What’s PokerStars without a COOP? We all knew it was coming, and less than two weeks after PokerStars went live in Michigan, PokerStars confirmed everyone’s expectations, announcing the first Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP). The Wolverine State’s “COOP” will run February 20 through March 8 and will have $1 million in total guaranteed prize… Read more »
Complete details are still to come, but PokerStars has officially launched the Sunday Million 15th Anniversary event. I don’t know what makes me feel older: that I am about to have a high school-aged child or that I was in the poker industry when the first Sunday Million debuted. Though online poker rooms the last… Read more »
After Michigan came online with internet casino gaming earlier this month without any online poker, the internet poker community was hugely disappointed. That disappointment turned to excitement when, in only the company’s second state and in the fifth state overall in the States of America, PokerStars opened for business in Michigan. Sudden And Surprising Move… Read more »
50 is the key number here If there has been any good thing about this year-long pandemic, it is that online poker players have had a wealth of options. Loads of live tournament series have moved online and poker rooms have added even more series to take advantage of the lack of live poker. The… Read more »
All Good Things… It is often said that all good things must come to an end. This is true in many aspects of life, perhaps no more so than in the world of poker. After a 17-year relationship, the 2003 World Series of Poker World Champion Chris Moneymaker and his longtime sponsor, the #1 online… Read more »
As if all of you haven’t been playing enough online poker this year, how about one more gigantic tournament series to close things out? PokerStars has announced the PokerStars Blowout Series, running December 27, 2020 to January 19, 2021, and featuring 268 tournaments. The poker room promises $60 million in guaranteed prize pools the entire… Read more »
After more than half a year closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdown, Atlantic City’s once vaunted poker scene has been cruelly silent. Even since the casinos were reopened in July, the poker rooms have remained closed due to an abundance of caution regarding the virus. That situation will change this week as,… Read more »
Professor Plum in the Conservatory with the chip rack Aside from when I finally gave in and bought an ear and nose trimmer, the time I realized I was getting old was when I played the board game Clue with my family and reacted negatively to the fact that there was a flip side to… Read more »
“Safe and fair experience” The effort to curb predatory behavior in online poker continues, this time with the implementation of cash game Active Waiting Lists at PokerStars. It is essentially what it sounds like: a cash game waiting list which requires you to be actively playing to stay on it. In announcing the new feature,… Read more »
Just had to wait it out After nearly a decade, it appears that online poker’s Black Friday ordeal is finally over. On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg to time served and a $30,100 fine for a single charge of operating an illegal gambling business. My friend Earl Burton… Read more »
Next week the founder of the largest online poker site in the industry, former PokerStars owner Isai Scheinberg, will face the music. On September 23, Scheinberg will appear in federal court in New York City to learn what his fate will be from the charges that he has faced for almost a decade. But don’t… Read more »
The second annual PokerStars Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PACOOP) begins this coming Saturday, yet another big online poker tournament series during this unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic half-year. Running through Sunday, October 4, PACOOP will feature 50 events and $1.5 million in guaranteed prize pools, the most ever for an online tournament series in the state.… Read more »
PokerStars is pulling out of China, Taiwan, and Macau, this according to an e-mail that the online poker room recently sent to its customers in the three countries. PokerStars has yet to make an official comment; the e-mail was posted on the Two Plus Two forums. The policy takes effect Tuesday, September 1. The trio… Read more »
On Tuesday, PokerStars announced a minor change to its loyalty program, Stars Rewards. The change, which the online poker room touts as one that gives players “absolutely nothing to lose,” offers players the opportunity to cash in their progress bar for a lower-tier Chest with no restrictions. Until this week, the progress bar had to… Read more »
Here we go again. The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is just about upon us. Running August 30 through September 23, it features 75 triple-tiered events an $80 million in guaranteed prize pools, the most the WCOOP has even guaranteed. The three Main Events will take place on September 20 with buy-ins of… Read more »
There are many that believe online poker is perfect as it is today. Bringing the game from the poker table (or even dinner table) to the computer indeed was a significant step forward, but there’s always room for improvement with anything. But, with online poker, where are the things that you could improve? Some have… Read more »
Although the vast majority of casinos have reopened in the United States, there still is not much in the way of live poker to be had. And that makes sense, as a poker room is not really the best environment to be in if you want to avoid a potentially deadly virus. Outside of the… Read more »
When I saw the e-mail from PokerStars on Monday about a new tournament series called the Stadium Series, I raised an eyebrow (let’s pretend I can), intrigued that the poker room was launching a new live tournament event. After all, it’s called the Stadium Series. Thankfully, since we are in the midst of a pandemic,… Read more »
During the coronavirus pandemic, we have done almost everything from home. For many, one of those activities has been poker. Live poker rooms have only just started to reopen in the last few weeks, so even now there is not much opportunity to go play poker with other people in person. And hell, I wouldn’t… Read more »
Another reason to stay home The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is only just winding down today, but the poker room has already announced its next online tournament series, the Summer Series. No rest for the weary. The Summer Series will run June 7-21 at will feature 151 tournaments with $25 million in… Read more »
PokerStars released an interesting new mobile app today for iOS and Android called Poker DoJo. And even more interesting, it is actually for poker players in the United States (and the UK). Poker DoJo is a poker training app targeted to novice players. It focuses on understanding hand strength using three mini-games. Aside from the… Read more »
There have been many activities, including major sporting events like the 2020 Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500 that have been postponed until later in this year or 2021. There is a bigger list of events that have been canceled outright. Thus, it comes as little surprise that PokerStars announced this morning that… Read more »
It’s a busy week in the online poker world with the Main Event of the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and the WPT Online Championship wrapping up and the GGPoker WSOP Super Circuit Online Series in full swing. PokerStars, in particular, has had a hell of a lot of action, setting records all… Read more »
On Saturday, PokerStars hosted a whopper of a celebrity charity poker tournament on PokerStars.net. The Stars CALL for Action tournament raised $1 million for charity. Emerging victorious and winning $100,000 for his cause was actor David Costabile, known for his supporting roles in some of the best shows on television like “Breaking Bad,” “The Wire,”… Read more »
I’ll admit, despite being an incredibly well-respected subject matter expert and trend-setter, I am not an avid consumer of online poker streams. This weekend, however, while I sit at home not doing yard work, I will likely pull up Twitch, YouTube, or Facebook and check out what should be an extremely entertaining poker tournament. On… Read more »
