PokerStars has unveiled more chances for its US players to win the coveted Platinum Pass. These passes will be awarded via two sets of new fall promotions: Golden Tickets and the Fall Fest online tournament series.
The Golden Ticket promotion is already underway, running until November 8 across PokerStars US platforms. The promo offers one Platinum Pass in each state — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Right on the heels of this promotion, the network will run the second edition of its Fall Fest series with combined guarantees of $2 million. Another three Passes are up for grabs across the three series, one in each state.
Reading between the lines, there is good and bad news.
- $150 in free funds
- Great tournament schedule
- Excellent player traffic
The bad news is that based on the scheduling of the Fall Fest tournament series, it is unlikely the network will go live with the much-awaited multi-state shared liquidity this month.
As reported exclusively by pokerfuse, the operator has scheduled three separate series as it usually does. The PokerStars NJ, PokerStars MI & PokerStars PA series all commence on November 11 and run through November 28. A special leaderboard promotion will run on November 29.
With three unique series running on each network, this kicks any hope of the merger between PS NJ & PS MI happening until the series ends.
The good news is that it could still happen in December. While announcing the two series, the operator also dropped a hint in its blog post with a message saying: “Keep an eye out for more exciting US news coming soon.”
What this “exciting news” could be is unknown, but pokerfuse thinks this development might be the launch of PokerStars US multi-state online poker network, and it could be very well the first operator to merge its New Jersey player pool with Michigan.
This would mean that for the first time in many years, players in New Jersey would have their first alternative to the WSOP/888 platform for multi-state online poker. The WSOP/888 network is currently the only network in the country to run an interstate platform, combining players pool between New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware.
PokerStars US launching shared liquidity would be one of the most important developments in real money US online poker in recent history.
Meanwhile, WSOP and BetMGM, which also have a presence in Michigan have shown no progress towards connecting their Michigan player pools yet. WSOP MI joining its existing NJ/NV/DE would create the country’s first four-state shared liquidity pool.
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Fall Fest Series Returns with $2 Million in Guarantees
The Fall Fest Series will run concurrently for players in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan with combined guarantees of $2 million. The Pennsylvania schedule, as always, has the largest guarantee boasting $1 million, while the Michigan series has put up $500,000 and New Jersey has $400,000 up for grabs.
Each of the three series will have 120 tournaments with buy-ins starting from $5. The series will culminate in a $200 buy-in Main Event, running from November 27 to 28, featuring $150,000 in PA, $100,000 in MI, and $50,000 in NJ. PokerStars will release the full schedule in the next week.
The Fall Fest Series will be accompanied by a leaderboard promotion where the top prize is a $30,000 worth Platinum Pass. The leaderboard toppers (500 players in PA, 300 in MI, and 200 in NJ) will earn a spot in a special freeroll that will take place on November 29 and one lucky winner from each state will receive a PSPC Platinum Pass, valued at over $30,000.
Each Platinum Pass includes a seat to the $25,000 buy-in PSPC event, a six-night stay in a 5-star hotel, $1900 in expenses, airport transfers, and other perks.
It will be the second run of the Fall Fest series. The last one ran in November 2021 with the same guarantees.
- $100 instant casino bonus
- Good slots variety
- Regular slots leaderboards
PokerStars’ Golden Ticket Promotion
Players have another opportunity to win the coveted Passes. The Golden Ticket promotion — which is already underway — also hands out one Pass in each of the three states. The Platinum Passes will be awarded in a special freeroll taking place on November 8.
To earn an entry in the freeroll, all players have to do is opt-in to the Golden Ticket promotion under the Challenges Window and play one hand of poker with a minimum buy-in of $1 cash.
Upon completing this task, players will be awarded a chest with a mystery prize, which could include a ticket to the freeroll.
So far, the network has awarded nearly a dozen of Platinum Passes to US players and more are to be given away in the coming weeks.
