PokerStars is celebrating its 25th trip around the sun with a very special online series this month–one with tens of millions in prizes, real trophies for the champs, multiple buy-in tiers for events, and a variety of game types and formats.

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SERIES STATS

PokerStars Anniversary Series 2026

Tournaments: 454
Entries: 703,663
Prize pools: $43,672,509
First-place prizes: $7,273,145

Biggest score: Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden ($365,603 – $5K Main Event)

Most titles won: 4 – “*LegolAssz*”, “Hardiz1”, “MezuuUuuT”

Most titles by country: Brazil – 121, followed by the United Kingdom (54), Austria (33)

THURSDAY, JUNE 4 (SERIES ENDS)

ODEEN DOMINATES FINAL MYSTERY: One thing you’ll notice when looking through the High editions of Mystery Bounty events is that the player who wins it very often has collected the majority of the bounty prizes too. This indicates the winner was chip leader once the money bubble burst, and never gave up the lead. One player who knows a LOT about building big stacks, dominating through bubbles, and ultimately winning PokerStars titles is Jerry “Perrymejsen” Odeen. The Swede has a vast collection of COOP trophies and added an Anniversary Series title on the series’ final day, winning the 139-entry, 20-places-paid $530 Final Mystery for $5,820 plus a whopping $23,195 in bounty prizes. For context, the next biggest bounty haul was just $2,849. Odeen had also finished runner-up three times throughout the series.

TWO DOUBLE CHAMPS: Brazil’s “dja9810” became a double champ on the final day of the series, topping the 7,587-entry $5.50 Final Mystery Bounty for $2,260 plus $157 in bounties. Their first title also came in a Mystery Bounty–a $55 Daily Cooldown–for $6,379 total. “Yurec1707” of Ukraine also waited until the very last moment to become a double champ. They won the $320 PKO Hyper Series Wrap-Up for $9,929 total, adding to the $14,644 they’d already won in a $530 PKO Bounty Builder HR earlier this series.

MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS

FOUR TITLES

“*LegolAssz*”
“Hardiz1”
“MezuuUuuT”

THREE TITLES

Ognyan “cocojamb0” Dimov
“Gofaziin26”
“Jepser8”
“keep3r”
“offQbert45”
“king153246”

TWO TITLES

“paulinhoo00”
“tuliodutra96”
“MiniAve”
“H4nkH1ll”
“Jepser8”
“vdp2.0”
“AAlucky73KK”
“Nitrrrrrr”
“kwangssi”
“forest799”
“Natrium111”
Marius “DEX888” Gierse
Niklas “Lena900” Astedt
Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson
“CatfishBillyMan”
Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden
“yipyiphupbup”
“silna_rakia”
Aleks “grinder1992” Dimitrov
“dlampard”
Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm
“h3pp4p01k4”
“THE ONLY SON”
“NeedBeat”
“Saage”
“wnbgambler”
“|&&Sys|TeamPro”
Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov
“de_fabbe”
“Cabral 777”
“munkkis”
“Alex Shepel”
“BOOOOOM92”
“dankreas”
“777toome”
“dja9810”
“Yurec1707”

RESULTS

DAILY COVERAGE ARCHIVE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3

FOUR MULTIPLE CHAMPS CROWNED ON PENULTIMATE DAY:

• “Alex Shepel” from Mexico topped the $55 NLHE/PLO 6-Max PKO for $3,553, having already won a $109 Deep Stacks for $17,049.
• “BOOOOOM92” from the UK won their second title, topping the 133-entry $530 Deep Stacks for $13,835. Interestingly, Germany’s “HardiZ1”, who has won four titles this series, finished third, and when BOOOOOM92 won their first title in a $530 Hyper PKO for $10,153, they beat HardiZ1 heads-up.
• The UK’s “dankreas” took down the $109 PKO for $17,453, including $8,089 in bounties. Their first title came in a $55 Deep Stacks for $9,641.
• “777toome” from Iceland won the $1K Super Tuesday, besting 96 entries and beating “DontMesswithM11” heads-up for $23,897. Their first title was a big one–the $55 PKO Main Event 2nd Chance for $38,122.

TUESDAY, JUNE 2

THE KING DENIES QUINTUPLE: “King153246” completed a series hat trick on Monday, denying the UK’s “MezuuUuuT” a series-leading fifth title. The $530 PKO Sunday Warm-Up was the stage, and after battling through the 215-entry field, the Albanian took it down for $21,534 total, with $12,305 coming from bounties. MezuuUuuT banked $9,230 for second place plus $5,352 in bounties.

SPRAGGY’S SECOND CHANCES: Viewers were treated to a fantastic stream by Ben “Spraggy” Spragg last night as the Brit ran deep in not one but two of the second-chance main events. He first made the final table in the $1K PKO Main Event 2nd Chance, finishing sixth for $10,335 plus $687 in bounties. Canada’s “NY17PATS14” topped the 522-entry field for $75,795, including $35,448 in bounties. Spraggy also ran deep in the 8,257-entry $55 edition, finishing 17th for $1,381 total. The winner was “777toome” from Iceland, who picked up $38,122 total. In the middle was the $215 edition, won by Belarus’ “_m0ney2_89” for $85,058 total.

DON’T PASS ON LAFRANCOIS: Pascal “Pass_72” Lafrancois has won just about everything there is to win in online poker, and on Monday, the Canadian crusher added his name to the Anniversary Series winner’s sheet, topping the $2K PKO for $40,005, including $23,250 in bounties. The event had 71 entries and a final table that included runner-up “Hendurr”, Alex “I Attack95” Kulev, and Leonard “Grozzorg” Maue.

SECOND STUD FOR STREBKOV: Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov won a second Stud title in the $530 Stud event, besting 30 entries to bank $8,357, and adding to the $109 Stud hi/lo event they won earlier. Meanwhile, “de_fabbe” from Germany also became a two-time champ on Monday, winning the $109 Stud for $2,802. Their first title came in a $55 HORSE event. “Cabral 777” from Brazil is another new multiple champ, winning their second $22 PLO Turbo PKO of the series, adding $2,016 to the $3,384 they’d already banked.

MONDAY, JUNE 1

THREE QUADRUPLE CHAMPIONS CROWNED:

Rewind back to the first week of this series and “LegolAssz” from Hungary was the first player to break through and win two titles (on the same day, no less). Now they’re one of three players who have taken down four Anniversary Series trophies, the latest coming in a $109 PLO for $8,523.

• $11 PLO – $2,746
• $5.50 NLHE Deep Stack – $4,273
• $22 PLO8 – $2,552
• $109 PLO – $8,523

“HardiZ1” from Germany is also a four-time champion after taking down the $215 Thursday Thrill for $24,298, $13,081 of which was from bounties.

• $530 NLHE 7-Max, Turbo, Mystery Bounty, Daily Cooldown – $7,192
• $530 NLHE PKO Bounty Builder HR – $19,091
• $530 NLHE 6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic – $13,567
• $215 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill – $24,298

And “MezuuUuut” from the UK is completes the four-title trio after their victory in the $215 Mystery Cooldown for $7,373.

• $109 NLHE PKO – $11,864
• $55 8-Game PKO – $2,389
• $320 NLHE Hyper Mystery Daily Supersonic – $29,348
• $215 NLHE 7-Max, Turbo, Mystery Bounty, Daily Cooldown – $7,573

STURM HEADLINES DOUBLE CHAMPS: Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm has added another trophy to his collection, taking down the $530 Mystery Bounty for $22,254, including $15,625 in bounties. The Austria-based German, who regularly competes in the biggest buy-in tournaments around the world, won the $1K Super Tuesday for $40,321 earlier this series. But he’s far from the only player to do the double over the weekend. Let’s rattle through them:

