POKERSTARS CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF SPIN & GO’S WITH ANOTHER MILLIONAIRE MADE ON NEW $1 MILLION TOURNAMENTS

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$3 billion in prizes awarded in first year, including six instant millionaires

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – October 21, 2015 –PokerStars player ‘Samara Lúcio’ from Brazil will today be celebrating the first anniversary of Spin & Go’s as a newly-minted millionaire after winning a $1 Million tournament minutes ago on PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand.

At 4:46pm (PokerStars Server Time and Brazil local time; 8:46pm GMT; 10:46pm CET) ‘Samara Lúcio’ won a $5 Spin and Go with a first prize of $1 million. Second place and third place each offered $100,000 prizes, which were won by ‘AA_MaKnO_AA’ (Lithuania, second place) and ‘struchalina’ (Russia, third place).

This $1 Million Spin & Go lasted much longer than any of the previous equivalent events, requiring a relatively lengthy 21 minutes (and 118 hands) before ‘Samara Lúcio’ became a millionaire. This included 36 hands of three-handed play, and a massive 82 hands of heads-up play.

The final hand featured ‘Samara Lúcio’ going all-in pre-flop with Ad Jc, and ‘AA_MaKnO_AA’ calling with Qs Jd. The board ran out [4h 6h Kc Kh Ac], giving ‘Samara Lúcio’ a pair of aces. This was a remarkable heads-up battle, with both players having been repeatedly down 2:1 in chips before repeatedly returning to even in chips until ‘Samara Lúcio’ made the final knock-out blow.

The $1 Million Spin & Go is just one part of the the first birthday celebrations which include:

    • Addition of special new $1 Million Spin & Go tournaments, with $0.50 and $5 buy-ins. The $0.50 buy-in Spin & Go tournaments are the lowest that PokerStars has offered across its global sites.
  • An ongoing change to the top multipliers for all Spin & Go’s, raising the maximum multipler from 3,000 to 10,000 across all Spin & Go buy-in levels.
  • The permanent addition of $100 buy-in Spin & Go tournaments to the PokerStars tournament schedule, with an ongoing $1,000,000 top prize.
  • A special deposit bonus: players need to deposit just USD $10 (CAD $13/€9/£6.50) or more before 23:59 ET on November 1, 2015, using bonus code ‘ANNIVERSARY’, and PokerStars will credit the player’s account with a Spin & Go ticket bundle worth $2.50 in total.
  • Daily Challenges for free $1 Million Spin & Go tickets. They are accessible in the ‘Challenges window’ of the PokerStars desktop client or Mobile app.

Since PokerStars Spin & Go’s launched one year ago, the games have become an incredibly popular, millionaire-making, phenomenon. They are particularly well suited to the increasing number of PokerStars players who want quick and accessible playing experiences while playing on mobile devices.

Team PokerStars Pro Online member, Felix “xflixx” Schneider, particularly enjoys playing Spin & Go’s, and said, “They are short, exciting, and I managed to stay profitable while always having a shot at real big money at any given time. Another cool thing about Spin & Go’s is that I can fire up a set of tournaments at pretty much anytime during the day (even on my iPad late at night) without disturbing my workflow or daily structure too much.”

For further information, please contact: press@pokerstars.com

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 140 billion hands have been dealt on PokerStars, which is more than any other site.

PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate globally under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively. PokerStars also holds local licenses in many jurisdictions, including Italy, France, Estonia, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, United Kingdom, Schleswig-Holstein in Germany, Ireland, Romania and New Jersey in the United States of America.

PokerStars is the flagship brand of Rational Group, which operates gaming-related businesses and brands, including PokerStars, Full Tilt and the European Poker Tour. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Rational Group companies in the UK and Isle of Man was recognised as one of the top 25 best places to work by the Great Place to Work Institute’s Best Workplaces – Large category ranking. Rational Group entities in Costa Rica and Dublin also achieved the same accolade in their respective local rankings in 2014. PokerStars is owned by Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA).

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