PokerStars Festival

The PokerStars Festival was a series of global poker tournaments which began in 2016. The formation of the series was announced in August 2016, when PokerStars revealed that the European Poker Tour and other poker tours were being rebranded.^[1] Thirteen tournament festivals were played in the inaugural season, in the North America, Europe, South America and Asia. PokerStars also announced another series of tournaments, PokerStars Championship, which features higher buy-in events. The series was discontinued after the second season.

PokerStars Festival

Sport	Texas Hold 'em
Founded	2016
Ceased	2018
Official website

PSF Main Event winners

Season 1

Date	Event / City	Players	Prize Pool	Winner	Prize	Results
1–5 November 2016	PSF New Jersey US$1,100 Resorts Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, USA	208	$201,760	Jason Acosta[2]	$38,220
25–29 January 2017	PSF London £990 (~US$1,237) PokerStars at The Hippodrome Casino, London, UK	944	£824,112 (~US$1,030,037)	Rehman Kassam[3]	£89,320 (~US$111,638)
9–13 March 2017	PSF Rozvadov €1,100 (~US$1,161) King's Casino, Rozvadov, Czech Republic	1,126	€1,089,310 (~US$1,150,080)	Petr Svoboda[4]	€124,346 (~US$131,283)
23–27 May 2017	PSF Chile US$1,650 Viña del Mar Casino, Viña del Mar, Chile	329	US$500,000	Christopher Franco[5]	US$97,360
21–25 June 2017	PSF Marbella €1,100 (~US$1,226) Casino Marbella, Marbella, Spain	949	€911,040 (~US$1,015,358)	Ignacio De Maturana[6]	€152,000 (~US$169,404)
20–23 July 2017	PSF Lille €1,100 (~US$1,268) Hotel Casino Barrière de Lille, France	800	€768,000 (~US$885,343)	Philippe Le-Touche[7]	€143,000 (~US$164,849)
20–24 July 2017	PSF Korea ₩1,650,000 (~US$1,468) Paradise Hotel & Resort, Incheon, South Korea	285	₩414,675,000 (~US$368,902)	Tae Hoon Han[8]	₩83,130,000 (~US$73,954)
2–6 August 2017	PSF Bucharest €1,100 (~US$1,299) JW Marriott Grand Hotel, Bucharest, Romania	736	€706,560 (~US$834,763)	Sam Grafton[9]	€117,707 (~US$139,050)
3–7 August 2017	PSF Manila ₱55,000 (~US$1,090) City of Dreams, Manila, Philippines	594	₱28,809,000 (~US$571,420)	Uday Bansal[10]	₱4,676,000 (~US$92,747)
19–23 September 2017	PSF Uruguay US$1,650 Enjoy Punta del Este, Punta del Este, Uruguay	261	US$379,755	Julio Belluscio[11]	US$66,748
28 September–1 October 2017	PSF Dublin €1,100 (~US$1,293) Regency Airport Hotel, Dublin, Ireland	544	€679,000 (~US$798,204)	Gary McGinty[12]	€91,808 (~US$107,925)
19–22 October 2017	PSF Sochi ₽66,000 (~US$1,150) Sochi Casino and Resort, Sochi, Russia	699	₽40,681,800 (~US$798,204)	Aleksandr Merzhvinskii[13]	₽7,700,000 (~US$134,163)
22–26 November 2017	PSF Hamburg €1,100 (~US$1,291) Spielbank Schenefeld, Hamburg, Germany	567	€549,990 (~US$645,445)	Ulrich Pauls[14]	€105,850 (~US$124,221)

Season 2

Date	Event / City	Players	Prize Pool	Winner	Prize	Results
24–28 January 2018	PSF London £990 (~US$1,384) PokerStars at The Hippodrome Casino, London, UK	852	£743,796 (~US$1,039,576)	Kalidou Sow[15]	£121,803 (~US$170,239)
6–10 June 2018	PSF Marbella €1,100 (~US$1,286) Casino Marbella, Marbella, Spain	1,047	€985,920 (~US$1,153,204)	Omar Del Pino[16]	€179,000 (~US$209,371)
19–22 July 2018	PSF Lille €1,100 (~US$1,280) Hotel Casino Barrière de Lille, France	859	€824,640 (~US$959,799)	Alexandre de Zutter[17]	€143,000 (~US$164,849)

