Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournaments
However, the Bahamas was home to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, one of the most famous poker tournament series taking place in January of every year – until its 2019 cancellation. Still, many millions were won at the tables of PCA with some of the biggest names in poker vying for glory. The Bahamas has also hosted partypoker LIVE events. Atlantis Casino poker tournament schedule and information, including starting times, buy-ins, prize pool guarantees, and freerolls. The series will begin this Thursday, and PokerStars will be sending over 250 poker players to the inaugural PokerStars Championship Bahamas main event at Atlantis Resort. More than half of those qualifiers won their way to Atlantis for just $10 by playing special Spin & Go satellites on PokerStars.
Poker players from around the world spent much of today traveling to the airport in Nassau, Bahamas, then catching a cab or shuttle to Paradise Island, and exploring some of the massive Atlantis resort. Every January since 2004, players of varying bankrolls have been making the trek to the island for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – or some variation thereof – for one of the most popular live poker tournament series of the year.
Attendance in the past few years has waned, primarily due to the inability of poker players in countries like the United States to play on PokerStars and win prize packages or tournament entries that make the trip less expensive.
PokerStars decided to fix that. For more than a year now, PokerStars has been awarding prize packages worth $30K to bring people to the PCA for a tournament that aims to make history. And many of the players getting settled into their rooms tonight at Atlantis have never played a $25K buy-in tournament in their lives or even dreamed it would be possible to do so.
There is excitement in the air in the Bahamas tonight, and it all revolves around a historic tournament that will get underway tomorrow, January 6.
Your first look at the 2019 PCA https://t.co/1pQdEPwxUB
— Kevin Mathers @ Atlantis (@Kevmath) January 5, 2019
PSPC Details
The major action will get underway at the PCA on January 6 with the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship, better known as the PSPC.
The buy-in is $25K, but there will be no rake taken or PokerStars or the resort/casino. No reentries will be allowed, and registration will only be open until the start of Day 2. Play will begin with 60-minute levels but reduced to 30 minutes per level once the final table reduces the field to just three players.
Even more, PokerStars is adding approximately $8 million to the total prize pool in the form of free entries. And the winner will receive an extra $1 million beyond what the prize pool dictates.
Best of all, those free entries mean that more than 300 of the players in the tournament won their seats – and entire PCA trips – over the course of the past year. Some high-stakes players won them by claiming victory in various large tournaments throughout the year, some by bubbling those tournaments, but the majority of players won their prize packages by winning small buy-in events held around the world. Others won key online poker events. Some competed in various challenges to win their way to the PCA. And some of them even won the trips through Twitter, general goodwill, and holiday generosity.
A winner will be crowned on January 10. And it promises to be a big deal.
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournament
Stars and PokerStars Pros
As expected, the roster of Team PokerStars Pros will be at the PCA, and it is assumed that most will be playing in the PSPC. Daniel Negreanu, Chris Moneymaker, Liv Boeree, Jason Somerville, Maria Konnikova, Jeff Gross, and Fatima Moreira de Melo are just some of the pros that are scheduled to play in many of the events.
PokerStars also announced that comedian Norm Macdonald will be at the PCA and headlining a comedy performance. Bruce Buffer will be playing and announcing the “shuffle up and deal” at the start of Day 1. Championship skateboarder Tony Hawk will play with any winnings going to his own charitable foundation. Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia will also be in the field, as will NBA star Paul Pierce.
Much More Poker
The PCA is all about a variety of poker action. There are 41 tournaments listed on the series schedule that got off to a soft start today and will continue through January 16. Cash games and satellites will be offered as well.
Besides the PSPC, other main attractions for players include the $10K Main Event set for January 11-16, $50K High Roller on January 9, $100K Super High Roller on January 12 and another from January 10-12, and a $25K High Roller from January 14-16.
Online PSPC?
Just this week, PokerStars announced an online tournament to accompany the PSPC, only on a much smaller scale.
Don't forget, the #MiniPSPC runs online on PokerStars at the same time as the #PSPC takes place in the Bahamas.