• Albanian leader board legend “king153246” won their second in the $55 Mystery Bounty Daily Cooldown for $6,910, around half of which was bounties. Their first came in a $1K NLO8 title for $16,498, and they’ve finished runner-up twice.
• “h3pp4p01k4” from Finland clinched the $530 8-Game for $12,995, besting 43 entries. They already had $1K Razz title.
• “THE ONLY SON” from Brazil won a second in the $55 Heads-Up TKO for $2,989, having already navigated their way through 4,140 entries in the $33 Thursday Thrill for $15,666 earlier this series.
• Estonia’s “NeedBeat” added a $530 Deep Stacks title and $11,948 to their bankroll. Their first came in the $530 PKO Sunday Warm-Up for $36,092.
• “Saage” from Finland now has a $530 NLO8 title ($7,470) and $109 8-Game title ($3,164).
• “wnbgambler” is the third Finnish player to become a multiple champ, winning the $1K PLO PKO for $26,778, adding to the $215 8-Game PKO title they won for $4,361.
• And finally, “|&&Sys|TeamPro” from Belarus won both the $109 6-Max Turbo for $8,156 and the $215 Turbo PKO for $19,154 over the weekend.

FRIDAY, MAY 29

THRILLING THURSDAY FOR OFFQBERT45: Having already won a $109 PKO event earlier this series, “offQbert45” of Brazil won a second title in the $1K Thursday Thrill, besting 147 entries to bank $35,244, including $20,979 in bounties. Andras “probirs” Nemeth (4th) and Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm (5th) also made the final table. “offQbert45” then went on to complete the hat trick, taking down the $215 Turbo Copacabana later on Thursday for $11,375. That one had 290 entries.

TWO IN ONE NIGHT: “dlampard” of Belarus pulled off something special on Thursday, not only winning two titles in one session, but both in the same event. Just call them the king or queen of FLO8 as they won both the 148-entry $109 and 34-entry $1K for $3,164 and $15,286, respectively.

DOUBLE FOR DIMITROV AND CPURUL0R: Aleks “grinder1992” Dimitrov had already won a $5K Thursday Thrill for $77,119, but added a second win of the series on Thursday. The Bulgarian clinched the 66-entry $1K Turbo Copacabana for $20,508. Austria’s “CPUrul0r” also became a double champ with victory in the $530 Daily Cooldown Mystery Bounty for $5,156 plus a whopping $16,964 in bounties. They’d already won a $530 Deep Stacks for $27,187.

THURSDAY, MAY 28

MAIN EVENT RESULTS

After four days of battle, we have our three NLHE Main Event champions.

You’ll recognise the first one–Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden. The Fin has been crushing the highest stakes for as long as we can remember, and a big series always brings out the best in him. Vousden fought his way through 383 entries from poker’s elite to collect $365,603, the largest prize of the series, and his second title of the series. To get the job done, he had to beat Austria-based Dutchman Jans “Graftekkel” Arends heads-up, leaving him with a $275,378 consolation prize (however, as the two ended it by moving all-in every hand, it suggests they made an unofficial offline deal).

Over in the $1K Main, it was Andorra’s “HarissaMB” who finished on top for $256,5712 after a three-way deal. The chop actually meant that runner-up “Alister307” of Belarus banked the largest prize ($304,779), while “galo_pb” of Brazil finished third ($258,395). The event had 2,340 entries.

And in the massive 13,140-entry $109 edition, it was Brazil’s “DeckMcFly” who emerged victorious. This one also had a three-way deal that secured the winner $176,916 and gave the runner-up “0spiel2632” of Slovakia $128,659 and “debreceni” of Hungary $113,641.

ANOTHER PODIUM FINISH FOR SPRAGGY: The two-day $215 Super Tuesday came to an end on Wednesday evening when “HakiD93” of Malta beat “BernaroC6” of the UK heads-up to bank $20,443, forcing the Brit to settle for second and $14,754. Before that, though, fans of Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg got to enjoy two great days of poker as the streamer broadcast his run to third place out of the 504-entry field, picking up $10,648.