Season 1 Results

PSF New Jersey

• Venue: Resorts Casino Hotel, Atlantic City, USA
• Buy-in: $1,100
• 5-Day Event: 1–5 November 2016
• Number of buy-ins: 208
• Total Prize Pool: $201,760
• Number of Payouts: 39

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Jason Acosta	$38,220
2nd	Michael Gagliano	$28,116
3rd	Eli Kim	$20,683
4th	David Johnston	$15,215
5th	Matthew Affleck	$11,193
6th	Sridhar Sangannagari	$8,234
7th	Rocco Dicondina	$6,057
8th	Peter Smyth	$4,455

PSF London

• Venue: PokerStars at The Hippodrome Casino, London, UK
• Buy-in: £990 (~US$1,237)
• 5-Day Event: 25–29 January 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 944
• Total Prize Pool: £824,112 (~US$1,030,037)
• Number of Payouts: 183

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Rehman Kassam	£89,320* (~US$111,638)
2nd	Daniel Harwood	£95,000* (~US$$118,738)
3rd	Eric Cech	£70,000* (~US$87,491)
4th	Yuriy Boyko	£43,370 (~US$54,207)
5th	Clément Tripodi	£31,510 (~US$31,510)
6th	Ludovic Geilich	£22,950 (~US$28,684)
7th	Alexis Fleur	£16,702 (~US$20,875)
8th	Lam Van Trinh	£12,150 (~US$15,185)

* Deal between the final three players.

PSF Rozvadov

• Venue: King's Casino, Rozvadov, Czech Republic
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,161)
• 5-Day Event: 9–13 March 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 1,126
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: €500,000 (~US$527,894)
• Total Prize Pool: €1,089,310 (~US$1,150,080)
• Number of Payouts: 215

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Petr Svoboda	€124,346 (~US$131,283)
2nd	Michal Lubas	€91,000 (~US$96,077)
3rd	Stanislav Koleno	€87,444 (~US$92,322)
4th	Michael Rohde	€78,966 (~US$83,371)
5th	Cenk Oguz	€39,078 (~US$41,258)
6th	Marian Flesar	€28,086 (~US$29,653)
7th	Péter Kamarás	€20,186 (~US$21,312)
8th	Jan Stariat	€14,508 (~US$15,317)

PSF Chile

• Venue: Viña del Mar Casino, Viña del Mar, Chile
• Buy-in: $1,650
• 5-Day Event: 23–27 May 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 329
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: $500,000
• Total Prize Pool: $500,000
• Number of Payouts: 47

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Christopher Franco	$97,360
2nd	Juan Giraldo	$61,900
3rd	Sergio Tello	$46,400
4th	Andrés Vega	$37,560
5th	Amos Ben Haim	$29,600
6th	Rodrigo Zambra	$22,600
7th	Oscar Tolosa	$16,600
8th	Diego Lizana	$12,200

PSF Marbella

• Venue: Casino Marbella, Marbella, Spain
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,226)
• 5-Day Event: 21–25 June 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 949
• Total Prize Pool: €911,040 (~US$1,015,358)
• Number of Payouts: 135

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Ignacio De Maturana	€152.000* (~US$169,404)
2nd	Íñigo Naveiro	€95.500* (~US$106,434)
3rd	Leo Margets	€95.500* (~US$106,434)
4th	Fernando Gonzalez	€54,100 (~US$60,295)
5th	Ignacio Barcenas Romera	€42,100 (~US$46,921)
6th	Jose Fibla	€31,200 (~US$34,773)
7th	Fabrizio Privitera	€22,300 (~US$24,853)
8th	Marco Lander	€15,900 (~US$17,721)

* Deal between the final three players.

PSF Lille

• Venue: Hotel Casino Barrière de Lille, France
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,268)
• 4-Day Event: 20–23 July 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 800
• Total Prize Pool: €768,000 (~US$885,343)
• Number of Payouts: 119

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Philippe Le-Touche	€143,000 (~US$164,849)
2nd	Kim Amanton	€88,000 (~US$101,445)
3rd	Jonathan Amasse	€62,200 (~US$71,703)
4th	Jean-Marie Piette	€46,390 (~US$53,477)
5th	Paul Bahbout	€36,590 (~US$42,180)
6th	Oystein Nordli	€27,460 (~US$31,655)
7th	Fabrice Halleux	€19,550 (~US$22,537)
8th	Florent Lusardi	€13,600 (~US$15,677)

