All Star Week - How to Qualify

How to Qualify

You'll need to prove you have the skills to play against Team PokerStars Pro by earning your place in the team of Challengers. Then it's time to decide who will face each of our pro players in the heads-up matches during the All Star week.

Follow the steps below to find out how to become an All Star Challenger.

Step 1 - Making the Cut

We are running five tournaments to select who'll be part of the 20-strong Challengers team, taking place Sunday, March 15, at 16:00 ET, open to invited players and wildcards. In addition to their spot on the Challengers team, every player that qualifies will also win a ticket to the SCOOP - $1050 All Stakes Main Event.

To register for any of the qualifiers, open the PokerStars lobby, click 'Events' and 'Special'.

Tournament	Buy-In	Number of All Star team qualifiers
2008 Sunday Million Winners	Freeroll	Places 1-4 qualify
2008 Yearly TLB Top 50 finishers	Freeroll	Places 1-4 qualify
2008 WCOOP Final Table players	Freeroll	Places 1-5 qualify
2008 Supernova Elites	Freeroll	Places 1-5 qualify
Wildcard tournament	$11	Places 1-2 qualify

Step 2 - Selecting Who Plays

Once the 20 Challengers have been selected, the team then needs to pick who gets to play in each heads-up match during the All Star Week. There's only one fair way for that to be done - tournament poker!

Every day at 16:00 ET, from March 16-22, the 20 Challengers will face-off against each other in a No Limit Hold'em tournament. When only five players remain, a PokerStars host will pause the tournament, and each of the remaining team members will decide who gets to play which Team PokerStars Pro in the five heads-up matches on the same day a week later.

First pick goes to the current chip leader, second choice to the second placed player, and so on until the line-up has been finalised. The success of the All Star team will depend on choosing the right man for each match, so strategy at this stage is crucial!

Step 3 - Heads-Up with Team PokerStars Pro

There will be five heads-up matches every day, from March 23-29, starting at 12:00 ET, 14:00 ET, 16:00 ET, 18:00 ET and 20:00 ET. Each match will see one All Star Challenger face off against a member of Team PokerStars Pro. All matches will be No Limit Hold'em, except for the 16:00 ET match, which will change each day in the following order: Stud, Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Hold'em, Limit 5 Card Draw, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo.

Most Valuable Player

As an added bonus, the Challengers will also be competing to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) - with a 1-stamp PokerStars Passport on the line for the player who performs best. The MVP will be decided by points, awarded as follows.

1 point for playing in a daily team selection tournament (March 16-22)
3 points for qualifying from a daily selection tournament (March 16-22)
5 points for winning an All Star Week match (March 23-29)

If you have any questions about the All Star Week, contact support@pokerstars.com.

Back to All Star Week main page.