PokerStars Attempts Guinness World Record for Largest Ever Poker Tournament

LONDON, November 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

PokerStars.com will attempt to hold the world's largest poker tournament on December 4, by bringing more than 150,000 players together to play in an online poker game as part of the PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebration, the company announced.

The current Guinness World Record of 149,196 players was set in 2009 in another PokerStars tournament, which featured a $1 buy-in. It was won by online player 'oskar69' from Garbsen in Germany for $50,000.

The latest World Record attempt will start at 12:30 ET on December 4, 2011 and will be a $1 No Limit Hold'em tourney with a guaranteed prize pool of $250,000. The first prize will be $50,000, an unusually high return for a $1 tournament.

"It's exciting and unique to be part of a World Record," said Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, who already holds a personal Guinness World Record for Most Online Poker Tables Played in One Hour (62, with a profit of $23.60). "I'm looking forward to doing it again on December 4. It will be great to see so many players come together to make history once again at the world's largest poker site."

PokerStars 10th Anniversary

This World Record tournament attempt is the third promotion in PokerStars' 10th Anniversary Celebration, which so far includes the $10 Million Sunday Million tournament that has already captured players' imaginations with its $10 million guaranteed prize pool and $2 million for first place, along with the 10th Anniversary Giveaway that will award 100 dream vacations to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas for free, along with 10,000 cash prizes.

PokerStars said that there will be more announcements to follow in the coming weeks to help players join in the festivities. In the meantime, players can find more information about the PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebration at http://www.PokerStars.com/ten.

About PokerStars:

PokerStars operates PokerStars.com, the world's most popular online poker site, and serves the world's largest poker community, with more than 49 million registered members since it launched in December 2001. It's the first choice of the world's top players, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else, and with the best security online. More hands have been dealt on PokerStars.com than any other site; that's over 70 billion hands and more than 450 million tournaments played.