PSF Korea

• Venue: Paradise Hotel & Resort, Incheon, South Korea
• Buy-in: ₩1,650,000 (~US$1,468)
• 5-Day Event: 20–24 July 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 285
• Total Prize Pool: ₩414,675,000 (~US$368,902)
• Number of Payouts: 39

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Tae Hoon Han	₩83,130,000 (~US$73,954)
2nd	Yuki Ko	₩55,280,000 (~US$49,178)
3rd	Wei Kuo Hsiao	₩40,430,000 (~US$35,967)
4th	Sano Mitsuru	₩32,635,000 (~US$29,033)
5th	Kojima Harunobu	₩25,600,000 (~US$22,774)
6th	Scott Janik	₩19,400,000 (~US$17,259)
7th	Jwah Kim	₩14,220,000 (~US$12,650)
8th	Dmitrii Kovalevskii	₩10,450,000 (~US$9,296)

PSF Bucharest

• Venue: JW Marriott Grand Hotel, Bucharest, Romania
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,299)
• 5-Day Event: 2–6 August 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 736
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: €500,000 (~US$590,723)
• Total Prize Pool: €706,560 (~US$834,763)
• Number of Payouts: 111

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Sam Grafton	€117,707 (~US$139,050)
2nd	Anil Ozdemir	€96,993 (~US$114,592)
3rd	Daniel Nietrzebka	€57,600 (~US$68,051)
4th	Fahredin Mustafov	€43,500 (~US$51,392)
5th	Patrick Bueno	€34,400 (~US$40,641)
6th	Johann Eclapier	€26,091 (~US$30,825)
7th	Traian Bostan	€18,720 (~US$22,116)
8th	Yuri Kudrinsky	€12,790 (~US$15,110)

PSF Manila

• Venue: City of Dreams, Manila, Philippines
• Buy-in: ₱55,000 (~US$1,090)
• 5-Day Event: 3–7 August 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 594
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: ₱20,000,000 (~US$396,695)
• Total Prize Pool: ₱28,809,000 (~US$571,420)
• Number of Payouts: 87

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Uday Bansal	₱4,676,000 (~US$92,747)
2nd	Antti Halme	₱4,273,000 (~US$84,753)
3rd	Michael Falcon	₱2,456,000 (~US$48,714)
4th	Mike Takayama	₱1,900,000 (~US$37,686)
5th	Jaehyun Lim	₱1,500,000 (~US$29,752)
6th	Sam Razavi	₱1,170,000 (~US$23,206)
7th	Kenneth Buck	₱870,000 (~US$17,256)
8th	Hoa Nguyen	₱596,000 (~US$11,821)

PSF Uruguay

• Venue: Enjoy Punta del Este, Punta del Este, Uruguay
• Buy-in: $1,650
• 5-Day Event: 19–23 September 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 261
• Total Prize Pool: $379,755
• Number of Payouts: 39

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Julio Belluscio	$66,748*
2nd	Julio Arocena	$60,027*
3rd	Hector Barua	$37,020
4th	Ernesto Panno	$29,880
5th	Osvaldo Naves	$23,440
6th	Juan Perez	$17,740
7th	Alejandro García	$13,020
8th	Renan Toniolo	$9,560

* Deal between the final two players.

PSF Dublin

• Venue: Regency Airport Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,293)
• 5-Day Event: 28 September – 1 October 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 544
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: €700,000 (~US$822,890)
• Total Prize Pool: €679,000 (~US$798,204)
• Number of Payouts: 79

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Gary McGinty	€91,808* (~US$107,925)
2nd	James O'Callaghan	€74,797* (~US$87,928)
3rd	Antonio Merone	€78,554* (~US$92,344)
4th	Sean Prendiville	€71,161* (~US$83,653)
5th	Ivan Tononi	€35,780 (~US$42,061)
6th	Declan Connolly	€28,110 (~US$33,044)
7th	Michael Graydon	€20,980 (~US$24,663)
8th	Alexander Bretherton	€14,530 (~US$17,080)

* Deal between the final four players.