MYSTERIOUS DOMINATION: “Narnach” Belgium absolutely dominated the $530 Mystery Bounty HR, not only topping the 134-entry field for $6,983, but winning the vast majority of bounty prizes worth $32,518. To put that in perspective, the next largest bounty winner only collected $1,929.

TWO HAT TRICKS: Two players completed a series hat trick on Wednesday. Austria’s “Keep3r” capitalised on a big overlay in the $530 Badugi and won a third title worth $9,071. Meanwhile, “MezuuUuut” of the UK won their third title in the $320 Hyper Mystery Daily Supersonic for $29,348, a whopping $23,935 of which came from bounties.

MORE MULTIPLE CHAMPS: Finland’s “yipyiphupbup” took down a second title in the $1K PKO for $26,879 total, having already won a $1K PKO earlier this series. We also saw Bulgaria’s “silna_rakia” clinch a second in the $109 FL Badugi, beating Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov heads-up after a deal for $1,950.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

SIRYUSSEN KNIGHTED WITH PLO TITLE: The PLO Main Events wrapped up on Tuesday, and the biggest of the lot went to “SirYussen” of the UK. They topped the 55-entry $5K edition for $115,245 witg just seven places paid. Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane was the unfortunate bubble boy, while “check_lol” finished runner-up.

SUPER SWEDES: Two of Sweden’s finest–and two of online poker’s all-time greats–picked up their second titles on Tuesday. Niklas “Lena900” Astedt grabbed his second (in back-to-back sessions, no less), beating Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi heads up to win the 38-entry $530 NL 2-7 Single Draw for $9,502. Astedt’s good friend Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson also bagged another trophy, topping the $1K NLHE for $20,197 after finishing runner-up in the event detailed below.

VOLKMANN VICTORIOUS: Bruno “great dant” Volkmann captured his first title of the series. The event was the 115-entry $530 PKO and the Brazilian battled through a final table that included Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson and Daniel “starwins :)” Petersen, before besting Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm heads up.

MULTIPLE CHAMPS: “CatfishBillyMan” from Mexico took down their second title, besting 131 entries in the $530 Deep Stacks to bank $15,343. Meanwhile, *LegolAssz* of Hungary is now a triple champ, completing the hat trick in the $22 PLO8 for $2,552.

TUESDAY, MAY 26

LEONARD BREAKS THROUGH: He’d been knocking on the door of a title throughout the series, with two runner-up finishes. But on Monday, May 25, Patrick “pads1161” Leonard–the COOP GOAT–got the job done, topping the 63-entry $2K NLHE for $43,501. Another shiny trophy for his expansive collection.

BIGGEST SCORE YET: “Jepser8” of Austria has now won three Anniversary Series titles, as well as the largest prize of the series so far (remember, the Main Events are still running). Jepser8 took down the $15K Super High Roller, beating 34 entries from the game’s best and banking $175,769. They’d already won a $1K 7-Max title for $23,897, and a $1K 6-Max for $20,243.

EASY FOR HARDIZ1: Germany’s “HardiZ1” also became a triple champ over the weekend. They won the $530 bounty Builder HR, besting 122 entries to bank $19,091, and a $530 Hyper Sunday Supersonic for $13,567. They’d already won a $530 Mystery Bounty Daily Cooldown for $7,192.

DOUBLE FOR GIERSE: Marius “DEX888” Gierse won a $320 Turbo Fenomeno for $10,390, then followed it with a $1K Turbo win for $15,720. He also finished runner-up in two other events.

