While many may be prepping for the upcoming holiday season, the folks at the PokerStars Championships are getting things prepared for 2018. That’s because pretty much as soon as the hangovers wear off after New Year’s Eve, the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will begin. Now we know the schedule for what has become one of the premiere events on the tournament poker calendar.
It seems that the authorities at the PokerStars Championships have learned their lessons from last year’s experiments. Instead of lopping the PCA in with the PokerStars Championships (last year’s tournament schedule was called the PokerStars Championships Bahamas), the original moniker has been returned while keeping it on the roster of events for the PokerStars Championships. There have been some other changes also that should be more “player friendly” than the 2017 version was.
First up is the Championship Event of the tournament schedule. Despite dropping the buy in for the tournament down to $5000, player numbers plummeted for the 2017 version of the tournament (in 2016, 928 players turned out for the PCA Championship Event; in 2017, only 738 runners came to the line). For 2018, the PCA is going “back to the future” in reinstating the $10,000 buy in for the Championship Event. By getting back to the $10K entry fee, the PokerStars Championship staff is looking to rebuild the prestige of the event.
Second, the 2017 PokerStars Championships Bahamas was widely panned because of the number of events that were run. More than 90 official events were a part of the schedule, something that the players thought was a money grab by the PokerStars Championships staff and the owner of the tour, Amaya Gaming (now The Stars Group). For 2018, that number has been pared down tremendously.
Kicking off the festivities on January 6, the $100,000 Super High Roller event will be the first to hit the felt. By January 14, 31 tournaments will have taken place for the 2018 roster of events, cutting the schedule from 2017 by two-thirds in an emphasis of “quality over quantity.” The shortened schedule will not only be easier on the players’ wallets, but it will also allow for other action outside of the PCA schedule itself.
If a player isn’t up for the tournaments on the official schedule, PokerStars Championships officials will be operating a host of sit-and-go events with buy ins starting at $120. There will also be cash games running 24/7, with stakes starting out at $1/$2 and going up to $200/$400. Pretty much any discipline of poker – be it No Limit Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hold’em, Seven Card Stud or even Chinese poker. The Texas and Omaha Hold’em tables will also have a High Hand bonus paid out hourly.
Finally, there is the locale of the tournament. The Atlantis Paradise Island Resort has been the home of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure since its inception and 2018 will be no different. The amenities of the hotel – plus the player adventures that PokerStars is looking to set up, including exclusive player parties – are world renown and should give those that are looking to soothe a beating at the tables with some of the sun of the Caribbean – hey, who doesn’t like being in the sun when winter has its icy grip on half the planet?
Players outside of the States of America can participate in online qualifiers at PokerStars, where packages worth $14,855 will be earned. Those packages include the $10K seat to the tournament, hotel accommodations, $1000 cash (presumably for travel expenses) and more benefits. Last month, PokerStars NJ offered to players in the state of New Jersey a satellite for the PCA, but it isn’t known if there will be any more run on the regulated site of PokerStars in the U. S.
For more information on the official schedule for the 2018 PCA, be sure to visit PokerStars for all the details. With some of the revisions done by PokerStars Championships officials, the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure may return the event to its once lofty perch as one of the preeminent tournaments of the year.