✅ $25 buy-in
✅ $9,000 added
✅ Five-day event, starting at 21.05 CET on January 6th (24hr late-reg)
✅ To register, search for tournament #2498943835 or 'Mini PSPC' pic.twitter.com/C4UFVgH0Ec
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) January 5, 2019
The MiniPSPC will begin online at PokerStars on January 6 and run through the 10th, just as the live event will take place in the Bahamas. But more people will be able to play because the buy-in is only $25. Like the live event, there will be no rake, and players can register for the first 24 hours of the tournament.
One major difference is that the online version will offer 20-minute levels, much shorter the live PSPC, and the final table will happen on January 11 with only six players.
There may be $9 million added to the live PSPC, but the MiniPSPC will have $9K added.
Stories Upon Stories
Poker will be played in the coming days. The PSPC guarantees serious action and five days of intense poker. But there is something else that everyone can follow: the stories.
ICMYI: It's been a year full of #Twitch thrills, winning moments, and hundreds of #PlatinumPass packages.
Join us as we look back over 2018.https://t.co/TOOlueDXmr
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) December 31, 2018
Approximately 320 of the people in the tournament won their way into the PSPC. PokerStars has chronicled their journeys and told many of their stories on its blog. Many of the industry’s best writers are also in the Bahamas to write from the scene, and there is no doubt that the blog will be overflowing with some of the best stories the game has to offer.
We will provide highlights of the action from afar, but watch the PokerStars blog for the player-focused articles. Many readers may remember all over again why they fell in love with poker in the first place.
What are the odds?? @Joeingram1@JHilsercop@Randi_heatlifer@pokerstarspic.twitter.com/nspoZjTaXf
— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) January 5, 2019
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Table Of Contents
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is no more.
After 16 years, most of it spent being one of the premier live stops on the international poker scene, PokerStars has opted to discontinue the event, according to reporting from PocketFives.
The relevant sentence comes at the bottom of the linked piece, in a quote from PokerStars Marketing Director Eric Hollreiser.
Atlantis Bahamas Poker Tournaments No Deposit
'It’s no secret that after 15 successful years, the PCA [prior to last year’s PSPC] has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing player criticism of the location,” Hollreiser said. “As such, we will not be returning to Paradise Island in 2020.'
History of the PCA
PCA began as a partnership with the World Poker Tour, taking place on a cruise ship in 2004 and hosting a field of 221 players. Poker legend Gus Hansen would ship the inaugural event, then a $7,500 buy-in, for $455,780.
The next year the PCA moved to its famous home at Atlantis Resort, the sprawling and opulent set-up that occupies almost half of Paradise Island.
Over the years there, the series would eventually evolve into becoming part of PokerStars' European Poker Tour, with the buy-in goosed up to $10,300. It would eventually stand as one of just a few remaining $10K main events on the overall live schedule, although the buy-in was dropped to $5,300 for a couple of years, including the one year the event was rebranded as PokerStars Championship Bahamas in 2017.
The PCA peaked in terms of prizes awarded in 2009, when little-known Canadian Poorya Nazari won a monstrous official first-place of $3 million, although it was widely reported thata deal had been struck at some point before the finish. In terms of entries, the PCA Main Event peaked during the two following years when 1,529 and 1,560 turned up, respectively.
The Main Event was far from the only big draw at PCA. It also hosted some of the first and biggest $100K events in poker before that was just another tournament in the procession of high rollers. The $25K High Roller was also usually one of the most well-attended on the calendar.
Declining Attendance
While the PCA for years could count itself a premier live poker stop, it had fallen on somewhat hard times in recent years.
After attendance peaked in 2011, the lack of online satellites available to North American players contributed to a large attendance drop back to 1,072 in 2012 — about two-thirds of the previous year's total. As the poker environment became tougher and edges shrank, the attractiveness of an expensive stay on an island resort went down as well.
A further drop of about 20 percent — from 1,031 to 816 — in 2015 convinced PokerStars brass to try lowering the buy-in to the aforementioned $5,300. The move did little, as a bump of about 100 entries just meant the prize pool dropped massively, awarding its first winner's prize below seven figures since 2005.
Things only got worse the following year, and 2018's return to $10,300 saw attendance drop in the number of entries to 582, a level not seen since 2005 as well.
