Over $10 million in guarantees
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, PokerStars has announced a special tournament series, The Big 20 Rewind. Running November 14 through December 4, the Big 20 Rewind features – you guessed it – 20 tournaments. Each event represents an “iconic moment” in the online poker room’s history.
PokerStars is guaranteeing $5.5 million across the 20 tourneys, plus other massive prizes like an electric car, an “around the world” trip, fancy watches, and big buy-in tournament entries. Every tournament will focus on one of the year’s of PokerStars’ existence. The entire schedule is yet to be revealed, but the poker room has published some of the highlights:
2001 – Year of PokerStars – $11 buy-in with $100,000 guaranteed
2006 – Year of the Sunday Million – $215 buy-in with $1,000,000 guaranteed
2014 – Year of Spin & Go – $10 buy-in with $150,000 guaranteed
2018 – Year of the Platinum Pass – $5 buy-in with $50,000 guaranteed
2019 – Year of the PSPC – $25 buy-in with $150,000 guaranteed
“We kickstarted our 20th Anniversary with the announcement of our new and improved Rewards program,” said Severin Rasset, managing director of poker at PokerStars. “Now we’d like to thank the PokerStars community with a huge celebratory series, with big guarantees and winning moments. The past 20 years have been an incredible journey, and each tournament has been designed to look back at those special moments and reward our community with some unforgettable prizes. We hope our players enjoy the celebration, and we’re looking forward to the next 20 years with them.”
But wait, there’s more. After the 20 events, there is another, gigantic tournament still to be played. On December 5 is The Big 20 Finale, a $55 buy-in tournament with a $5 million guaranteed prize pool.
PokerStars Rewards
The “new and improved” PokerStars Rewards system that Severin Rasset referenced was unveiled about a month ago. It’s primary feature is improved transparency; players should have no confusion or doubt about exactly where they are in their progression and what they need to do to keep advancing.
The six chest levels are Blue, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, and Black; each has a fixed value, so while the exact rewards in each might vary, there is no guessing about their ultimate value.
PokerStars says players can receive up to 65% in total rewards from the revamped program. 25% of that comes from the base, or “core” program, while the rest is possible to earn by achieving the Monthly Challenges.
All poker games allow players to earn rewards, as do other Stars products, like sports betting and casino games.
PokerStars initially launched its play money games on September 11, 2001. It followed that up three months later, on December 12, with real money games for the first time.
