PokerStars Releases PCA Schedule and PSPC Details

Frank Op de Woerd

Oct 01, 2018 3 min read

In December of 2017, PokerStars announced the Poker Players NL Hold'em Championship (PSPC), scheduled for January 2019 as the kickoff event for the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).

After giving away dozens of passes, valued at $30,000 each, PokerStars organized a massive survey in August to get input on some of the technicalities of the event. Poker players from around the world were asked for their ideas about such things as table occupancy, starting stack, blind level duration, and more.

the starting stack is worth 300 big blinds when things kick off.

Now, with about 100 days till the tournament's kick off, the details for the inaugural PSPC have been announced, alongside the schedule for the PCA 2019.

PSPC Details

Most of the decisions won't come as a surprise to the majority of the poker playing population. The notable exception, for some, is that the tournament starts out 9-handed on Day 1, moving to an 8-handed set-up from Day 2 onwards.

Players that qualified for, or bought into, the illustrious event, start with 60,000 in chips. With one-hour levels and the first blinds at 100 and 200, the starting stack is worth 300 big blinds when things kick off at noon.

The Big Blind Ante is in play from the start.

Day 1 and Day 2 will play for eight levels with no dinner break. There are twenty-minute breaks after the second and fourth level of the day, with a half-hour break after the sixth level. That means action concludes around 9:10 p.m. on Day 1 and 2. On Day 3, the plan is to play down to 16 or 24 players, depending on the pace of play. On Day 4, the tournament is scheduled to finish when 8 or 6 players remain, with the remaining players returning on Day 5 to play down to a winner.

The Big Blind Ante is in play from the start. Once the money is reached, a 30-second shot clock and 30 second time bank cards will be put into play. Players are issued one time bank card for each level. Unused time bank cards are not carried over to the following day.

With a significant percentage of the field qualifying for the event, the min-cash is decided to be somewhere between 1.2 times the buy-in ($30,000) and 1.5 ($37,500), to be announced at a late date. Fifteen percent of the field will finish in the money.

PSPC Details in Short

Dates:	January 6-10
Buy-in:	$25,000
Registration closes:	Start of Day 2
Starting stack:	60,000
Starting blinds:	100/200 (300 big blinds)
Rake:	$0 (2% staff deduction)
Blind levels:	60 minutes
Payout percentage:	15%
Ante-structure:	Big-blind ante
Shot-clock:	Implemented on Day 2 (or ITM)

PokerStars has already given away some 180 Platinum Passes. While some well-known poker players are among the 180 registrants, the majority will be relatively unknown and will most likely be playing by far the biggest buy-in event of their life. A likely result will be more seasoned players buying in, hoping to get a piece of the pie. Not only has PokerStars vouched to distribute $8 million in Platinum Passes, but the world's number one poker room is also adding $1,000,000 to the first-place prize to sweeten the deal even more.

PokerStars has already given away some 180 Platinum Passes.

PCA 2019 Schedule

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure starts on January 5, 2019, and runs through January 16. It's once again being held at the Atlantis Resort & Casino on Paradise Island.

Besides the PSPC, running January 6-10, a series of big and smaller buy-in events are organized for a total of 41 events in the 12-day span. Some of the high lights: