TWO $1 MILLION TOP PRIZE TOURNAMENTS DURING POKERSTARS $55 MILLION GUARANTEED SPRING CHAMPIONSHIP OF ONLINE POKER SCHEDULE

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – April 6, 2017 – The promise of two $1 million first prizes, an overall series guarantee of $55 million, and a wide range of poker variants to choose from, make the 2017 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) the most exciting, biggest and best ever online poker series at PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand. 

Players will compete for more than $200 million in prize pools on PokerStars when SCOOP events are combined with scheduled tournaments this April and May. From April 30 to May 23, there are 57 SCOOP events scheduled across three stakes. Buy-ins have been reduced to an all-time low of $5.50, $55, and $530 making this the most accessible SCOOP series ever. PokerStars has a whole host of big money tournaments that run every single day of the week. These tournaments promise big guarantees that means players are spoilt for choice, especially on the weekends with a strong Saturday line-up and long-standing signature tournaments such as the Sunday Storm and Sunday Million.

Events 37-H*: on Tuesday May 16 and 41-H: on Wednesday May 17 are the events to watch. Not only do they promise players great value, but with $1 million guaranteed for each winner, it’s the chance to finish the tournament as a real life millionaire.

“Every year, we strive to push the boundaries of our branded series,” said Severin Rasset, Director of Poker Innovation and Operations. “This is a particularly enjoyable time where we have the opportunity to review the structure, the buy-in and integrate the latest and most popular tournament formats. This year, the Series guarantee is $55 million – which is a huge sum of money. We aim to beat a few records, including the total prize pool for a series – but taking into account other signature tournaments over the series period, we actually award closer to $200 million. During SCOOP, we have a tournament for every type of player so give it a try. I guarantee you, will like it.”

PLAYERS’ CHOICE

PokerStars is inviting players to decide on the 2017 Players’ Choice Event by voting for their preferred game variant from four already chosen by Team PokerStars Pro Online members Jamie Staples, Mikhail Shalamov, Randy Lew and Lex Veldhuis.

Players can cast vote their vote on the PokerStars Facebook page from mid-April. 

TEAM PRO SCOOP ACTION

Team PokerStars Pro members have already cleared space in their diaries and will be participating in this year’s SCOOP. Those confirmed are Jason Somerville, Chris Moneymaker, Bertrand ’ElkY‘ Grospellier, Marcin Horecki, Igor Kurganov, Jason Mercier and Fatima Moreira De Melo.

Team PokerStars Online members Felix Schneiders, Jamie Staples, Mikhail Shalamov, Lex Veldhuis, Randy Lew and Adrienne Rowsome will all be streaming the SCOOP events they play; as will Jason Somerville, ElkY and Jason Mercier.

SCOOP SCHEDULE

Satellites to SCOOP 2017 have begun. You can find the full schedule on the PokerStars Blog.

SCOOP 2017 will overlap with PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino® (April 25 - May 5) and PokerStars Festival Chile (May 20-27). Players attending these stellar live events will not miss out on PokerStars’ largest ever online series guarantee because they will be able to participate in SCOOP from these and many other locations.

*SCOOP Events labelled ‘H’ are high stakes, ‘M’ are medium stakes and ‘L’ are low stakes.

For press enquiries, 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 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 operates gaming-related businesses and brands, including PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars, Full Tilt, StarsDraft, and the PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival live poker tour brands (incorporating the European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour). Amaya, through certain subsidiaries, is licensed, approved to offer, or offers under third party licenses or approvals, its products and services in various jurisdictions throughout the world, including in Europe, both within and outside of the European Union, the Americas and elsewhere. In particular, 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.

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