PokerStars and the online payment processor, MuchBetter, intend to use PokerStars’ home game platform and Twitch stars to send online qualifiers to European Poker Tour Barcelona and Lex Live.
The last thing you expect when two companies join forces in a sponsorship deal in the world of poker is for them to do more than slap the brand somewhere on the tin. Poker’s paragon and MuchBetter are taking off from a different airfield.
Every person who occasionally spends time playing online poker knows how ridiculously complicated and convoluted the online satellite program is. For every winner of a $86 online tournament who wins the Main Event for $2m, eventually joining the Poker Hall of Fame, there a billion people who get nowhere in these vast fields. It’s therefore refreshing to see PokerStars and their partner MuchBetter stepping out of rank and file on this one.
Six members of the PokerStars ambassadorial team will create clubs using the PokerStars Home Game platform. As you compete, you earn points in each mini-league before promotion to the Grand Final, and the opportunity to qualify for the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona, or Lex Live 2 in. London.
Here are the six teams:
1. Lex Veldhuis (Beaker Army)
2. Eva Reberc (Team OP)
3. Ben Spragg (Team Un-named)
4. Arlie Shaban (The Shabanimals)
5. Fintan Hand (ATB Rovers)
6. Felix Schneiders (Grnd empire)
The rules
The action takes place across four-game weeks in July and August. Each week, the top 25 bullies qualify for the Grand Final. There are also opportunities to win Grand Final Bonus Chips and special prizes for sending Team Online Pros to the rail. If you rank between 1-5 in the Grand Final, then you earn an EPT Barcelona package. 5-7 gets you a seat in the Main Event at Lex Live 2.
The partnership; EPT Barcelona and Lex Live 2
The online payment processor, MuchBetter, partnered with The Stars Group (TSG) in September and signed an exclusive deal with Lex Veldhuis in April. MuchBetter is also partners of the English Premier League (EPL) side West Ham United.
EPT Barcelona runs from August 20 – September 1 live and direct from the Casino Barcelona. Once again, it promises to be one of the most attended poker festivals of the year, with the €5,300 Main Event and a €100,000 Super High Roller two courses of a great midnight snack. Piotr Nurzynski is the reigning EPT Barcelona Main Event champion. Ironically, the Pole parlayed an online satellite into $1,213,418 after defeating a record field of 1,931 entrants.
Lex Live 2 takes place at Aspers Casino in Stratford September 27 to October 6, with a £230 Main Event the one that will receive the most handclaps. The inaugural Lex Live took place in Namur, Belgium where Danny de Vos beat 1,064-entrants to win the €29,309 first prize.
To compete in the MuchBetter qualification series you need to deposit at least $10 into your PokerStars account, using the MuchBetter app, and using the appropriate code (see here).