BIG NAME WINNERS: Let’s rattle through some more notable names who picked up their first Anniversary Series titles since Friday:

• Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, one of the most decorated online poker players ever, took down the $5K Turbo for $79,096, topping 43 entries.
• Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo beat Robin “Robinho” Ylitalo heads up in the 108-entry $1K Bounty Builder HR, winning $27,232 total.
• “Sintoras” emerged victorious in the $5K Thursday Thrill for $84,089, including a healthy $50,000 in bounties. The event had 38 entries.

MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS: “kwangssi” of South Korea became a double champ, winning a $55 PKO Mini Bounty Builder HR for $12,393, having already won an $11 stud hi/lo event. SCOOP champ “MezuuUuuT” from the UK also picked up a second win in the $55 8-Game PKO for $2,389, following a $109 NLHE PKO win worth $11,864. And “forest799” of Bulgaria took down an $11 7-Max title for $6,628, their second $11 7-Max title of the series (the first worth $7,404).

FRIDAY, MAY 22

HAT TRICK FOR DIMOV: Ognyan “cocojamb0” Dimov has become the first (but–SPOILER ALERT–not only) player to win three titles in the PokerStars Anniversary Series. In Thursday’s session, the Bulgarian took down the $320 7-Max Hyper Mystery Bounty, topping 211 entries for a top prize of $5,434, while also collecting a whopping $13,780 in mystery bounties–by far the biggest winner. Dimov’s other titles came in a $1K Turbo PKO ($20,543) and a $530 Hyper ($8,342).

GO, GO, GO Gofaziin26: The other player to complete the hat trick is Brazil’s “Gofaziin26”, who won a third title in the $530 PLO8 for $9,453. That makes it three wins in two nights! They’d already won a $215 NLHE PKO and $1K PKO.

GREAT RUN FOR SPRAGGY: Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg put on a fantastic show in the $215 PKO Bounty Builder HR, battling through the 535 entries and reaching the final table. Alas, Spraggy bowed out in fourth for $4,901 plus $1,392 in bounties, but it was Finland’s “tikidiii” who went all the way, beating “victorbco” of Brazil heads-up to bank $21,682.

FIVE MULTIPLE CHAMPS: We’ve added five new names to the multiple champions list. Let’s rattle through them:

• “H4nkH1ll” from the UK won a second title in the $109 FLHE, topping 75 entries for $2073. Their first came in a $22 FL 2-7 Triple Draw event for $1,595. H4nkH1ll also finished runner-up in a $1K 8-Game event.
• “Jepser8” from Austria topped the $1K 6-Max for $20,243, having already won a $1K 7-Max for $23,897.
• “vdp2.0” is Estonia’s only champ so far, and they’ve done the double. The second came in a $109 6-Max Turbo, besting 763 entries for $14,438. The first was in a $530 6-Max PKO for $14,528.
• “AAlucky73KK” of Belarus won the $55 PLO8 for $3,625, having already won a $530 PL Courchevel Hi Lo PKO for $9,169.
• Malta’s “Nitrrrrrr” beat Bruno “botteonpoker” Botteon heads up to win the $530 Deep Stack for $15,174. They’d already won a $215 Deep Stack for $22,101.

THURSDAY, MAY 21

SECOND SILVER FOR LEONARD: Once again, Patrick “pads1161” Leonard has come agonisingly close to a title. The Brit–who leads the world when it comes to the most COOP titles–finished second in the $1K Razz for $7,780, losing out to “h3pp4p01k4” from Finland, who topped the 27-entry field to bank $12,566. Leonard also finished second in a $1K 6-Max event on Monday.

TWO MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS CROWNED: We added two new names to our multiple champions list after Wednesday’s session, and both hail from Brazil. Having already won a $215 NLHE PKO, “Gofaziin26” won a second title in the $1K PKO for $26,200 total, besting 62 entries and forcing fellow Brazilian “Relthor1301” to be runner-up for the second time. Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson finished third. Meanwhile, “MiniAve” won a second title in the $320 PLO Mystery Bounty for $10,705 (the majority of which–$6,969–came from bounties), having already won a $55 5-Card PLO8 for $3,625.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

COME ON, CAMOSCI: There was a stellar line-up on the final table of the $1K NLHE Single Re-entry, which received 78 total entries. The likes of Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo, Daniel “SmilleThHero” Smiljkovic, and Pedro “PaDiLhA SP” Padilha all fell to leave Malta-based Italian Enrico “WhaTisL0v3” Camosci heads-up with Slovenia’s “snifamtiplaco”, and Camosci got the best of it, banking $22,942. He’s got a shiny Anniversary Series trophy heading his way.

