PokerStars announce championship & festival dates; Ronaldo & Wade #raiseit

PokerStars announce championship & festival dates; Ronaldo & Wade #raiseit

PokerStars has announced the 2017 dates and venues for the PokerStars Championship and Festivals. And Cristiano Ronaldo and Dwayne Wade challenge you to #raiseit.

PokerStars has announced the 2017 dates and locations for their brand spanking new PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals.

Back in August, officials from PokerStars announced their intention to consolidate all of their live tournaments within the PokerStars Championships and PokerStars Festivals banner.

The move made sense despite the sad loss of the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the regional tours that supported it such as the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT), and France Poker Series (FPS). It also signified the end of relationships with The Aussie Millions and Brazilian Series of Poker Millions (BSOP).

So what is the difference between a PokerStars Championship and a PokerStars Festival?

PokerStars announce championship & festival dates; Ronaldo & Wade #raiseitThe one that sounds all posh is for the wealthy and famous and the one that looks like a free pop concert is for the rest of us.

Here are the dates and locations for the posh people:

• PokerStars Championship Bahamas, January 6-14

• PokerStars Championship Panama, March 10-20

• PokerStars Championship Macau, March 30–April 9

• PokerStars Championship presented by Monte-Carlo Casino, April 25-May 5

• PokerStars Championship Barcelona, August 15-27

The schedule of events differs slightly at each venue, but the primary events are as follows:

• PokerStars Open (€220 buy-in)

• PokerStars Cup (€440 buy-in)

• PokerStars National Championships (€1,100 buy-in)

• PokerStars National High Roller (€2,200 buy-in)

• PokerStars Championship Main Event (€5,300 buy-in)

• PokerStars Championship High Roller (€25,750 buy-in)

• PokerStars Single Day NLH (€50,000 buy-in)

• PokerStars Championship Super High Roller (€100,000 buy-in)

PokerStars Festivals: London & Rozvadov

PokerStars has only released details of two festivals in their latest press release.

• PokerStars Festival London, January 22-29

• PokerStars Festival Rozvadov, March 2-13

The big surprise is the choice of Rozvadov as a venue. It’s a remarkable ascent from Leon Tsoukernik who is fast turning this remarkable site into the most sought after poker place in Europe.

It wasn’t that long ago that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) selected the venue to host the next two World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) events, as well as World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) events. The venue also has ties with 888Poker with an 888Live Festival scheduled for the beginning of February.

Here are some of the highlights:

• PokerStars Deepstack Event (£275 buy-in)

• PokerStars Festival High Roller (£2,200 buy-in)

• PokerStars Festival Main Event (£990 buy-in)

• PokerStars Cup (£330 buy-in)

If you want to wade thumb deep into the dirty detail, click here.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Dwayne Wade Release New #RaiseIt Videos

PokerStars has rolled out a few new videos as part of their #raiseit social media campaign.

The online giant has enlisted the help of the Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo and Chicago Bulls shooting guard Dwayne Wade.

The #raiseit campaign is a viral hit that creates the desire to ‘one-up’ their friends by consistently delivering unbelievable skilful activities caught on camera.

To watch the new videos click here.

For American viewers, Cristiano Ronaldo is the white guy in his underpants. He is kicking what is known as a football (I believe you call it a soccer ball). Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in the world, but I am sure you don’t care about that.

For British viewers, Dwayne Wade is the black guy. He is throwing something known as a basketball. The thing he is throwing it into is called a hoop. You might have seen thousands of these in playgrounds in poor areas of the UK, and nobody ever uses them. Wade plays for the Chicago Bulls. I think Michael Jordan is the team captain.