PokerStars Hits 100,000 Players Milestone

Alternate Headline 1: PokerStars Celebrates More People Losing Money Online at Same Time Than Ever Before

Alternate Headline 2: PokerStars Celebrates Biggest Simultaneous Online Meeting of Ugly Schlubs in Boxers, Chain Smoking Scandinavians, Hyper Agressive Man-Eating Chicks With Attitudes, Dudes With Embarrassingly Ugly Kids and Dogs and Have Photos to Prove It ... and the Cool Folks at Wicked Chops Poker

Story provided by: Beans

Last week, PokerStars registered a grand total of 100,000 people logged on to their site and playing simultaneously, a major milestone and first not only for the folks at PokerStars but for any poker site period. As was pointed out by PokerStars spokesmen and all around media maven Nolan Dalla, they only hit the 10,000 mark less than three years ago. For a fad that some pundits say will wither and die soon, this represents an important milestone in the growth of poker. The online arena is accessible to everyone regardless of skill level and will keep those disinclined to drive 8 hours to their nearest poker room still interested in the game.

“I started playing online at PokerStars back in 2001,” said Joe Hachem, the reigning World Series of Poker champion. “Back then, I recognized many of the opponents I regularly played against. Now, each time I log on at PokerStars.com, it’s like walking into the world’s largest sports stadium. There might be 100,000 people there. Players are logged in from countries all around the world. It’s amazing. I don’t think anyone could have possibly foreseen how popular poker would become and how fast PokerStars would grow in such a short period of time.”

To celebrate the event PokerStars is offering a guaranteed $1 million payout to winners of Sunday afternoon tourneys with buy-ins of either $215 or $530. The million-dollar tournaments will be accessible to all poker players, regardless of their bankroll size. While many players buy-in directly, not all entrants will pay the full fee to enter. Every day, PokerStars offers many different kinds of satellites to the big weekly events, with buy-ins starting at $3. Other satellite qualifiers cost nothing other than frequent player points acquired from playing regularly at the site.

"A year or two ago, a $1 million guarantee on a weekly poker event would have been unthinkable,” said Lee Jones, PokerStars Cardroom Manager. “Now, thanks to PokerStars and its players, it's become a reality. Players have responded to the quality of our tournaments, and we have recognized that by increasing our guarantee, from $750,000 to $1 million. We're delighted to do it, and look forward to some monster final table prizes in the coming weeks."

Of course, the increased number of participants means an increased amount of dead money but also an increased number of loose players with terrible calls (myself included, and snake and addict might still be holding onto that). It really is a double-edged sword, but for a guaranteed $1 million dollar payout it might be worth putting up with some loose calls and cheap suck-outs. That is, of course, only if you win.

Comments

[Sammy]

Hmmm...Another Sammy that likes poker...What a concept!

[Sammy]

I like poker.

[ChicagoSlims]

If I had a Dollar for every person that logged on and lost a dollar...then doubled that dollar each day...I would have like .....$$

[Bill Burnham]

You mean 100,000 accounts logged in which, if ZeeJustin is any mesure, equates to only 16,666 people. BTW, would be great to get your take on the big multi-accounting scandal!