3:Barrels of a PokerStars flavour with plans to run Spring Championship of Online Poker Series in New Jersey and the newly formed French/Spanish alliance, and Jaime Staples wins at RunItUp Reno.
I’m walking down the street, dodging dog shit, listening to the Feeling Good Podcast (not feeling very good) when the co-host Fabrice Nye said, “I apologise in advance if the sound quality is poor during this episode, it’s raining outside.”
The heavens opened.
The gods pissed on my head.
And I thought, “Americans on the West Coast live in a different world.”
All around me, worms are rising the surface, egged on by the incessant drumming of the rain. I’m sure they think there is a disco. Instead, blackbirds swoop down at eat them alive.
Bad luck.
PokerStars knows how that feels.
They rose to the top of the poker world, and then along came partypoker.
Peck.
Peck.
Peck.
But things have been different of late. The partypoker media machine seems to have run out of things to say, and PokerStars has piped up with a few reminders that they aren’t ready to be torn to shreds and dropped into a nest of razor sharp beaks just yet.
PokerStars Announce Third Annual NJSCOOP
The great thing about PokerStars is their ability to transfer their iconic events to different parts of the world. The hard part for PokerStars is getting a foot in the door.
That’s not a problem in New Jersey.
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) handed PokerStars a licence in 2015. In 2016, the first New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker (NJSCOOP) took place with 54 events, and over $1.1m in prize money making it the largest online event in the state at that time. A year later, they broke the record when punters parted with $1.45m over 70-events.
It’s about to get even bigger.
April 14-30, 2018 NJSCOOP offers more than $1.3m in guarantees, spread out over 80-events (40-high, 40-low). The two big rocks of ice in this one are the $500 buy-in $200k GTD Main Event (High) and the $50 buy-in $40k GTD Main Event (Low). The winners of both events will secure a $30,000 Platinum Pass for the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars’ Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC).
SCOOP Hits France & Spain
Proving my point, PokerStars is also ready to roll out the SCOOP concept in the newly formed France/Spain alliance. Hot on the heels of the €6.1m FRESH Online Series, PokerStars are ready to guarantee €10m in prize money across 100-events.
The France/Spain SCOOP takes place March 25 – April 9. There will be Low, Medium and High tiers. The €50 Main Event (Low) and Twin €250 Main Events (High) will be the stars of the show. There will be a SCOOP Leaderboard, and someone, somehow will win a Platinum Pass.
Only players competing in the shared market can take part.
Jaime Staples Wins RunItUp
Finally, four days after Jaime Staples and hit brother Matt weighed in equally at the Peppermill Casino to win $150,000 from Bill Perkins, the PokerStars Team Online pro has taken down a live tournament.
Staples won the $125 Win The Button event at RunItUp Reno at the Peppermill Casino while streaming the entire performance live on Twitch via mobile phone.
It’s the second live tournament win of Staples short live career after beating 253 entrants to win a Pot Limit Omaha side event at the PokerStars Championship in Barcelona last year.
