PokerStars has already awarded a staggering number of $30,000 Platinum Passes to the 2019 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) but there is much more to come.
The online gaming giant is enlisting the aid of its PokerStars Ambassadors to award the next batch of passes in something called the Platinum Pass Adventure.
Jason Somerville, Jaime Staples, Andre Akkari, Felix Schneider, Fintan Hand, Benj Spragg, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov were all charged with creating unique ways to award the next set of passes and they’ve outdone themselves with some of the most interesting contests ever seen in the poker world.
Although most Platinum Passes have been handed out to players for poker achievement the Platinum Pass Adventures went a different direction and make it possible to qualify for the 2019 PSPC without playing a single hand of poker.
Somerville launches “Next Great Twitch Streamer”
Jason “Jcarver” Somerville single-handedly changed the poker world when he carved out a unique niche on Twitch and brought poker to a new audience.
Now Somerville is asking players to follow in his footsteps and become the “Next Great Twitch Streamer”.
Contestants will have to log at least 150 hours during the four-month contest period but beyond that, they will have a fair amount of freedom.
Contestants can be amateurs or professionals and they can even play in the play-money games or real-money provided the majority of the action is on PokerStars.
Somerville will select three finalists and then the rest of the PokerStars ambassadors will help decide the ultimate winner. They will judge the contestant based on the criteria of chat interaction, average concurrents, additional hours broadcast, live cashes, presence in Twitch Poker community and the ability to fulfill the role of Twitch Poker Ambassador.
You can opt into the contest by sending your name, Twitch page, country of origin and a short paragraph about yourself to [email protected] by July 27th. The winner will be chosen on Nov. 15, 2018.
Find “Your Ultimate Sweat” with Jaime Staples
Brothers Jaime and Matthew Staples recently completed one of the most audacious prop bets in history by taking a year to get down (or up) so that they weighed roughly the same amount.
That was slightly harder than you might think considering Jaime weighed 305 pounds and Matt weighed 134 to start the challenge. By the time the smoke cleared they both weighed 188, which won them $150,000 from prop-betting extraordinaire Bill Perkins.
Now Jaime Staples is paying it forward by challenging contestants to enter their own Ultimate Sweat.
It doesn’t have to be weight-related this time around and contestants must simply set a goal and document their journey.
“I wish people could have their own Ultimate Sweat experience. Now thanks to PokerStars you can!” said Jaime Staples.
“I am giving away one Platinum Pass to the PokerStars Players Championship and you get to set your own challenge. Lose weight, learn to play Omaha poker, read a book a day, run a marathon. Anything! Submissions open July 1st. Good luck to you all on #myultimatesweat”
Igor, Boeree challenge the mind
PokerStars Ambassadors Igor Kurganov and Liv Boeree are taking a more cerebral approach to the Platinum Pass Adventure and have developed a series of puzzles and tests to challenge each players game theory and critical thinking.
The contest is officially titled “The Next Poker Brain” and the preliminary rounds of multiple choice questions will take place July 18, Aug. 8, Aug. 29 and Sept. 19.
The 10 contestants with the highest total scores will advance to the final on Oct. 3. The exact structure of the final quiz is yet to be determined but the winner will walk away with a $30,000 Platinum Pass package.
“What we’ve always loved most about poker is the strategy of the game and how it constantly challenges you to think deeply,” said Liv Boeree.
“Much of this translates to better decision making in everyday life. So when PokerStars gave us two Platinum Passes to give away to our followers, we immediately knew we wanted to do something around rationality and logic.”
Many paths to 2019 PSPC
The aforementioned promotions are the most high-profile events giving out Platinum Passes but there are plenty of other opportunities to qualify for the enormous PSPC.
Andre Akkari will be giving a pass to a lucky winner who plays the Brasil Series of Poker.
Felix Schneiders will be hosting a monthly nine-handed Sit & Go called “Bro Battle” in Cologne, Germany, where each contestant gets a seat in a special home game on Sept. 2 where the winner walks away with a Platinum Pass.
Fintan Hand and Benj Spragg may have the most abstract of all the Platinum Pass Adventure contests.
Each week the pair has been running unique challenges every day like Photoshop challenges or Lodden thinks or a Lookalike competition.
Each day Hand and Spragg pick winners that receive entry into a final tournament on July 29 that awards a $30,000 Platinum Pass. It just might be the best way for casual poker fans to get a trip to the gargantuan 2019 PokerStars Players Championship.
For those keeping track at home, just over 120 players have picked up Platinum Passes for the 2019 PSPC with plenty more to go. By the time the PSPC takes place in early 2019 there will have been a total of 320 Platinum Passes awarded to players from around the world.
