PokerStars
PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. [1]
PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker, as well as the 2004 champion, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. Those two now act as spokespeople for the cardroom, as does 2005 World Series of Poker champion Joe Hachem, also a regular player on the site. In March 2007 Poker Room Manager Lee Jones announced his retirement, effective April 1st.[2] His successor has yet to be named.
Launched in September 2001, PokerStars is owned by a Costa Rican company, Rational Enterprises. With its company headquarters on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, PokerStars is also licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission in Canada. Since relocating to the UK Crown dependency, PokerStars has been the subject of financial media speculation regarding a possible IPO or merger with a publicly listed company. Analysts estimated its market value would be approximately $3 billion (US), which would have made the company one of the world's largest privately held gambling companies.[3]
PokerStars overtook PartyPoker as the world's largest online poker room at around the time the U.S. Congress passed the SAFE Port Act. Many sites, including PartyPoker, immediately suspended business with U.S. gamblers, whereas others, including PokerStars, did not.[4] On May 19th 2007, PokerStars dealt their 10,000,000,000th hand.[5]
PokerStars sponsors a stop on the World Poker Tour called the Caribbean Poker Adventure, and also is the principal sponsor of the European Poker Tour. In 2005, eGaming Review named PokerStars.com the "Best Poker Operator of the Year".
PokerStars offers eight varieties of poker games: Texas hold 'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo (8 or Better), Stud, Stud Hi/Lo (8 or Better), Razz, five-card draw, and deuce to seven triple draw. HORSE and HOSE, "mixed games" that rotate through several of the above, are also playable.[6] Players can participate in real money games ranging from the micro limits ($.01/$.02) through the upper limits ($1000/$2000).
The home of the World Championship of Online Poker, the largest online poker tournament series in the world, PokerStars each day has over ten thousand players playing real money ring games, plus thousands more playing real money tournaments or free-play games.[7] During peak operating times, this often adds up to over 100,000 individual players online simultaneously. PokerStars.com's play money players mix with those logging in from PokerStars.net, a free play-only site without real money games. The site also hosts the Sunday Million, a weekly tournament (generally with a $215 buy-in) with a guaranteed million dollar prize pool. On July 8th, 2007, PokerStars debuted a new weekly event, the Sunday Hundred Grand, which attracted the tournament maximum 15,000 players, making it the largest participated-in real-money poker tournament ever. This total surpassed the previous record of 10,894 players who participated in the May 20, 2007 Sunday Million tournament. [8]
PokerStars sponsors several professional players, including Moneymaker, Raymer, Hachem, Bertrand Grospellier, Isabelle Mercier, John Duthie, Katja Thater, Lee Nelson, Luca Pagano, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Vanessa Rousso, Victor Ramdin, Wil Wheaton, Noah Boeken, WSOP bracelet winners Barry Greenstein, Humberto Brenes, William Chen, 1983 WSOP champion Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, and Andre Akkari.[9]
Notes
- ^ Poker 2010
- ^ CardPlayer.com: Update: Lee Jones Writes About Departure
- ^ London Times: Pokerstars plans for $3 billion float
- ^ CardPlayer: PokerStars Will Keep Serving American Customers
- ^ Pokerstarsblog: justine0003 wins PokerStars' Ten Billionth Hand and $100,000
- ^ List of games offered by PokerStars
- ^ Poker Site Scout: Online Poker Traffic Report
- ^ Pokerstarsblog: Sunday Million Results for May 20, 2007
- ^ List of Team Pokerstars members from PokerStars site