PSPC and PCA combine for $63 million prize pool

(PRESS RELEASE) -- The Stars Group today announced the success of the annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which immediately followed the first ever PokerStars Players No-limit Hold'em Championship, two major live poker tournaments sponsored by its flagship poker brand.

Combined, the PCA and PSPC, which both took place at the Atlantis at Paradise Island Resort and Casino in the Bahamas, awarded a total $63 million over 11 days of competition.

"Together, the PCA and PSPC have set a new standard for live events of this kind," said Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of The Stars Group. "These tournaments created many winning moments and exciting stories for our players and staff, particularly for Ramon Colillas, who won over $5 million from a free entry. It's a great start to the year."

The PSPC took place from 6-10 January and was the largest $25,000 buy-in poker tournament in history with a field of over 1,000 players from and a total prize pool of $26.5 million, including $1 million added to the prize pool by PokerStars for first place.

Spanish poker player Ramon Colillas took home the $5.1 million PSPC first-place prize and was one of six millionaires made during the event. Colillas qualified for the PSPC for free as one of 320 PokerStars customers who won a PSPC Platinum Pass during 2018, which in addition to the $25,000 buy-in covered travel and hotel accommodations.

The PCA ended on January 16 and awarded a total prize pool of $36.3 million. The event attracted over 1,600 players representing 79 countries and generated over 11,000 entries. The $10,300 buy-in 2019 PCA Main Event attracted 865 entries, with a total prize pool of $8.4 million and Main Event first place prize of $1.6 million.

The next major live poker tournament on the PokerStars 2019 calendar is the PokerStars-sponsored European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi, which takes place in Sochi, Russia from March 20 through 29 and is the first stop of the 2019 EPT.