Does PSPC Promotion Hint at Major U.S. Online PokerStars Return?

In the light of other poker special offers, the PokerStars Platinum Pass giveaways don’t so much put others in the shade as to dazzle them with 1000-watt bulbs. The chance of taking on a high roller event that would cost $25,000 to enter for nothing has so much going for it that were it a poker hand, you’d move all-in every time you were dealt it.

What’s the Latest PSPC Giveaway?

The biggest online site in the global marketplace that is poker has upped their game even more in recent months, with an increased number of stops on the EPT and the return of national and regional events to the schedule. As we discovered when we spoke to presenting team Joe ‘Stapes’ Stapleton and James Hartigan before EPT Prague last year, ‘Stars is well and truly back on the scene.

That could hardly be better proven than by a big giveaway and United States poker players of all levels can look forward to the chance of playing across the felt from their heroes with the news that PokerStars have launched some American promo action and are giving away 40 Platinum Passes each worth upwards of $30,000. You didn’t misread that and we double-checked it wasn’t a typo. Forty. Platinum. Passes.

The Platinum Pass is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rub shoulders with the best in the business and prove your poker skills. The first PSPC Championship saw Ramon Colillas triumph from the position of winning a pass and he became not only an instant millionaire but a poker professional, which he still enjoys a career as, with his journey explored on Instagram (see below).

Ramon Colillas won the PSPC and is now a PokerStars Team Pro.

It’s the poker equivalent of winning a ticket not only to watch Cristiano Ronaldo, or perhaps the original Ronaldo, who this week rejoined PokerStars, but actually sharing the pitch with them.

How Can You Win Your Way to the Bahamas?

The opportunity to make the plane to the Bahamas in January for the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship is a mouthwatering one, but what is the actual prize on offer forty times over? Well, as well as Platinum Pass giveaways and experiences throughout the festival in poker paradise, there’s the small matter of the $25,000-entry into the PSPC Championship, six nights hotel accommodation for the competition winner and a guest in a five-star hotel, transfer from the airport, $1,900 for expenses.

There will be Platinum Pass packages given away by PokerStars both live and online between now and January, with each one valued at $30,000, meaning $1.2 million will be given away in the promotion.

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure will take place at the Baha Mar Resort in Nassau during the first month of 2023, with the action taking at a slightly later period of January 22^nd to 29^th, with the PSPC joining the party from the 30^th of the month to February 3^rd. The PCA Main Event, which has a $10,300 buy-in, kicks off on January 24^th.

Several will be won via ‘Stars’ partner casino, the Las Vegas Resorts World, but with statewide poker in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it’s likely that online players are rewarded just as richly.

Could Online Poker Be Returning for Americans?

With online promotions running in the United States, could that hint at a larger, more across-the-board return to online poker. While six states have the game back in one capacity or another, there is still a long way to go with well over 85% of the country still unable to play online poker after 11 years in the dark.

After PokerStars paid back player funds from their locked accounts on Full Tilt Poker (FTP), many in the game believed that an escape from a lengthy ban on online poker could be achieved. Over a decade on, however, the game has only returned to the online sector of the industry in an extremely piecemeal fashion.

With the live part of this PokerStars giveaway still yet to be confirmed, focusing on the online section may well give greater gravity to the argument that will eventually be not only a stateside decision but one that reaches the highest levels of the U.S. Government in order to be resolved.

Here’s how PokerStars offered players in Nottingham the chance to follow up on the recent dramatic UKIPT Main Event where Adam Maxwell took the title.