Portugal Joins France and Spain in European Shared Liquidity
Poker players in Portugal no longer need to watch longingly from the sidelines as neighbors France and Spain play together. Portugal has officially become the third country to join in on European shared liquidity that is opening the doors of four previously segregated online poker markets.
Just as Spain and France celebrated their union with a successful France Espana Hold’em Series (FRESH) that offered and surpassed a €5 million prize pool guarantee, PokerStars will celebrate Portugal’s addition to the party with another €5 million guaranteed series June 3-13, Stars announced in a press release Wednesday. Players in Spain, France and now Portugal can partake in the 78-event Trio Series and compete in a€250 Main Event with a €500,000 guarantee.
"Our players will see a huge increase in the variety and scale of our tournaments and promotions and will enjoy more excitement, more competition and more fun.”
A range of buy-ins for the Trio start at just €1, and the festival comes with a gamut of promotions like Main Event depositor freerolls, Second Chance freerolls and daily freerolls that will give away €3 and €10 satellite and Series tickets. Players in France will be able to fire €2.50 Spin & Gos and Portugal’s players will gain access to an overhauled daily and Sunday tournament schedule as an added perk to accompany the new shared player pools.
“We have worked hard to become the first operator to bring the benefits of shared liquidity to Portugal. Our players will see a huge increase in the variety and scale of our tournaments and promotions and will enjoy more excitement, more competition and more fun!” said Guy Templer, Chief Operating Officer of The Stars Group.
“This dramatically strengthens our offering and demonstrates our commitment to the Portuguese market. We look forward to working with the Portuguese regulator to further improve the poker product offering for Portuguese players, and additionally hope that Italy will soon progress so that their players can also enjoy the significantly better experience that shared liquidity brings.”
Dawning of Shared Liquidity
In January, France and Spain became the first countries to follow through on the intercontinental liquidity pact signed back in July 2017, and PokerStars, in a unique position holding licenses in the two countries, became the first operator to get the ball rolling.
The online poker giant quickly began to demonstrate the benefits of shared liquidity, drawing 30,000 unique entries over 50 events in their inaugural FRESH series to generate €6,149,751 in total prize pools. They followed that up with the France and Spain Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) that also bested its posted €10 million guarantee.
While France and Spain enjoyed some early boosts to player pools, game options and tournament prize pools, Portugal and Italy lagged behind, Portugal’s hurdles appearing mostly regulatory in nature. These included drawn-out processes for appointing of operator licenses. While those delays in the Iberian Peninsula are no more, Italy’s timeline remains unclear, though some promising rhetoric came out of the country back in January.
Now that Portugal is ready to suit up and get in the game, it should only be a matter of time before team Italy gets in on the action, and PokerStars will likely be one of the frontrunners to link players together and continue reaping benefits offered by European shared liquidity — along with their players.
The Stars Group owns a majority shareholding in iBus Media.
