ONCHAN, Isle of Man – October 6, 2015 – A new record for ‘largest online poker tournament’ was set last night by PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand. A total of 253,698 players – roughly three times the capacity of Twickenham stadium, where the Rugby World Cup Final will take place on October 31 – played in the $0.01 Common Cents Kick-Off tournament.
It beat the previous record of 225,000 players that was set on June 16, 2013 during the PokerStars ‘100 Billion Hands Celebration’ campaign, and shows that poker is still growing in popularity around the world.
The tournament winner on Monday night was ‘DaDumon’ from Austria, who pocketed $10,000 from the $0.01 buy-in after 6hr 38min of turbo tournament action.
With a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and only $2,536.98 in total buy-ins, $97,463.02 was effectively given away to mark the start of Common Cents – a new micro-stakes tournament series from PokerStars. In addition, more than 500 tickets to the Common Cents Main Event tournament were randomly awarded to players during the first hour of last night’s event.
Common Cents continues all week, featuring 13 more tournaments with buy-ins from $0.11 to $0.99 and a further $150,000 in guaranteed prize money. The Main Event takes place on Sunday, October 11 at 15.00 ET. For more information, go to: http://psta.rs/1iLfSUt.
For a PokerStars Blog report of last night’s tournament, check out http://psta.rs/1jLVAef.
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 security online. More than 130 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 separate government licenses in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
PokerStars is the key 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 won recognition as one of the best workplaces in the UK being awarded a top 25 position by the Great Place to Work Institute’s Best Workplaces – Large category rankings. 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).