By now you’re likely aware that PokerStars is celebrating its 10th Anniversary in style. Millions of dollars are up for grabs as we push the boat out with a series of promotions that will have all our players itching to get involved.
In business terms, ten years may not seem like such a long time, but online poker was a young pup that had to mature lightning fast. As such, so much has happened in a decade at PokerStars that it would be impossible to chronicle it all in one or two articles. For that reason, from today until the end of November, PokerStars Blog will publish a daily PokerStars 10th Anniversary review post that focusses on one theme.
A little word in your ear, and don’t tell anyone else this, but the facts and trivia contained in these review posts may be useful for you in a few weeks.
So, where to start? Well, like any good birthday, let’s party.
We all understand that PokerStars is deadly serious about poker, but anyone who has been to one of our live events like the PCA, or an EPT or LAPT, or who has qualified online with us for a seat at the WSOP, knows that PokerStars throws the best parties in the business.
Yes, there’s free booze, music, food, fine company and snazzy venues. Other people may do that as well, but PokerStars is likely to throw in a jaw-dropper to make an event unmissable.
How about Snoop Dogg?
Or Nelly?
Maybe Kelly Rowland is your thing?
Fed up with singers? OK, then, what about Dita von Teese, the Burlesque sensation?
You’d have paid a fortune to catch any of them live, yet all of these superstars have headlined PokerStars parties in recent years, all confirming PokerStars’ position as the number one destination for players who like to be treated as something special.
In the summer of 2010, Snoop Dogg was the top attraction at the WSOP. He was in Las Vegas especially to perform at The Palms for the legions of PokerStars players who had qualified for the Main Event, and he didn’t let them down. Bad ass rapper? Our players loved it.
The atmosphere in The Rain nightclub was electric as PokerStars players and their guests lapped up every minute of the rapper’s act. They partied hard, and many paid for it the next morning.
As Howard Swains put it so eloquently on the PokerStars Blog: “Play resumes at noon tomorrow in the World Series Main Event. We will be there, headaches and all, to guide you through to a new November Nine. Fo shizzle.”
Unfortunately, copyright issues mean we could not video Mr Dogg’s performace, but we got the next best thing… see this video for members of Team PokerStars Pro giving their best Snoop Dogg impressions…
Wind back 12 months, and you may recall the stunning 2009 performance by Nelly at the PokerStars WSOP party. Here’s a man who had endeared himself to members of Team PokerStars Blog, not least because some of them had a winning session with him on the craps tables. We’d seen him play at the poker tables, too, but we were to be awestruck when we saw him perform for us and all our PokerStars players at the 2009 WSOP party.
Expectations were high. As Stephen Bartley–not someone you’d normally associate with hip-hop–noted on PokerStars Blog at the time: “I’m setting the line at ‘brilliant’,” said a member of the media ahead of Nelly taking the stage tonight. That line was set way too low.
Nelly, quite simply, gave PokerStars players lucky enough to be at The Rain nightclub the best night they would have in a very long time. And judging by his appearance, the It’s Getting Hot in Here star was pumped up for it.
Here’s the man and part of his extraordinary show…
Back in 2008, the PokerStars WSOP party took a decidedly risque turn. No grammy-award-winning singers, but instead a lady who has turned Burlesque into a mouth-watering art form. Dita von Teese put on a quite remarkable show. Over to Stephen Bartley once more–not someone you’d normally associate with half-naked women–who wrote this on the PokerStars Blog afterwards: “Von Teese was dressed in something akin to a silver skirt, blue suspenders and feathered tutu. It was a ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ all this was going to be discarded, of course, and sure enough, with hordes of beautiful people packed into the club and hundreds more waiting outside edging closer to the entrance, Dita showed Las Vegas how to celebrate a World Series rest day, courtesy of the biggest and best online poker site in the world.”
Here’s the lady herself chatting to PokerStars.tv before her show. No drooling allowed…
For many, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is one long party, once you put aside the chance of winning millions of dollars. Balmy evenings with the crystal-clear sea lapping quietly on the shoreline just yards away makes for an idylic party venue. In 2010, however, there was the forecast of rain on the night of the PokerStars party. But with the Atlantis resort being so vast, it was not difficult to move the whole thing inside. And that is where Kelly Rowland sang her heart out for PokerStars players and guests.
Quiet and almost shy off stage, Kelly, who is currently starring as a judge in the British X Factor series, rocked the Bahamas with a set that had PokerStars players jumping. Look closely at the photograph below. Let me tell you the gentleman on a pal’s shoulders was none other than Ryan D’Angelo, who was chip leader in the PCA Main Event at the time!
These, then, were some of the headline PokerStars parties from down the years. Let’s not forget all the others that have been enjoyed at our live tournaments the world over. I’ve been to so many it’s hard to remember them all (and that has nothing to do with the free-flowing booze). Fond memories of dancing at EPT San Remo, watching an Asian Michael Jackson lookalike at APPT Macau, a beach-theme party in a warehouse in Dortmund, Germany, dancers wearing not a lot at EPT Tallinn, and dancers wearing even less at EPT Snowfest (where there were also some goats). We’ve just about seen it all.
And there’s more to come. Be a part of it, and qualify for a live PokerStars event, starting with the PCA this January. Did we mention we have 100 seats up for grabs in our PCA Giveaway?
Back to Top