VOUSDEN VICTORIOUS: Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden also has a new trophy for his collection. The Fin took down the $530 Deep Stacks, besting 142 entries to win $15,743. His good friend Patrick “pads1161” Leonard also made the final table but busted in sixth.

IT’S MILLER TIME: We usually see Ben “benmiller500” Miller topping high-stakes tournaments, but the Brit is putting in the work across all buy-in tiers in the Anniversary Series. Miller battled his way through 2,361 entries in the $11 NLHE Single Re-entry tournament and collected $3,681–plus an impressive trophy–for his efforts.

TUESDAY, MAY 19

DOUBLE FOR DIMOV: Ognyan “cocojamb0” Dimov took down not one but two PokerStars Anniversary Series titles on Monday. The first came in the $1K Turbo PKO, where the Bulgarian topped 57 entries and beat Felipe “lipe piv” Boianovsky heads-up to win $20,543. Dimov then conquered the 80-entry $530 Hyper for $8,342, denying “king153246” their second title of the series.

NEAR MISS FOR LEONARD: Patrick “pads1161” Leonard might be the greatest COOP player in the history of PokerStars, but the Brit will have to wait a bit longer to add an Anniversary Series title to his collection. Leonard finished runner-up in the $1K 6-Max, battling through all but one of the 147 entries to bank $24,201. “Reygrip2014” from Belgium took it down for $31,485, while both Niklas “Lena900” Astedt (5th – $10,990) and Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson (6th – $8,448) made the final table.

TWO FOR TULIO: Dimov wasn’t the only multiple champ crowned on Monday. Brazil’s “tuliodutra96” has now won two in two days after beating Peter “Belabacsi” Traply heads up to win the $109 Turbo PKO for $11,996, including $6,504 in bounties. They took down the $55 Sunday Cooldown Mystery Bounty on Sunday for $10,114.

MONDAY, MAY 18

DIMITROV DENIES ASTEDT: Rewind back to Thursday and the $5K Thursday Thrill was the biggest game in town, attracting 47 entries from the game’s best. Aleks “grinder1992” Dimitrov finished on top for $77,119 (including $34,102 in bounties) after the Bulgarian beat Niklas “Lena900” Astedt heads-up. The Swede had to settle for $48,017 total.

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Three Titans events took place on Sunday and the biggest of the lot went to Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane. He bested Ben “bencb789” Rolle in the $5K edition and banked $87,885, topping 47 entries. Meanwhile, over in the 201-entry $530 Medium, “Kzhh” bested Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden for the title and $19,667.

OTHER NOTABLE VICTORIES:

• Joris “BillLewinksy” Ruijjs won a $1K PKO Bounty Builder SHR for $28,921
• “FollowTheBreath” clinched the $109 Sunday Kickoff for $23,291
• Christian “Cmoosepower” Elgstrom took down the $1k 8-Game for $16,755

FRIDAY, MAY 15

ONLY A MATTER OF TIME FOR MATTSSON: How did we get five days into a big online series without a single title for either of the two most successful Swedes in poker history? Yep, neither Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson or Niklas “Lena900” Astedt had a title until end-of-play on Thursday, but Mattsson set the record straight in the $215 Copacabana. The Swede overcame 492 entries and beat Bruno “botteonpoker” Botteon heads up to win $13,635.

