POKERSTARS UK & IRELAND POKER TOUR ISLE OF MAN FINISHES WITH FIREWORKS WHILE INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT RAMPS UP

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UK Player Dan Stacey crowned champion of UKIPT Isle of Man; £11,000 Raised for Craigs Heartstrong Foundation

ONCHAN, Isle of Man – October 5, 2015 – PokerStars’ very own home game, the UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Isle of Man (October 1-4), coincided with the Isle of Man International Chess Tournament (October 2-11) and PokerStars’ 10 year anniversary on the Island, which was celebrated with a daily building-wide light and laser show at the Villa Marina, and a fireworks finale attended by players and Isle of Man residents alike.

The Isle of Man UKIPT, and International Chess Tournament, both sponsored by PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA) brand, brought the biggest names and up-and-coming heros of poker and chess together from all over the world. The UKIPT came to an end yesterday evening, October 4, with professional poker player and PokerStars online qualifier Daniel Stacey winning the £400 + £40 UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event, taking home £24,170* and the coveted Isle of Man UKIPT trophy.

The 25-year-old UK player, who came in sixth at the UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event in 2013, was delighted to go all the way to first place this time and take down the title after topping a field of 349 players from 25 countries. £135,412 was the total prizepool generated for the Main Event which was shared amongst the top 47 finishers. Stacey beat prior pro player and current PokerStars employee Paren Arzoomanian who represented PokerStars well with a top performance, taking home £19,000* for his runner-up finish.

When heads-up play began, Stacey had a little more than 1.3 million chips (to 7.5 million) but quickly doubled with a set versus two pair. It was at that point that Arzoomanian offered Stacey a heads-up deal, even though he had more than twice his opponent. They'd both be guaranteed £19,000 and leave £5,170 to play for. It came as no surprise to see Stacey immediately accept the deal.

In the final hand, the chips went in on the turn during a hand in which Arzoomanian held a straight to Stacey's two-pair. The river made Stacey a full house and he shouted out in delight. The (mainly) Arzoomanian supporting crowd gave both players a big round of applause which was thoroughly deserved.

Shortly after his victory, Stacey spoke with the PokerStars blog and said “Things turned round and I got more confident……. I wanted the trophy dead bad."

FINAL TABLE RESULTS

    • Dan Stacey, United Kingdom (PokerStars Qualifier) - £26,400
  1. Paren Arzoomanian, United Kingdom - £16,770
  2. Michael Fletcher, United Kingdom - £12,560
  3. Rodger Reynolds, United Kingdom - £10,170
  4. John Lawson, Isle of Man - £8,020
  5. Chris Swnden, Isle of Man (PokerStars Player) - £6,120
  6. James Walsh, Ireland (PokerStars Player) - £4,500
  7. Elliott Hayes, Jersey - £3,307

Full payouts from the Main Event can be found here.

*Payouts post heads-up deal.

ONE MINDSPORT COMPETITION ENDS; ANOTHER HEATS UP

Last night saw the conclusion of the last three side events from a total of 14 scheduled events. The £200 + £20 buy-in Isle of Man Cup was won by Martin Lesjo who beat 126 other entrants to secure the top prize of £7,040. Meanwhile David Lloyd took the £100 + £10 PLO Double Chance trophy and £1,178; David Lawson rounded off the weekend by winning the £100 + £10 Turbo Super Deepstack for £2,508, while Adam Owen faced down some tremendously tough competition in the £1000 + £100 UKIPT High Roller to win the trophy and the top prize of £24,170.

HELPING HANDS CHARITY INVITATIONAL RAISES £11,000

Locals, members of the Isle of Man business community, PokerStars staff, professional poker players and members of Team PokerStars Pro made up the 110 players who came together to battle it out on the poker table while raising funds for Craigs Heartstrong Foundation in the £50 buy-in Charity Invitational on Saturday night. It was a Team PokerStars Pro who topped the field this year however with Italian Luca Pagano the last player standing when all was said and done. Helping Hands, PokerStars’

Corporate Giving Programme, will match the £5,500 raised by the players, which means a total of £11,000 will go to the local charity.

POKER AND CHESS COLLIDE IN ISLE OF MAN

While the PokerStars International Chess Tournament continues until October 11, it was during the weekend that the two skill games collided with a Chess Simultaneous display and a Combined Chess/Poker tournament. UK’s number one GrandMaster Mickey Adams competed in the two events. In the Chess Simultaneous display, Adams took on 18 players from the poker and chess world and won 17 out of 18 games, with local Alan Ormsby the only chess player who drew.

In the £150 + £15 buy-in Combined Chess and Poker tournament held later that evening, Adams made it all the way to second place from a total field of 34 (which included a variety of Grandmasters such as Laurent Fressinet, David Howell and Pentala Harikrishna), falling only to Kenneth Chih-Hung, a poker pro originally from the USA.

The Masters section of the International Chess Tournament runs for 9 days (October 30- 11) at the Villa Marina and boasts an impressive 102 entries from 27 countries, including the Isle of Man. Out of these, a staggering 36 hold the grandmaster title, the highest distinction in chess. The top seed is none other than Michael Adams, who has been the English number 1 since 1999 and was once ranked number 4 in the world. Besides Adams, three other elite players will be gracing the tournament with their participation: Pentala Harikrishna, India’s number 2 and World number 45; David Howell, English number 2 and World number 40; and Laurent Fressinet, France’s number 2 and World number 27. In all, 11 of the world’s top 100 players will be present.

Full details and results are available online on the PokerStars website here and the PokerStars blog here.

For further information, please contact: press@pokerstars.com


About PokerStars

PokerStars operates the world’s most popular online poker sites, serving the global poker community. Since it launched in 2001, PokerStars has become the first choice of players all over the world, with more daily tournaments than anywhere else and with the best security online. More than 130 billion hands have been dealt on PokerStars, which is more than any other site.

PokerStars.com and PokerStars.eu operate globally under licenses from the Isle of Man and Malta governments, respectively. PokerStars also holds separate government licenses in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

PokerStars is the key brand of Rational Group, which operates gaming-related businesses and brands, including PokerStars, Full Tilt and the European Poker Tour. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Rational Group companies in the UK and Isle of Man won recognition as one of the best workplaces in the UK being awarded a top 25 position by the Great Place to Work Institute’s Best Workplaces – Large category rankings. Rational Group entities in Costa Rica and Dublin also achieved the same accolade in their respective local rankings in 2014. PokerStars is owned by Amaya Inc. (Nasdaq: AYA; TSX: AYA).

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