PokerStars back in the USA
World's biggest poker site made a return to the US market with a soft New Jersey launch this week.
As expected, Wednesday saw the soft launch return of PokerStars for New Jersey players as the gaming giant re-introduced its online poker menu to testers keen on playing on the site for the first time since April 2011.
The soft launch period lasted for eight hours, in which real money poker hands in cash games, sit and gos, and trade marked spin and gos were all played by a pre-selected 500 players.
The trial comes after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced that PokerStars would be permitted to begin real money play with a pool of guests which, if successful, would see PokerStars given the green light to begin full operations once more.
Initial reports seem to believe that the ongoing trial, designed for regulators to evaluate equipment and protocols in real conditions, while not without some issues, does indeed look like a success, paving way for a full scale roll out on March 21.
There were some teething issues, mainly around bonus codes and downloading of software, particularly on a MAC, but these were quickly allayed by PokerStars staff.
The move to reintroduce the site comes after five years of player frustration in the state, having twice unsuccessfully applied for a licence in 2013 following a total shutdown of operations post black Friday two years previously.
A video of the very first real money hands being played can be viewed below.
What players can expect
The site, pokerstarsnj.com, will become the 18th online gambling site in the state and is exclusively for Jersey based players. It will use the PokerStars 7 client to offer all the usual NL, Pot Limit Omaha and Limit Hold’em Stud games plus Badugi, fast-fold Zoom Poker and Triple Draw.
As with the soft launch, there will be a host of ring games with stakes up to $10, Spin & Go tournaments with buy-ins between $1 and $10 as well as the familiar Sunday roll call of tourneys including the Sunday Warm-Up and the Sunday Storm.
Similar to other markets, the site will also go beyond its poker remit to offer online table games and slot machine games, as well.
