Player-friendly change
PokerStars has announced a change to its policy governing online satellites to live regional events, designed to provide players with more flexibility. Previously, if a person won a seat in a tournament on a regional tour, like the UKIPT or Eureka Poker Tour, that was it. They couldn’t play in any more satellites. That is not the case anymore.
Stars realized that recreational players often found themselves in a situation in which they would bust out of the tournament for which they won a seat, only to have no ability to re-enter or play in any other tournaments, as they were out of their normal price range.
There was a good reason for the “one and done” policy – PokerStars didn’t want deeper-pocketed pro players continuously competing in satellites and scooping up seats. The poker room wanted more players to have a chance to participate in the live regional events.
Now, PokerStars has adjusted the policy to allow players to win multiple “seat-only” tickets into the live events. That is, subsequent satellite wins after the first award additional, flexible live tournament entries rather than cash.
Doing the math
And frankly, the way it works makes total sense. The first €/£1,100 seat ticket won has to be used in the target event. Tickets won after the first are what PokerStars calls “Player’s Choice” to essentially be mixed and matched how the player chooses. Here are the options, as detailed on the PokerStars blog:
- Re-enter the same €/£1,100 regional event
- Enter another €/£1,100 regional event at a different stop
- Tickets can be combined to enter High Roller events or divided for smaller buy-ins
- Tickets can be exchanged for T-money (e.g. multiple Sunday Million bundles)
The first two options are self-explanatory. As for combining tickets, some examples PokerStars provides are:
- €2,200 High Roller entry = 2 Player’s Choice tickets (2 x €/£1,100).
- €3,000 Mystery Bounty buy-in = 3 Player’s Choice tickets (3 x €/£1,100) + €/£300 T-Money
- €5,300 EPT Main Event buy-in = 5 Player’s Choice tickets (5 x €/£1,100) + €/£200 T-Money
We’re assuming that the latter two examples mean that the player cashes in the required number of €/£1,100 tickets and receives the larger ticket in return plus extra T-Money in “change.”
In the reverse scenario, a £1,100 ticket can be split smaller entries with the remainder paid out as T-money.
If a player has a ticket from a satellite that doesn’t match the exact value of the tournament entry they want, they can pay the extra from their PokerStars account balance (though, looking at the terms and conditions, it looks like the prices must be close to a match).
If Player’s Choice tickets are not used within 12 months, they will convert to online ticket bundles.
