One of the unique things about PokerStars is that they are consistently looking to innovate for the poker playing clientele. Come this April, one of the longest-lived online poker operations in the world will make its first foray into the live poker world in the U.S. The inaugural PokerStars Open Series will kick off the PokerStars Open Philadelphia in April with a weeklong slate of tournaments in one of the Keystone State’s best casinos.
“No Better Place…Than in Philly”
The PokerStars Open Philadelphia will be held at Live! Casino & Hotel in the City of Brotherly Love starting on April 21. PokerStars isn’t messing around with menial stakes, either; there are five featured events, with the Main Event as the biggest of them all for a $1000 buy-in. That Main Event will also feature a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool, which should bring out the East Coast poker professionals in droves, and will run from April 23-27.
Steve Priess, the Vice President of North American operations for PokerStars, stated, “We’re super excited to bring the PokerStars Open to Philadelphia, a city that knows what it means to compete, fight, and never give up. Poker is about heart, strategy, and knowing when to take your shot, and there’s no better place to showcase that spirit than in Philly.”
Live! Casino is ready for action too. “We’re so excited to be the first North American host location for this year’s PokerStars Open live series,” said Anne Tran, Director of Poker at Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia. “Our Poker Room and all our dedicated team members are ready to welcome poker enthusiasts from across the region to deliver an unforgettable experience during this world-class tournament.”
Along with the Main Event, the PokerStars Open Philadelphia will have a High Roller event ($2000 buy-in) that will start the day before the Main. The PokerStars Cup will be up for grabs in a $400 buy-in tournament that has a $40,000 guaranteed prize pool. Women’s tournaments have become a “must-have” for a tournament schedule, and the PokerStars Open Philadelphia features a $300 buy-in tournament that will have a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool.
PokerStars Looking to Establish Live Presence in U.S.
To say that PokerStars has had a bit of a tumultuous time in establishing a live tournament presence in the U.S. is understating the issue. Of course, the company was the longtime sponsor behind the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for fifteen years (the PCA has not been contested since 2023). Outside of that tournament, however, PokerStars has been stymied by first the crackdown on online poker (“Black Friday”) and attempts to get into the U.S. market from that action.
Right before “Black Friday” hit in 2011, PokerStars had held seven tournaments that were a part of the NAPT (in 2010) and was off to a good start with four in 2011. When “Black Friday” struck, PokerStars immediately ceased operations in the U.S. and has been struggling to get back in the mix ever since. Changes to state regulations regarding online poker have resulted in PokerStars being able to restart their online poker operations and, as a result, they have been able to begin their live poker operations again.
The first of the reborn NAPT came in Las Vegas in 2023, with a trio of tournaments won by a trio of professionals (Sami Bechahed (Main Event champion), Samuel Laskowitz (High Roller), and Jesse Lonis (Super High Roller)). 2024 would see two more festivals added alongside the Las Vegas stop, with one held at the Maryland State Poker Championship and the other at the Pennsylvania State Poker Championship. PokerStars will look to qualify players on the cheap for the tournament.
The states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey) and the province (Ontario, Canada) that feature PokerStars in the regulated online gaming systems will offer satellites to the 2025 PokerStars Open Pennsylvania. These satellites, starting at $10, are already underway in the separate locations and are looking to build a stock of players who will descend on Philly come April 21.