SUPERB STREBKOV: Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov has added a PokerStars Anniversary Series trophy to his collection of SCOOPs and WCOOPS, topping the 133-entry $109 Stud Hi/Lo for $3,164. The Russian, who plays from Thailand, had to beat South Korea’s “kwangssi” heads up for the title, but don’t feel too bad for kwangssi–they took down the $11 Low edition of the same event for $1,084. Quite an accomplishment.

OTHER NOTABLES: Vladimir “SerVlaMin” Minko banked one of the biggest scores from Thursday’s session, winning the 123-entry $1K PKO Bounty Builder HR for $17,173 plus $23,187 in bounties. We also saw Robin “Robinho” Ylitalo top the $109 NLO8 for $5,341.

THURSDAY, MAY 14

FIRST TWO-TIME CHAMP: It took four days of the PokerStars Anniversary Series for us to find our first multiple champion. “*LegolAssz*” of Hungary is the one to break through, winning both the 1,251-entry $11 PLO for $2,746, then the $5.50 NLHE Deep Stack for $4,273, besting 5,002 entries.

STURM’S A’BREWING: Less than two weeks ago, Leon “RUMUKULUS” Sturm and Joris “BillLewinsky” Ruijs were battling heads-up in the PokerStars Open Monte Carlo Main Event. Ruijs got the best of that one after the two made a deal, but Sturm (who had already won a Spade in a €10K Mystery Bounty event for €93K) got his own back in the 179-entry PokerStars Anniversary Series $1K Super Tuesday. Both made the final table, but Ruijs bowed out in fifth for $14,812. Sturm went all the way, however, defeating “NY17PATS14” heads-up to ban $40,321.

BIGGEST SCORE OF THE NIGHT: Wednesday’s winningest player was “snifamtiplaco” of Slovenia, who took down the 40-entry $5K Super Tuesday High Roller for $73,348. Only five players cashed, with Daniel “starwins :)” Petersen finishing second for $50,524 and the rest rounded out by Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo (3rd – $36,282), Gavin “gavz101” Cochrane (4th – $24,639), and Bruno “great dant” Volkmann (5th – $15,206).

SMILJKOVIC, THE HERO: He’s a SCOOP champion, a WCOOP champion, and a WSOP bracelet winner. Now Daniel “SmilleThHero” Smiljkovic has added a PokerStars Anniversary Series title to the collection, topping the 89-entry $530 Turbo PKO for $13,635, including $7,859 in bounties.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

NINJA SPRAGGY: If you want to learn how to play a short stack, go and rewatch Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg’s stream from yesterday (Tuesday, May 12). The PokerStars Ambassador was 19/20 with 14 paid in the $530 6-Max Turbo PKO, but ninja’d his way to third place for $5,983. The final table also included Daniel “starwins :)” Petersen and Bruno “botteonpoker” Botteon, but “AcidVaule” would come out on top for $20,612 (including $11,625 in bounties) after beating Dalton “daltonhb” Hobold heads up.

$5K WIN FOR NACHO: High stakes cash game and MTT crusher “Nacho124441” from the Dominican Republic took down the $5K PKO Bounty Builder SHR for $33,277, as well as $41,641 in bounties along the way. The tournament had 41 entries, and the final included runner-up Alisson “heyalisson” Piekazewicz, Jans “Graftekkel” Arends, Guillaume “Nolet20” Nolet, and Andras “probirs” Nemeth.

FT FOR HUBER: Spraggy wasn’t the only red spade to make a run on Tuesday. Sebastian “peace&loove” Huber made the final table of the $5.50 NL 5-Card Draw but busted in seventh for $74. Romania’s “antonio19122013” topped it for $746.

TUESDAY, MAY 12

This might be the online series you’ve been dreaming about. Huge events every day, excellent structures and formats, and so far, plenty of overlays and added value–a gift to the players as PokerStars celebrates its 25th birthday.

So, if you’ve not played yet, you might want to change that.

