance by a further $343,000!

» Battle Boris in the Bahamas
The PCA also saw former tennis champion Boris Becker playing heads-up against the winners of the Battle Boris promotion for a seat in the main event. The six winners lined up one-by-one to take a shot at defeating the PokerStars ambassador, but Boris proved he was more than up to the task. Only the first player, Michel Dion, would get past Boris to secure a seat in the Main Event. After an opening loss, the tennis legend found his rhythm and stood firm to defeat the other five contenders in a row!



The PokerStars family expands
Team PokerStars Pro is pleased to welcome two new members to the Team as the PokerStars family continues to grow. Two of the PokerStars Million Dollar Men have recently taken the next step in their poker careers only months after both secured final table finishes at the World Series Main Event. Dennis Phillips is a player from Missouri who has made two final table finishes on the World Series Circuit side events before achieving a third place finish at the Main Event final table in 2008, worth $4.5 million. Ylon Schwartz is a New Yorker with 11 World Series cashes to his credit in addition to his fourth place finish at the 2008 Main Event worth $3.77 million.

We are also happy to announce that Jason Alexander, better known to many as George Costanza from “Seinfeld”, has joined the PokerStars family as a ‘Friend of PokerStars’. As a keen poker enthusiast, this new role will see Jason acting as an official ambassador for the site, representing PokerStars by playing in live tournaments and online under the alias ‘J.Alexander’.

As Team PokerStars Pro is continually looking to add the best players around to this elite team, make sure you keep an eye out for news of future signings.



Tune in to PokerStars.tv
To keep up on the latest action from throughout the world of poker, PokerStars.tv brings you so close to the action you could almost touch the felt! PokerStars.tv provides you with full access to shows such as episodes of EPT Season 4, episodes from APPT Season 1 and official Team PokerStars Pro biography videos. PokerStars.tv also offers unprecedented access to regular live webcasts and video blogs from all the biggest poker tours.

EPT Monte Carlo
EPT Monte Carlo approaches
The conclusion to Season 5 of Europe’s biggest poker tour is on the horizon. On April 28, EPT Monte Carlo will get underway at one of the most glamorous casinos in the world to wrap up another successful season.

Last year’s EPT Grand Final saw the poker world descend on Monte Carlo in search of victory and millions of Euros in prize money. A record 842 players produced an €8.4 million prize pool to make it the richest poker tournament in Europe. As the EPT prepares to return, this year’s event is all set to repeat the success of the Season 4 finale.

Now we’re giving you the chance to experience everything Monte Carlo has to offer by winning an $18,800 package to the upcoming EPT event. This will include your tournament buy-in, luxury accommodation, and $1,000 towards expenses to ensure you receive the full PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo experience. Qualifiers are running NOW starting from $2.22 or 111 FPP, and you can find them under the Events > EPT tab.

Upcoming PokerStars Events

» European Poker Tour (EPT)
As the EPT continues at full pace towards its Grand Final in Monte Carlo, there are still three stops along the road, all promising some serious poker action. The tour will stop next in Denmark on February 17 for EPT Copenhagen. Qualifying for this event is already open, starting from $2.22 or 111 FPP under the Events > EPT tab. EPT Dortmund and EPT San Remo are next on the horizon before moving to the Grand Final where players will battle for one last big prize pool to cap off Season 5

» Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT)
For those looking to escape to warmer climates, the LAPT is heading to Uruguay for the next stop at LAPT Punta del Este in March. To win your seat, satellites are running now starting from $0.25 or 250 FPPs. As the tour prepares to return to the venue of the season 1 finale, the action inside the casino is once again set to be as hot as the 90 degree summer temperatures outside.

New promotions coming to a PokerStars lobby near you!
We’re at it again! PokerStars has an exciting line of promotions that will be coming your way very soon. Just one of our upcoming events will be the PokerStars All Star Weekend where a host of Team PokerStars Pro players will take on the rest of the PokerStars community in a series of Heads-Up matches. We’re also rapidly heading towards dealing our 25 Billionth Hand, marking a huge milestone for PokerStars. For more information on this and all our upcoming promotions, look out for regular news updates which will be released soon.

EPT and APPT Winners
Away from the Bahamas, EPT Prague produced the tour’s first ever Italian winner when Salvatore Bonavena emerged victorious to take home €774,000. Season 2 of the APPT signed off in style at the glittering APPT Sydney Season 2 Grand Final where local player Martin Rowe claimed victory and AUD $1 million first prize! For more on this event, see the PokerStars Blog.

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you to everyone who took part.

Regards,

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu
World Champion
Team PokerStars Pro