PokerStars Delivers Biggest Day in Online Poker History With More Than $39 Million in Prize Pools

ONCHAN, Isle of Man, May 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Sunday tournaments blew away$28 million overall guarantee  

PokerStars, an Amaya, Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand, hit a new online poker tournament high yesterday when it achieved record-breaking total prize pools of more than $39 million in a single day, smashing the guarantee of $28 million by almost 40 per cent. The total prize pools made it the biggest day the online poker industry has ever seen.

     (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/514673/SCOOP_2017.jpg )

The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) events yesterday delivered more than $29.5 million in prize pools. The High Stake Main Event smashed its $5 million guarantee to reach a $6,930,000 prize pool, meaning that there is more than $1.3 million set aside for 1^st place and a massive $960,000 for the runner up when the tournament concludes tomorrow.

"Thank you to all our players who participated in our tournaments making it possible for us to break these records," said Severin Rasset, Director of Poker Innovations and Operations at PokerStars. "Being able to offer the biggest day in the online poker history is a victory for everyone in poker and we're delighted that so many of our players joined us to make this a reality. We are proud to have been able to provide so many winning moments to so many of our players and we're looking forward to providing even more for a long time to come."

Day 2 of the SCOOP Main Event will continue at 14:00 ET today. Team PokerStars Pros Elky and Andre Akkari are still in the running in the High Stakes edition, sitting in 46^th and 80^th places respectively with 80 places paid. Other players in contention include Phil 'MrSweets28' Galfond, Ole 'wizowizo' and Timothy 'Tim0thee' Adams. In the Medium Stakes event, Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari is in second place with Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree in 121^st and PokerStars Team Online Jaime Staples in 181^st place, whilst Canadian Ben 'Ben86' Tollerene, currently in eighth place.

Another millionaire is also expected in the High Stakes Event 01 Phase 2 tournament, which has $1 million set aside for the winner and $700,000 for second place. Team PokerStars Pro Igor Kurganov finished in 52^nd place for $10,012. The tournament resumes today at 12:30 ET.

Yesterday's total prize pool of $39 million surpasses the previous biggest day for online tournament poker payouts - May 22, 2016 - which paid out $35 million. In NJSCOOP, the High Stakes Main Event also exceeded its $200,000 guaranteed, hitting a prize pool of $204,000 while the biggest non-SCOOP tournament was the Super-Sized Sunday's $600,000 prize pool.

About PokerStars 

PokerStars operates the world's most popular online poker sites, serving the global poker community. Since it launched in 2001, PokerStars has become the first choice of players all over the world, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and with the best online security. More than 165 billion hands have been dealt on PokerStars, which is more than any other site.

PokerStars is the flagship brand of Rational Group, which is ultimately owned by Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) and owns gaming and related businesses and brands, including PokerStars, PokerStars Casino, BetStars, Full Tilt, StarsDraft, and the PokerStars Championship, the PokerStars Festival and the PokerStars MEGASTACK live poker tour brands (incorporating the European Poker Tour, PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, Latin American Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour). PokerStars is the world's most licensed online gaming brand, holding licenses or related operating approvals in 17 jurisdictions. PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate globally under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively.

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