The PCA received a major shot in the arm in 2019 when the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship was announced. While the landmark event would run alongside the PCA Main Event, the lure of the most lucrative $25K in history was enough to bring out plenty of grinders and push Main Event attendance back up to 865 for Chino Rheem's victory.
However, that always looked to be temporary fix given that the PSPC was thought to be a one-off and certainly looked unlikely to be repeated every year. With the news that the event will move to Barcelona for 2020, it was confirmed that there would be no similar life raft to keep the 2020 PCA afloat, and PokerStars opted to end the long-running event rather than risk continued decline.
Barring a reboot some time down the road, that means Rheem will go down as the final PCA Main Event champion, closing the books on one of poker's longest-running and most lucrative tournament series.
Tables of PCA Major Event Winners
Main Event
| Year | Buy-In | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | $7,500 | 221 | $1,657,500 | Gus Hansen | $455,780 |
| 2005 | $8,000 | 461 | $3,487,200 | John Gale | $890,600 |
| 2006 | $8,000 | 724 | $5,647,200 | Steve Paul-Ambrose | $1,388,600 |
| 2007 | $8,000 | 937 | $7,063,842 | Ryan Daut | $1,535,255 |
| 2008 | $8,000 | 1,136 | $8,562,976 | Bertrand Grospellier | $2,000,000 |
| 2009 | $10,000 | 1,347 | $12,674,000 | Poorya Nazari | $3,000,000 |
| 2010 | $10,300 | 1,529 | $14,831,300 | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
| 2011 | $10,300 | 1,560 | $15,132,000 | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
| 2012 | $10,300 | 1,072 | $10,398,400 | John Dibella | $1,775,000 |
| 2013 | $10,300 | 987 | $9,573,900 | Dimitar Danchev | $1,859,000 |
| 2014 | $10,300 | 1,031 | $10,070,000 | Dominik Panka | $1,423,096 |
| 2015 | $10,300 | 816 | $7,915,200 | Kevin Schulz | $1,491,580 |
| 2016 | $5,300 | 928 | $4,500,800 | Mike Watson | $728,325 |
| 2017 | $5,000 | 738 | $3,376,712 | Christian Harder | $429,664 |
| 2018 | $10,300 | 582 | $5,645,400 | Maria Lampropulos | $1,081,100 |
| 2019 | $10,300 | 865 | $8,390,500 | Chino Rheem | $1,567,100 |
$100K Super High Roller
| Year | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 38 | $3,743,000 | Eugene Katchalov | $1,500,000 |
| 2012 | 32 | $3,136,000 | Viktor Blom | $1,254,400 |
| 2013 | 55 | $5,724,180 | Scott Seiver | $2,003,480 |
| 2014 | 56 | $5,433,120 | Fabian Quoss | $1,629,940 |
| 2015 | 66 | $6,402,000 | Steve O'Dwyer | $1,872,580 |
| 2016 | 58 | $5,626,000 | Bryn Kenney | $1,687,800 |
| 2017 | 54 | $5,239,080 | Jason Koon | $1,650,300 |
| 2018 | 48 | $4,737,600 | Cary Katz | $1,492,340 |
| 2019 | 61 | $5,918,220 | Sam Greenwood | $1,775,460 |
$25K High Roller
| Year | Entries | Total Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 48 | $1,200,000 | Bertrand Grospellier | $433,500 |
| 2010 | 84 | $2,057,998 | William Reynolds | $576,240 |
| 2011 | 151 | $3,775,500 | Will Molson | $1,072,850 |
| 2012 | 148 | $3,626,000 | Alex Bilokur | $1,134,930 |
| 2013 | 204 | $4,998,000 | Vanessa Selbst | $1,424,420 |
| 2014 | 247 | $6,051,500 | Jake Schindler | $1,192,624 |
| 2015 | 269 | $6,456,000 | Ilkin Garibli | $1,105,040 |
| 2016 | 225 | $5,400,000 | Nick Maimone | $996,480 |
| 2017 | 159 | $3,895,500 | Luc Greenwood | $740,032 |
| 2018 | 142 | $3,484,800 | Chris Kruk | $836,350 |
| 2019 | 162 | $3,928,500 | Martin Zamani | $895,110 |
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