The first weekend produced no superstar winners, but a few reliable grinders added new trophies to their collections, including “Old brock” ($320 NLHE Turbo, Fenomeno HR – $16,220) and “CatfishBillyMan” ($530 NLHE Turbo PKO Sunday Cooldown – $20,602).

The bigger winner from opening weekend was “PhIsFgg” of Belarus, who topped the $109 Sunday Million for $96,010.

WHAT IS POKERSTARS ANNIVERSARY SERIES?

The PokerStars Anniversary Series is running right now (May 10 to June 3, 2026) with 461 online poker tournaments. Buy-ins will range from as little as $5.50 all the way up to $15,000, so no one is boxed out.

And just like the recent Spring Championship of Online Poker and World Championship of Online Poker series, there will be plenty of mixed games and interesting tournament formats on the schedule, tiered buy-ins, plus an exciting leaderboard with prizes and trophies on the line*.

Prepare to battle once again because the Anniversary Series schedule is action-packed with 156 events–most of which have three tiers of buy-ins, so everyone can play.

*Please note: Players in Belarus, Ukraine, Sweden or Austria will not be sent trophies.

POKERSTARS ANNIVERSARY SERIES OFFICIAL SITE

POWER PATH + POKERSTARS ANNIVERSARY SERIES

To help celebrate, PokerStars is also revamping its popular Power Path promotion so more players can take part in this unique online poker series. A new $530 Bronze Pass with 25% added value will run throughout the summer, replacing the previous Bronze Pass structure and its $109 value.

The new $530 Bronze Pass will be redeemable as an online ticket bundle for the PokerStars Anniversary Series, and 25% of added value is included on top of that–think of it as the cherry on top of the 25-year celebration cake.

All existing unredeemed $109 Bronze Passes will be renamed in the client to a “Spade Power Pass”.

KEY INFO AND EVENTS

Series dates: May 10 to June 3, 2026
Events: 156
Tournaments: 461
Buy-in range: $5.50 to $15K
Trophies: For tournament and leaderboard winners

May 10:

• $22 Mystery Sunday Special (MB), 300K Gtd
• $109 Sunday Million (PKO), $1M Gtd
• $1,050 Sunday High Roller, $300K Gtd

May 17:

• $55 Mini Sunday Million (PKO), $350K Gtd
• $215 Sunday Million (PKO), $1M Gtd
• $1,050 Sunday High Roller (PKO), $275K Gtd

May 31:

• $55 Main Event 2nd Chance (PKO), $400K Gtd
• $215 Main Event 2nd Chance (PKO), $750K Gtd
• $1,050 Main Event 2nd Chance (PKO), $500K Gtd

MAIN EVENTS

May 24

• $109 Main Event, $1.5M Gtd
• $1,050 Main Event, $2.5M Gtd
• $5,200 Main Event, $2M Gtd

HOW TO QUALIFY

While you can buy-in directly to every event on the PokerStars Anniversary Series schedule, you’ll also find satellites and other ways to qualify on PokerStars.

Satellite qualification for tournaments begins at just $0.55, and there may also be special Spin & Gos awarding Anniversary Series tickets as prizes.

You can also win a new $530 Bronze Pass via the Power Path, with Step 1s starting at just $0.50. These Bronze Pass PokerStars Anniversary Series bundles give you $530 in tournament tickets, plus an extra 25% in added value on top.

Buy-ins for the series range from $5.50 all the way up to $15,000, so there’s a nice spread. But don’t stretch yourself–use these qualification routes where you can.

Sebastian Huber offers tips on how to grow your bankroll

Need help building your bankroll? Check out this guide from PokerStars Ambassador Sebastian “peace&loove” Huber.

From $100 to $10K: How to build a bankroll by Sebastian ‘peace&loove’ Huber

FURTHER READING

PokerStars at 25: The 25 icons who defined the game

Who are the most iconic poker players in the history of PokerStars? Check out this list and see if you agree.

PokerStars Anniversary Series Official Site

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