Yesterday The Stars Group, the ownershipbehind the monolithic PokerStars in the online poker world, announced some ofthe changes in their 2020 PokerStars Players’ Championship (PSPC) that willcome up next August in Barcelona. Buried in the depths of that interview,PokerStars has announced that, after a 15-year run, that the PokerStarsCaribbean Adventure will not be contested in 2020 and, effectively, is done asa tournament stop.

End of an Era – And of the “Golden Age” ofPoker

Inan interview with Lance Bradley of PocketFives that concentrated on thePSPC, The Stars Group spokesman Eric Hollreiser’s real announcement was buriedat the end. In that story, Hollreiser is quoted as saying “It’s no secret that after 15 successfulyears, the PCA has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing playercriticism of the location,” Hollreiser said. “As such, we will not be returningto Paradise Island in 2020.”

“PokerStarsand our players have had some great success at the Atlantis Resort & Casinoin the Bahamas over a strong 13-year run, and we have very many fond memoriesof ringing in the New Year with our PCA,” Hollreiser continued. “Our research,alongside player feedback, has shown, however, that it is time for a change tokeep things fresh and give our players what they are asking for.”

PCA 2019 Tournament Schedule. Check out the full PokerStars Caribbean Adventure schedule below. Want more information on your favorite events? Just click on each one for more details. Fri, Mar 26 2021 - Sun, Apr 04 2021 This poker cruise was canceled. Price: Canceled Ship: Royal Caribbean: Explorer of the Seas Departing From: Miami, Florida Destinations: Miami, FL. Labadee, Haiti. Oranjestad, Aruba. Willemstad, Curacao. Kralendijk, Bonaire Passport: For US passengers a valid passport (6 months) or original birth certificate is required to board the ship. Tournament Calendar:PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2021 Since the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is not going to be continued in the upcoming year of 2020, there is currently no calendar of events that can be shared or used to show the different poker events happening across the week-long event.

Thedecision from The Stars Group is stunning in that the PCA has, essentiallysince the inception of PokerStars itself, been THE tournament that the companywas known for. Originally contested aboard a cruise ship in 2004 and a part ofthe World Poker Tour, in 2005 the PCA found its home at the Atlantis Resort onParadise Island in the Bahamas. The January play date for the tournamentprovided the poker world – and we do mean the WORLD – with a way for peoplefrom around the globe to trek to the Bahamas to “get away” from the winterdoldrums for the first major poker tournament to kick off the year.

Over morethan a decade, the PCA gained notoriety for large prize pools and challengingtournaments. In many peoples’ views, it was a part of the “Grand Slam” oftournament poker, consisting of the PCA and the World Series of PokerChampionship Event, the World Poker Tour’s World Championship (now a defuncttournament), the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final (ditto) and the Aussie Millions.The buy in for the tournament would fluctuate over the years, vacillatingbetween a $5000 and a $10,000 buy in for its history.

While thepoker community loved the PCA, the tournament was affected by the realities ofthe political world. The 2006 passing of the UIGEA, and the decision byPokerStars to continue to serve the U. S. market, saw the PCA become even morepopular. But the 2011 indictment of the founders and executives of PokerStarsand the resulting pullout from the U. S. market had a significant impact on fieldsizes in subsequent years. After peaking at 1560 players in January 2011, the2019 version of the tournament “only” saw 835 entries.

PokerStars’Reasoning?

To be honest, the demise of the PCA has been rumored for years. It actually did end in 2017 as, looking to promote their “PokerStars Championships” circuit (their “replacement” for the EPT), the tournament was rebranded as the “PokerStars Championship Bahamas.” Neither that move, nor the decision to end the EPT (which came back in 2018), was received well by the poker community and the PCA came back in 2018 also.

With thedemise of online poker in the U. S., however, the justifications for The StarsGroup to continue to promote an event in the North American arena weredifficult to find. Even though they were able to return to the New Jersey onlinepoker market in 2016, The Stars Group has never been able to reestablish afoothold in the U. S., making marketing big time tournaments to U. S. customersa waste of time. Even with the potential to expand into Pennsylvania – The StarsGroup is licensed to offer online poker in Pennsylvania but hasn’t opened upshop yet – there’s just not enough reason for The Stars Group to continue withthe PCA.

There’salso the “new kid in town” that is the shiny new toy of The Stars Group and itis something they – not the original owners in Isai Scheinberg and his family –have created. The PSPC, after a stunning debut in 2019 at the PCA, seems to bethe vehicle that The Stars Group wants to ride in the future. With a remarkable1039 players taking part in a $25,000 buy in tournament – the largest $25K tournamentin the history of poker – The Stars Group sees the potential in the newtournament and, with the dwindling numbers of the PCA, needs to cut some weightsomewhere and put the marketing and promotional monies toward the PSPC.

The move of the PSPC to the EPT stop in Barcelona in 2020 was perhaps the first “bell toll” for the death of the PCA. The success of the 2019 tournament schedule at the Casino Barcelona made it an easy decision for the execs at The Stars Group. With online gaming still a burgeoning market in Europe, Asia and Africa, it made it an easy choice to leave the Western Hemisphere and go back to the Old Continent.

It is often said that good times never last, but the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure had a helluva run! Perhaps another tournament will be set in the climes of the Atlantis (oddly enough, the only time of the year that poker was offered in the Atlantis’ casino was during the PCA), but it would have to be a major tour such as the World Poker Tour or another circuit looking to make a name. For now, all we will have is the memories of those luxurious January days – and nights – and the warm Caribbean breezes as we bid farewell to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

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