PokerStars wasting no time in 2020
As the year winds down, PokerStars is looking ahead, releasing a schedule of 21 confirmed live poker events for 2020.
The venues span much of the globe, from Europe to Asia to the Americas. Though the events are live, prospective players will be able to earn seats in the various tournaments via online satellites at PokerStars.com.
Satellites for the Red Dragon Manila poker festival, which will be held in early January 2020, are already up and running.
European Poker Tour
There are currently three confirmed stops for the European Poker Tour (EPT). EPT Sochi will return for the third straight year, scheduled for March 20-29. Monte Carlo, which was a stop for nearly all of the EPT’s 15 years (plus one year when the EPT was called the PokerStars Championship), is back after a one-year absence. EPT Monte Carlo will run April 23 – May 2.
The 2019 PSPC drew 1,039 entries, becoming the largest live $25,000 buy-in poker tournament of all time
EPT Barcelona has appeared in every season and will be back again in 2020, August 12-30. EPT Barcelona is also the tour stop during which the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) will be held next year. In 2019, the inaugural PSPC ran during the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in January.
The 2019 PSPC drew 1,039 entries, becoming the largest live $25,000 buy-in poker tournament of all time. The previous record was 639, set at the 2007 World Poker Tour Championship. The prize pool was $26.5 million, which included $1 million added by PokerStars. Ramon Colillas won the tourney and $5.1 million.
Road to PSPC
The Road to PSPC was new in 2019. The buy-ins for these poker tournaments are smaller than typical PokerStars live events, ranging from €150 ($167) to €300 ($335) plus fees.
There will be Road to PSPC events in both France and Spain during the first half of 2020. The France locations include La Havre, St. Amand, La Grand-Motte, and Cannes. Spanish stops include Madrid (twice), Barcelona, and Valencia.
PokerStars awarded a total of 320 Platinum Passes, from both live and online contests, for the 2019 PSPC.
Asia and Americas
PokerStars has confirmed seven stops so far for Asia in 2020, all of which are in Manila, Philippines. As mentioned earlier, Red Dragon Manila is the very first PokerStars live event of 2020, scheduled for January 4-11. A prize pool of 60 million Phillipine pesos ($1,186,338) guaranteed.
28 million pesos ($553,624) are guaranteed in combined prize pools for APPT Manila
There will be two each of the Manila Super Series and Manila MegaStack, as well as the Okada Manila Millions. The Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Manila also returns in 2020, running July 31 – August 9. 28 million pesos ($553,624) are guaranteed in combined prize pools for APPT Manila.
In the Western Hemisphere, the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP) is also back. There were seven stops on the BSOP this year. Just two have been confirmed so far for 2020: Brasília January 30 – February 4 and S?o Paulo March 19-24.