SWEDE WINS WORLD’S BIGGEST-EVER BUY-IN ONLINE POKER TOURNAMENT FOR $1.2 MILLION ON POKERSTARS
'bencb789’ wins first World Championship title; runner-up Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz has another million dollar score
ONCHAN, Isle of Man – September 14, 2016 – Swedish player ‘bencb789’ has won $1,172,360 and his first World Championship of Online Poker title in the richest buy-in event ever held in online poker, the $102,000 Super High-Roller event on PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand. ‘bencb789’ defeated 23 other players to take down the biggest share of the $2.8 million prize pool.
The runner-up was the former World Champion of Online Poker, Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz, who negotiated a deal to receive $1,067,639. Holz burst to prominence in the poker world when he won the Main Event of the 2014 World Championship of Online Poker. Before his World Championship title just two years ago, Holz’s biggest live poker cash was €43,750. Since that title, he has had no less than 18 cashes of at least $100,000, and, including both his World Championship of Online Poker cashes, has cashed a remarkable seven times for at least $1 million.
TWITCH STREAMING SETS NEW RECORDS
Poker fans, players and media tuned in as Jason Mercier broadcasted his play in conjunction with Jason Somerville, giving viewers an unprecedented look into this unique high-stakes event.
His Twitch stream received more than half a million unique viewers, with an average of more than 27,000 viewers, and over 6 million minutes watched. It was the second-most watched poker stream in Twitch’s history hitting a maximum of 33,952 concurrent viewers, and it was the most-watched poker stream on Twitch this year. It was also the most-watched stream on the entire Twitch platform for at least 90 minutes, demonstrating a public appetite for exciting and innovative poker content, put together by PokerStars, Jason Mercier and Jason Somerville.
“It was a fun experience playing on the stream,” said Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier. “I’m a bit disappointed the event didn't go my way, but am grateful to the Run It Up and PokerStars Twitch community for their support.”
BETTING RESULTS
BetStars offered punters the opportunity to back their favourite poker players, with Jason Mercier and Fedor Holz starting as two of the favourites. While Mercier was eliminated twice on Day 1, punters who bet each-way on Fedor Holz picked up a good return.
Going into the final day with six players remaining, we were left with a very tightly bunched field with the Chip Leader favourite ‘salfshb’ in at 3/1 and the outsider of the six ‘lechuckpoker’ at 7/1.
“When the market opened, we took a lot of wagers from sophisticated bettors backing many of the bigger priced selections,” said BetStars Trading Director Ian Marmion. “Many Supernova players realised that with such a relatively small field, getting odds of 40/1 or better offered a lot of value.”
EVENT RESULTS
| Place | User ID | Country | Prize |
| 1 | bencb789 | Sweden | $1,172,360.60 |
| 2 | CrownUpGuy | Austria | $1,067,639.40 |
| 3 | salfshb | United Kingdom | $560,000.00 |
| 4 | philivey2694 | Canada | |
| 5 | lechuckpoker | United Kingdom | |
| 6 | fish2013 | Belarus |
These six players made it to Day 2 of the
event.
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 155 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 or approvals to offer services to players 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, BetStars, PokerStars Casino 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 ultimately owned by Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA).