Online poker cardroom
Screenshot of the Pokerstars GUI (the "classic" theme) at a real
money table
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom.[1] 🫦 It is the largest real money
online poker site in the world,[2][3] controlling over two-thirds of the total online
poker 🫦 market,[4] and can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for Windows,
macOS, Android and iOS.
A PokerStars online satellite tournament produced 🫦 the 2003
World Series of Poker (WSOP)[5] champion, Chris Moneymaker. As the first person to
become a world champion by 🫦 qualifying at an online poker site,[6] Moneymaker's 2003 win
was an important factor in catalyzing the poker boom of the 🫦 mid-2000s. The press has
called this the "Moneymaker effect."[7]
PokerStars was part of The Stars Group until it
was sold to 🫦 Flutter Entertainment, owner of the Irish gambling company Paddy Power, on
May 5, 2024.[8]
History [ edit ]
PokerStars launched its beta 🫦 play-money-only site on
September 11, 2001.[9] The company began offering real money wagering on December 12,
2001. PokerStars was originally 🫦 a Costa Rican company, Rational Enterprises, part of
Canadian company The Stars Group which was majority owned by the Canadian 🫦 Scheinberg
family.[10][11] The company was subsequently moved to Onchan, Isle of Man. The move was
driven by the establishment of 🫦 a 0% corporate tax rate and the removal of rules barring
companies from accepting casino and poker bets from the 🫦 United States.[10] PokerStars
holds numerous licences in other jurisdictions (see Regulated Markets below). In
February 2012, PokerStars acquired a European 🫦 Union license granted by the Malta
Lotteries and Gaming Commission.[12]
While privately owned, PokerStars had been the
subject of financial media 🫦 speculation regarding a possible initial public offering or
merger with a publicly listed company. Analysts estimated its market value would 🫦 have
been approximately US$2 billion in 2006, which would have made the company one of the
world's largest privately held 🫦 gambling companies.[11] PokerStars overtook PartyPoker
as the world's largest online poker room after the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful
Internet 🫦 Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Many sites, including PartyPoker,
immediately suspended business with U.S. gamblers, while others, including PokerStars,
did 🫦 not.[13]
In December 2009, PokerStars set the world record for the biggest online
tournament. The tournament entry fee wasR$1, and the 🫦 number of entrants reached
149,196.[14] They broke that record in December 2011, when 200,000 players played in
aR$1 buy-in tournament 🫦 with a first prize ofR$50,000.[15] PokerStars was so busy during
the early stages of the tournament, all tournaments had to 🫦 be stopped for 20 minutes
because the heavy traffic crashed their servers. This record had been broken again in
June 🫦 2013, with 225,000 participants. The buy-in wasR$1 and went completely into the
prize pool, with no rake.
In January 2012, PokerStars 🫦 introduced a downloadable mobile
client for iOS from iTunes. In February 2012, the company also introduced a client for
Android.[16]
In 🫦 July 2012, PokerStars bought its former competitor, Full Tilt
Poker.[17] TheR$731 million deal settled a civil lawsuit with the Department 🫦 of Justice
while giving ownership of Full Tilt Poker's assets to PokerStars.[18]
In June 2014, The
Stars Group, then known as 🫦 Amaya Inc, agreed to buy PokerStars and its parent company
forR$4.9 billion in cash.[19][20] The deal was completed on August 🫦 1, 2014.[21] Later
the deal led to a major insider trading investigation conducted by the Autorité des
marchés financiers (AMF) 🫦 over a four-year period concerning Amaya Inc.[22][23]
As of
April 2024, they have reached an agreement with Netent to add desktop 🫦 and mobile
gambling games to its poker lobby in New Jersey and other locations.[24]
In February
2024, Microgaming announced a partnership 🫦 with PokerStars, owned by parent company for
the integration of its Quickfire platform.[25]
In July 2024, PokerStars agreed to a
deal 🫦 with bankruptcy administrators to acquire some of rival PKR's assets without
reviving the brand, while refunding the full account balances 🫦 of the entire PKR player
base.[26]
In December 2024, PokerStars unveiled a brand new player tournament called
the PokerStars Players No 🫦 Limit Hold'em Championship, which is to be held in January
2024. The tournament is expected to become one of the 🫦 biggest events in the annual
poker calendar with a twenty-five thousand dollar buy in and aR$1 million bonus for the
🫦 eventual winner.[27][28]
In March 2024, The Stars Group reached an agreement with
gaming company Sugal & Damani to support the launch 🫦 of its PokerStars brand in
India.[29][30]
In September 2024, PokerStars launched PokerStars VR, a fully immersive
virtual reality poker experience.[31][32] The 🫦 platform was developed in collaboration
with virtual reality software developer Lucky VR and was unveiled at EGX
2024.[33][34]
In October 2024, 🫦 The Stars Group, owner of PokerStars, agreed to be
acquired by Flutter Entertainment, in aR$6 billion all-share merger.[35][36] On May 🫦 5,
2024, PokerStars became part of Flutter Entertainment.[37]
In 2024, Pokerstars entered
