PokerStars Announces Isle of Man Poker Festival

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Monday, October 7th, 2013 | Written by Stephen Smith

Usually when the topic of PokerStars come up, which it does quite often considering it is the world’s largest online poker room, there’s an accompanying footnote pointing out that PokerStars’ parent company, the Rational Group, is based in Isle of Man.

Now, for the first time ever, PokerStars will be hosting an event in its Isle of Man corporate home.

According to a press release put out by the company, the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) is set to make a stop there at the end of this month, as part of what is being called the Isle of Man Poker Festival.

Events begin on October 30th

PokerStars expects that the Isle of Man events will attract a large crowd, noting in the press release, “The Main Event of the Isle of Man poker festival will be a £1,100 entry No Limit Hold’em poker tournament that will be held at the Villa Marina. PokerStars is guaranteeing a prize pool of at least £500,000, ensuring it will attract hundreds of visitors from across the British Isles and Europe.”

The festival will be get started on October 30th and will end on November 4th. For those online poker players who are interested in learning more about the most prominent brand in the game, PokerStars is promising “an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes and learn more about PokerStars during the festival.”

For those unfamiliar with Isle of Man, it is a small island located between Ireland and the UK, making it an easy location for both UK poker players and those from Ireland to travel to for the tournament. Other activities on the island include hiking and eating food that Wikitravel says “continues to improve.” The travel site assures visitors of the presence of “some good restaurants and bistros.”

Festival will feature something for everyone along the poker spectrum

There will also be events held for those who are looking for a lower buy-in than the £1,100 Main Event. Buy-ins will start at £110 at the low end of the range.

Other highlights of the Isle of Man Poker Festival include a peek at the server facility that powers the huge real-money online poker web site as well as guided tours of the company’s offices located in Onchan. PokerStars will also be hosting a job fair in conjunction with the festival.

The event will likely serve not only as an opportunity for those who might not otherwise find a reason to visit the tiny Isle of Man – its population is less than 75,000 people – but also for PokerStars to gain a bit of positive attention for what it has created there.

Remarked UKIPT President Kirsty Thompson, “PokerStars is very proud to bring a large-scale poker festival to our corporate hometown to allow poker players to learn about PokerStars and our home.”

Noting that PokerStars will be allowing its employees to play in the events (so long as they buy-in like anyone else), Thompson said, “Being able to play, chat and compete with PokerStars employees at the tables will be an extra benefit as they visit the home of PokerStars.”