DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Jan. 7, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The results are in. PokerStars -- the world's largest online poker site -- has shattered the Guinness World Record for the Largest Online Poker Tournament.
As part of PokerStars' 'World Record Week', 35,000 poker players -- enough to fill a professional football stadium -- took part in the special $11 buy-in tournament on Sunday, December 28, 2008, with PokerStars guaranteeing a $500,000 prize pool. PokerStars had set the previous record with a field of 20,000 players in the Sunday Hundred Grand on July 29, 2007.
The tournament, which sold out well in advance, played for over 9.5 hours with a record 8,750 players reaching the money. The winner Stan34powa from France, outlasted the world's biggest-ever field to win a $30,000 first prize.
"When I read about the PokerStars record breaking tournament, the huge field, the $500,000 prize pool and all for only $11 buy-in -- I knew I couldn't miss it. When I won the $30,000 prize after less 10 hours of play I was so happy," said Stan34powa after his historic win.
It was a weekend of milestones during the PokerStars 'World Record Week'. Aside from hosting the largest online tournament, PokerStars also hosted its largest ever Sunday Warm-up tournament. A record 5,836 players took part in the special event which boosted the guaranteed $1 million prize pool to an amazing $1,167,200 Eventually 855 players walked away with a slice of the money with winner Hr_Herman getting $147,067 for his efforts.
The world-renowned Sunday Million tournament also reached record levels -- pulling in a whopping 16,260 players and creating a $3,252,000 prize pool. This easily surpassed the $2.5 million that PokerStars had guaranteed in honor of 'World Record Week'. A remarkable 2,475 players made the money, with winner lp_SakiSaki banking an astounding $331,379.
To read more about World Record Week, please visit the PokerStars blog: http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2008/12/world-record-week-stan34powa-tops-field.html
"No other site brings the level of excitement, skill, and challenge that poker players crave," said Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. "The Sunday tournaments on PokerStars provide an unrivaled opportunity to prove your poker prowess with a lucrative prize pool that matches the highest level of competition."
Every month, PokerStars awards more than $400 million in cash prizes, and trips to some of the most alluring travel destinations and world-famous casinos. With tournaments like the Sunday Million and annual events such as the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), PokerStars consistently hosts some of the richest and best-renowned online tournaments. Over $39 million was awarded to players during the 33 events that comprised the 2008 WCOOP.
For more information and a full schedule of PokerStars' tournaments, go to: http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/schedule/
About PokerStars:
PokerStars (www.pokerstars.net) is not just the world's largest online poker room (with 14 million players worldwide) -- it's also the world's leading poker tournament site. This makes PokerStars the premier destination for the world's top players -- with over 100,000 tournaments running everyday. PokerStars is world-renowned for offering the highest levels of security in the online poker world. To date, PokerStars has;
- Dealt over 19 billion hands
- Run more than 100 million poker tournaments
- Entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first and only poker web site to reach the 160,000 simultaneous players mark
PokerStars is the official sponsors of: The European Poker Tour (www.ept.com), The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), The Latin American Poker Tour (www.lapt.com), The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (www.appt.com) and The World Cup of Poker.
PokerStars is the home of Team PokerStars Pro, a group of 29 professional and up-and-coming players from around the world who play online at PokerStars and are sponsored by the site in international tournaments around the world. For more information please visit www.pokerstars.net.
The PokerStars logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3169
CONTACT: Lotus Public Relations for PokerStars Jessie Barrett (212) 922-5885 jessie.barrett@lotus-pr.com