into a partnership with Red Bull Racing, sponsoring their 🫦 Formula 1 team, with the
brand to appear on Red Bull's new cars for the next few seasons, as well 🫦 as on the
suits of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.[38]
In January 2024, PokerStars announced an
extended multi-year partnership deal with 🫦 Red bull racing. The deal included
PokerStars’ branding on the RB18 and race suits. The company stated they aim to 🫦 provide
fans “new and unique ways” to watch the sport in addition to increase technological
advancements.[39]
In April 2024, Pokerstars launched 🫦 their peer-to-peer betting
exchange which allowed customers to enter their own odds and bet against other
customers.[40]
In December 2024, Pokerstars 🫦 announced that Michigan and New Jersey
players would be unable to access their servers on December 12 and December 13 🫦 for a
“major upgrade of the site” . This upgrade is to allow Michigan and New Jersey poker
players to 🫦 play together, as both states are participants in the Multi-State Internet
Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). Pokerstars stated, “The upgrade is a 🫦 necessary milestone to
bring more games, bigger prize pools and guarantees in poker tournaments so New Jersey
and Michigan poker 🫦 players can compete against one another in the near
future."[41]
Games [ edit ]
PokerStars offers multiple poker variations: Texas hold
'em, 🫦 Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo (8 or Better), Courchevel, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo (8 or Better),
Razz, Five-card draw, 2-7 Triple Draw & 🫦 2-7 Single Draw, Badugi, HORSE, HOSE, Mixed
Hold'em, Mixed Omaha Hi/Lo, Triple Stud and 8-Game Mix. PokerStars also offers "Mixed
🫦 Games," which rotate through several of these games.[42]
PokerStars averages over
15,000 players playing real money cash games daily.[43]
PokerStars launched Zoom 🫦 Poker
in March 2012, with an official launch in May 2012. Zoom Poker is a fast fold ring game
poker 🫦 format where opponents change after every hand. The aim of Zoom poker is to offer
players more hands of poker 🫦 than in a regular ring game.[44] In January 2013 PokerStars
rolled out Zoom Poker Tournaments due to popular demand for 🫦 the fast fold variant
[45]
Online tournaments [ edit ]
The site's weekly Sunday Million tournament has a
guaranteedR$1 million prize pool 🫦 and aR$215 buy-in. The Sunday Million is the biggest
weekly online poker tournament. On March 7, 2011, The 5th Anniversary 🫦 Sunday Million
broke records, with 59,128 players creating a total prize pool
ofR$11,825,600.[46]
World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) has been 🫦 running since
2002 and is regarded[by whom?] as the online equivalent of the World Series of Poker.
The WCOOP tournament 🫦 series is the largest online poker series and pays out the largest
prizes in online poker. The WCOOP 2010 Main 🫦 Event champion Tyson "POTTERPOKER" Marks
wonR$2.2 Million, the largest online tournament prize in history.[47]
Spring
Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) was 🫦 established in 2009 and has since become the
most popular online tournament series.[48] Unlike WCOOP, there are three different
buy-in 🫦 stakes in the SCOOP events: Low, Medium (10x Low stake) and High (100x Low
stake).
Micro Millions was launched in March 🫦 2012 as a tournament series designed for
recreational and micro-stakes players offering a low buy-in tournament schedule and
large guaranteed 🫦 cash prizes. PokerStars guaranteedR$5 million in prize pools for the
second installment of MicroMillions.[49]
In 2014, PokerStars was hosting 500,000 online
🫦 tournaments each day.[50]
Live poker tours [ edit ]
PokerStars sponsors various live
poker tours such as the European Poker Tour (EPT), 🫦 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT),
Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), Estrellas Poker
Tour (ESPT), 🫦 Eureka Poker Tour, Italian Poker Tour (IPT), Czech-Slovak Poker Tour
(CSPT), Australia & New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT), France Poker 🫦 Series (FPS), Belgian
Poker Series (BPS), Russian Poker Series (RPS) and Brazilian Series of Poker
(BSOP).
PokerStars VR [ edit ]
Pokerstars 🫦 VR is a free-play poker game for Oculus and
Steam VR platforms that was released in 2024. It allows players 🫦 to get free chips and
use them to play Texas hold 'em as well as roulette, blackjack, slots, and sports
🫦 betting, although the winnings cannot be transferred into real money. Players can use
store credits to buy cosmetics and props 🫦 for use in games. As of February 2024 it was
the 14th most popular game on Meta Quest.[51]
Pokerstars is a 🫦 company website offering
only free play games. The pokerstars domain is used primarily in their TV
advertisements since there are 🫦 no real money games available at this website. This
avoids any legal issues or censorship of using their pokerstars domain 🫦 which allows
real money games.
PokerStars.tv is the online source for PokerStars TV shows,
commercials and event highlight shows – with 🫦 commentary and expert analysis available
in up to 7 languages. The content available includes live cards-up coverage of the
biggest 🫦 PokerStars tournaments, TV shows such as The Million Dollar Challenge and
PokerStars Big Game and online tournament highlights from WCOOP 🫦 and SCOOP.
