- PokerStars
PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. [ [http://www.pokerscout.com/SiteDetail.aspx?site=PokerStars&ab=1805259 PokerScout.com: PokerStars] ]
PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the
2003 World Series of Poker champion,Chris Moneymaker , as well as the 2004 champion, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. Those two now act as spokespeople for the cardroom, as does 2005 World Series of Poker championJoe Hachem , also a regular player on the site. In March 2007, poker room manager Lee Jones announced his retirement, effectiveApril 1 . [ [http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/article/8569 CardPlayer.com: Update: Lee Jones Writes About Departure] ] His successor has yet to be named.Launched in September 2001, PokerStars was originally a Costa Rican company, Rational Enterprises, majority owned by the Scheinberg family of Israel.cite news|publisher=The Times|title=PokerStars to move its base before possible London float|date=2005-08-03|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article550883.ece] cite news|publisher=The Times|title=Family stand to net $2bn from their online gamble|date=2006-01-04|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article550883.ece] The company was subsequently moved to the
Isle of Man , a BritishCrown dependency . 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 America, where internet gambling is illegal. PokerStars holds its license with theIsle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission . Since relocating, PokerStars has been the subject of financial media speculation regarding a possibleinitial public offering or merger with a publicly listed company. Analysts estimate its market value would be approximately $2 billion (US), which would make the company one of the world's largest privately held gambling companies.PokerStars overtook
PartyPoker as the world's largest online poker room at around the time the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Many sites, including PartyPoker, immediately suspended business with U.S. gamblers, while others, including PokerStars, did not. [ [http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/article/3316 "CardPlayer": PokerStars Will Keep Serving American Customers] ] OnMay 19 , 2007, PokerStars dealt their 10 billionth hand. [ [http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2007/05/justine0003-wins-pokerstars-ten.html Pokerstarsblog: justine0003 wins PokerStars' Ten Billionth Hand and $100,000] ]Since then Pokerstars has grown and has roughly 120,000 players at their tables on a consistent basis and continues to grow at a steady pace.
PokerStars is the headline sponsor of the
European Poker Tour . PokerStars sponsored an event on theWorld Poker Tour called the PokerStarsCaribbean Poker Adventure . The World Poker Tour no longer stages this event, so it is now a stop on the European Poker Tour. In 2005, "eGaming Review " named PokerStars.com the "Best Poker Operator of the Year".PokerStars offers eight varieties of poker games:
Texas hold 'em , Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo (8 or Better), Stud, Stud Hi/Lo (8 or Better), Razz,five-card draw , and deuce to seven triple draw.HORSE andHOSE , "mixed games" that rotate through several of the above, are also offered. [ [http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/games/ List of games offered by PokerStars] ] Players can participate in real money games ranging from $.01/$.02 (micro limits) up to $1000/$2000.Pokerstars offers hand history files for analysis, discussion and conversion using a poker hand converter.
The home of the
World Championship of Online Poker , the largest online poker tournament series in the world, PokerStars has over 20,000 players playing real moneyring game s daily, plus thousands more playing real money tournaments or free-play games. [ [http://www.pokersitescout.com/ Poker Site Scout: Online Poker Traffic Report] ] During peak operating times, this often adds up to over 150,000 players online simultaneously. PokerStars.com's play money players mix with those logging in from PokerStars.net, a free play-only site without real money games.The site's flagship event is the "Sunday Million", a weekly tournament with a guaranteed 1.5 million dollar prize pool with a buy-in of $215. On
July 8 , 2007, PokerStars debuted a new weekly event, the $11 buy-in "Sunday Two Hundred Grand", which regularly attracts the tournament maximum 25,000 players, making it the largest participated-in real-money poker tournament ever. This total surpassed the previous record of 10,894 players who participated in theMay 20 , 2007 Sunday Million tournament. [ [http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2007/05/pokerstars-sunday-million-results-5-20.html Pokerstarsblog: Sunday Million Results for May 20, 2007] ] On March 2, 2008 the Sunday Hundred Grand was won byWorld Series of Poker Europe championAnnette Obrestad , who won $20,000 for first place.Team PokerStars
PokerStars sponsors several professional players including
Chris Moneymaker ,Greg Raymer ,Joe Hachem ,Bertrand Grospellier ,Isabelle Mercier ,John Duthie ,Lee Nelson ,Luca Pagano ,Steve Paul-Ambrose ,Vanessa Rousso ,Victor Ramdin ,Noah Boeken ,Andre Akkari ,Hevad Khan ,Dario Minieri ,Raymond Rahme ,Tuan Lam , Chad Brown,Victoria Coren ,William Thorson ,Marcin Horecki as well as WSOP bracelet winnersBarry Greenstein ,Humberto Brenes ,Bill Chen , 1983 WSOP championTom McEvoy ,Daniel Negreanu ,Gavin Griffin ,Alex Kravchenko ,Alexandre Gomes ,Katja Thater andMats Sundin . [ [http://www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/ List of Team Pokerstars members from PokerStars site] ]Notes
External links
* [http://www.pokerstars.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.pokerstars.net/ Free Play site]
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