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The PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) is back for 2020 – Everything you should know!

EPT Barcelona always brings its fair share of interesting headlines, and 2019’s edition has, so far been no different. What has been different however, is the interesting announcement yesterday which added something extra to proceedings. The PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) is back for 2020. In the coming months players around the world will be hoping to pick up a ticket into the event, which will take place in the Bahamas in January.

PSPC 2020 announced as 5 Platinum Passes given away

PokerStars has used the stage of EPT Barcelona to present the news of PSPC’s return, announcing the return of PSPC during day 1b of the EPT Barcelona Main Event and giving away the first 5 Platinum Passes in the process. The PSPC is a $25,000 rake-free event with each Platinum Pass granting the owner a seat into the event. The inaugural PSPC took place in January of this year at the PCA in the Bahamas and the next instalment will follow the same timing and location. There will be numerous ways to get your hands on a Platinum Pass, and while the finer details are currently scarce, the picture below outlines the information we have so far.

1PSPC
Ways to win your pass – Photo credit: PokerStars

The 2018 PSPC

Last year, during the first ever edition of the event, 320 Platinum Passes were given away, each being valued at $30,000. Marc Rivera took 3rd place for $2,168,000 having won his seat via a Platinum Pass. Eventual winner Ramon Colillas best a field of over 1,000 players and won $5.1 million for 1st place despite being a relative amateur with only four cashes to his name totalling just over $10,000 before the event.

Further details

Platinum Passes are more than just a $25,000 seat into a tournament, as players will also receive money to cover travelling and expenses, along with having 6 nights in a hotel in Barcelona paid for. The events which will award Platinum Passes have not all been revealed yet and so we can only speculate how many passes will be won and when.

On the subject of the PSPC, Managing Director and Commercial Officer of Poker, Severin Rasset said,

“The PSPC demonstrates our commitment to cultivating and growing the game, not only by creating opportunities for poker fans of all levels to win life-changing sums of money, but also by showcasing poker and the entertainment it provides”.

What we can expect

Last time around, PokerStars boosted the prize pool by $8 million, including an extra $1 million pay bump for the winner, and while nothing has been confirmed yet, there is every chance the prize pool will receive a boost this time too. We shouldn’t necessarily expect another amateur to win, because although it was the fairytale story PokerStars and neutrals would have wanted, there are many top-level pros who took part last year and will again this year. It is probably that we will see a few amateurs clashing with big name pros in the late stages however, which always makes for interesting viewing.

Article by Craig Bradshaw