Team
PokerStars [ edit ]
PokerStars sponsors a team of professional poker players known as
Team PokerStars. As of 2024 🫦 , the team consists of André Akkari, Arlie Shaban, Ben
Spragg, David Kaye, Felix Schneiders, Fintan Hand, Georgina James, Jennifer 🫦 Shahade,
Lasse Jagd Lauritsen, Laurie Tournier, Lex Veldhuis, Nicholas Walsh, Parker Talbot,
Rafael Moraes, Ramón Colillas, Sam Grafton and Sebastian 🫦 Huber.[52]
Celebrity players [
edit ]
Former Brazil striker Ronaldo pictured with PokerStars in 2014
PokerStars also
has had a Celebrity team and 🫦 a Sports team, called respectively "Friends of PokerStars"
and "SportStars". These have included Jamaican Olympic gold medal winner and World
🫦 record holder Usain Bolt and American actor / comedian Kevin Hart.[53] Former
associated celebrities include World Cup winning Brazilian striker 🫦 Ronaldo,[54] tennis
pro Rafael Nadal,[55] former tennis champion Boris Becker, FIFA World Cup-winning
Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, Manchester United star 🫦 Cristiano Ronaldo, Dutch
field hockey Olympic Gold medalist Fatima Moreira de Melo, Norwegian cross-country
skier Petter Northug, Swedish cross-country skier 🫦 Marcus Hellner, quantitative analyst
and author of the 'Chen Formula' for Texas Hold'em Bill Chen,[56] Brazilian auto racer
and race 🫦 team owner Gualter Salles and French rugby union international Sébastien
Chabal.
Regulated markets [ edit ]
PokerStars and PokerStars.eu operate worldwide under
🫦 a license from the Maltese government. PokerStars also operates under separate
government licenses in Denmark, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and 🫦 Estonia.[57] In
October 2008, PokerStars launched PokerStars.it, exclusively for Italian players, which
offers real money tournaments in euros in addition 🫦 to the usual play money games.
PokerStars offers some ring games and tournaments on its main PokerStars site in euros.
🫦 In March 2010, the site began allowing users to keep their real-money accounts in
British pounds and Canadian dollars as 🫦 well as U.S. dollars and euros.
In March 2024,
PokerStars launched in New Jersey for real money.[58][59]
In June 2024, PokerStars
ceased 🫦 to allow real-money online poker in Israel. The decision is thought to have been
made after recent pressure from the 🫦 country's banking regulator on financial
institutions demanding they stop processing online gambling transactions.[60]
In July
2024, PokerStars stopped offering real money 🫦 games to players who are physically
located in, or have a registered address in, Slovenia.[61]
In July 2024, PokerStars
withdrew from 🫦 the Portuguese market. In November 2024 the Portuguese regulator,
Serviços de Regulação e Inspeção de Jogos (SRIJ) issued its first 🫦 online poker license
to The Stars Group's subsidiary REEL Europe Limited. As a result, legal online poker
returned to Portugal.[62]
In 🫦 November 2024, PokerStars was cleared to launch in
Pennsylvania for real money in 2024.[63]
On January 29, 2024, Pokerstars launched in
🫦 Michigan. Pokerstars was Michigan's first regulated online poker site.
In December
2024, Pokerstars announced the would be combining players from Michigan 🫦 and New Jersey
under the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.
Domain name seizure [ edit ]
On April
15, 2011, the Department of 🫦 Justice seized the internet addresses of the three online
gambling sites,[64] a total of five URLs: Pokerstars, Fulltiltpoker, Absolutepoker,
🫦 Ultimatebet and UB.
On April 15, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern
District of New York seized and shut 🫦 down Pokerstars and several of its competitors'
sites, alleging that the sites were violating federal bank fraud and money laundering
🫦 laws.[65] On April 20, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's office returned control of the
Pokerstars domain name to the company in 🫦 order "to facilitate the withdrawal of U.S.
players’ funds held in account with the companies."[66]
On July 10, 2012, PokerStars,
asserting 🫦 the Government had insufficient grounds on which to base the charges, filed
motions to dismiss the charges against them.[67]
On July 🫦 31, 2012, the US government
dismissed with prejudice all civil complaints against PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker
after reaching a 🫦 settlement with PokerStars which includes PokerStars acquiring Full
Tilt.[17] Under the terms of the settlement, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker 🫦 admitted no
wrongdoing for their past U.S. activities. The U.S. Government acknowledged both
companies can apply for licenses to operate 🫦 online gaming in the U.S. when a legal
framework for such licenses is offered.[68] The settlement terms also called for
🫦 PokerStars to acquire certain assets of Full Tilt Poker from the Government.
On August
9, 2012, PokerStars paidR$225 million to the 🫦 U.S. Department of Justice, consummating
the asset transfer of Full Tilt Poker. Full Tilt Poker was successfully relaunched on
November 🫦 6, 2012.[69]
