PokerStars Winter Series Pays Out $84 Million
The Winter Series at PokerStars.com had $40 million in combined guaranteed prize pools across 240 separate events, but after almost a quarter of a million poker players flocked to the PokerStars tables between Dec. 12 – Jan. 18, the total prize money awarded during Winter Series hit $51.2 million.
More than 244,000 unique players made approximately two million entries across the 240 Winter Series events. These impressive figures continued in the Southern Europe Winter Series that incorporated PokerStars’ Spain, France and Portugal sites where the €20 million guarantee was beaten by €2.2 million.
PokerStars’ Winter Series held in Italy, New Jersey and India had combined guarantees of $6.3 million yet a cool $8.3 million was awarded to those players.
Winter Series Main Events Awarded Massive Prizes
The highlight of the PokerStars.com Winter Series was the $2,100 buy-in High Main Event, a tournament that attracted 1,129 entries who battled for a slice of the $2,258,000 prize pool. A total of 143 players received prize money for their efforts, a min-cash worth $4,549, a final table appearance boosting this sum to $37,473 and the eventual champion scooping almost $360,000.
Ireland’s “ArtHouse2011” was that champion, an accolade that came with a $359,703 score. ArtHouse2011 defeated the Swedish superstars Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar heads-up, resigning the Swede to a $260,391 consolation prize; Korsar now has more than $12 million in online poker tournament winnings.
2019 Winter Series $2,100 High Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ArtHouse2011 | Ireland | $359,703 |
| 2 | Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar | Sweden | $260,391 |
| 3 | DSmunichlife | Germany | $188,499 |
| 4 | Messiraise | China | $136,455 |
| 5 | Geraldo “GeraldoCesar” Cesar Neto | Brazil | $98,781 |
| 6 | rompsa | Finland | $71,508 |
| 7 | TopKat5757 | New Zealand | $51,765 |
| 8 | gazzu666 | Chile | $37,473 |
More massive prizes were awarded in the $215 buy-in Winter Series Medium Main Event. Bulgaria’s “dubl_ace_420” and Russia’s “Dancer King” made a deal when heads-up that saw the latter secure a $242,110 payout when they fell in second-place. The champion walked away $246,573 richer.
The $22 buy-in Low Main Event saw a massive field of 44,718 players take to the PokerStars felt and, unsurprisingly, the tournament ended in a four-way deal. Second-through-fourth-place won prizes ranging between $44,075 and $48,632 with Brazil’s “brunoporto12” getting their hands on $77,288 for their $22 investment.
Despite first-place in the $2.20 buy-in Micro Main Event being 4,245 times the buy-in, this tournament did not end in a deal. This meant Peru’s “kbcitas” turned their $2.20 buy-in into an impressive $9,341.
€10 Million Guaranteed Carnaval Series Coming Soon
Next up for PokerStars is the €10 million guaranteed Carnaval Series that hits the Southern European networks of France, Portugal and Spain from Feb. 13-18. Some 166 events are scheduled, including a €250 buy-in Main Event featuring a €1 million guaranteed prize pool.
You can learn more about the PokerStars Carnaval Series here.
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