PSF Sochi

• Venue: Sochi Casino and Resort, Sochi, Russia
• Buy-in: ₽66,000 (~US$1,150)
• 5-Day Event: 19–22 October 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 699
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: ₽30,000,000 (~US$522,714)
• Total Prize Pool: ₽40,681,800 (~US$708,831)
• Number of Payouts: 103

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Aleksandr Merzhvinskii	₽7,700,000 (~US$134,163)
2nd	Alexander Denisov	₽4,700,000 (~US$81,892)
3rd	Nikita Myshkin	₽3,350,000 (~US$58,370)
4th	Alexander Shlyakhov	₽2,600,000 (~US$45,302)
5th	Valentin Zolotilov	₽2,000,000 (~US$34,848)
6th	Andrey Kotelnikov	₽1,560,000 (~US$27,181)
7th	Mikhail Zamyatin	₽1,101,800 (~US$19,198)
8th	Kirill Denisenko	₽770,000 (~US$13,416)

PSF Hamburg

• Venue: Spielbank Schenefeld, Hamburg, Germany
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,291)
• 5-Day Event: 22–26 November 2017
• Number of buy-ins: 567
• Guaranteed Prize Pool: €500,000 (~US$586,779)
• Total Prize Pool: €549,990 (~US$645,445)
• Number of Payouts: 79

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Ulrich Pauls	€105,850 (~US$124,221)
2nd	Michal Lubas	€66,220 (~US$77,713)
3rd	Jan Sigel	€47,410 (~US$55,638)
4th	Behzad Zarnegar	€36,960 (~US$43,375)
5th	Stefan Rundstrom	€28,980 (~US$34,010)
6th	Andrei Nodea	€22,770 (~US$26,722)
7th	Karolis Domarkas	€16,990 (~US$19,939)
8th	Marcin Horecki	€11,770 (~US$13,813)

Season 2 Results

PSF London

• Venue: PokerStars at The Hippodrome Casino, London, UK
• Buy-in: £990 (~US$1,384)
• 5-Day Event: 24–28 January 2018
• Number of buy-ins: 852
• Total Prize Pool: £743,796 (~US$1,039,576)
• Number of Payouts: 127

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Kalidou Sow	£121,803* (~US$170,239)
2nd	Paul Dando	£103,197* (~US$$144,234)
3rd	David Mander	£60,000 (~US$83,859)
4th	Tom Winstone	£45,000 (~US$62,894)
5th	Waheed Ashraf	£35,500 (~US$49,617)
6th	Attila Farkas	£26,600 (~US$37,177)
7th	Thomas Harbrecht-Parker	£18,500 (~US$25,856)
8th	Tsz Ho	£13,000 (~US$18,169)

* Deal between the final two players.

PSF Marbella

• Venue: Casino Marbella, Marbella, Spain
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,286)
• 5-Day Event: 6–10 June 2018
• Number of buy-ins: 1,047
• Total Prize Pool: €985,920 (~US$1,153,204)
• Number of Payouts: 154

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Cesar Omar Del Pino Hanouadi	€179,000 (~US$209,371)
2nd	Romain Feriolo	€107,500 (~US$125,739)
3rd	Ole Hansen	€76,000 (~US$88,895)
4th	Iñigo Naveiro	€57,000 (~US$66,671)
5th	Thomas Saltonas	€44,000 (~US$51,465)
6th	Zhong Chen	€32,000 (~US$37,429)
7th	Teunis Kooij	€23,500 (~US$27,487)
8th	Paul van Oort	€17,000 (~US$19,884)

PSF Lille

• Venue: Hotel Casino Barrière de Lille, France
• Buy-in: €1,100 (~US$1,280)
• 4-Day Event: 19–22 July 2018
• Number of buy-ins: 859
• Total Prize Pool: €824,640 (~US$959,799)
• Number of Payouts: 127

Final table
Place	Name	Prize
1st	Alexandre de Zutter	€154,000 (~US$179,240)
2nd	Yannick Ansenne	€93,480 (~US$108,801)
3rd	Ugo Faggioli	€65,950 (~US$76,759)
4th	Alex Peck	€49,440 (~US$57,543)
5th	Tom De Boom	€38,980 (~US$45,368)
6th	Samir Akhoullou	€29,160 (~US$33,939)
7th	Gino Cardenia	€20,540 (~US$23,906)
8th	Pierre Antona	€14,430 (~US$16,795)

Future

On December 15, 2017, PokerStars announced that it will bring back regional tour brands in 2018. These include the European Poker Tour, Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), and Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT).^[18] Therefore, the PokerStars Festival label will no longer be used.