PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Discontinued

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, or PCA as it was affectionately known, is to cease being after 16 years as a traditional new year showpiece. The Adventure began life in 2004 with a field of 221 aboard a cruise ship as part of the World Poker Tour, a full seven years before Black Friday. A year later, the venue had been moved to Atlantis Resort, Nassau, in the Bahamas.

In those earlier years, US players were still very much a part of the international online poker scene and such a glamorous Caribbean location not far from their own shores made for the perfect January destination. In 2011, the very same year that Black Friday took its toll, attendance peaked for what would be the last time ever. Once the US market was frozen out, the fields shrunk year on year forcing the poker room to lower the buy-in by 2016.

Signups continued to plummet, driving PokerStars’ various operators over the years to tinker with numerous ways to keep the event relevant. There was even a period of time where the PCA was added to the European Poker Tour (EPT) despite Europe being on the other side of the ocean. And in 2017 the event was rebranded as PokerStars Championship Bahamas for a year.

Last year’s $25K PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold'em Championship (PSPC) was held as part of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure festival and, thanks to $1 million added, 320 Platinum Passes plus a two year mass marketing campaign, it did improve the situation, albeit only slightly and briefly. While it will continue, the PSPC will now receive top billing at a new festival of its own in Barcelona, Spain from next year.

And so, after 16 years, Stars Group have decided to call it a day on one of the longest running live poker festivals hosted by an online-poker site. Hopeful fans looking for a reprieve will need to pin their hopes on a rebirthing of American poker, which might possibly breath life into the PCA should online poker reopen to the majority of the US population.

In the meantime though, PokerStars Marketing Director Eric Hollreiser had the following to say:

“It’s no secret that after 15 successful years, the PCA has been losing momentum and there’s been increasing player criticism of the location. As such, we will not be returning to Paradise Island in 2020. PokerStars and our players have had some great success at the Atlantis Resort & Casino in the Bahamas over a strong 13-year run, and we have very many fond memories of ringing in the New Year with our PCA. Our research, alongside player feedback, has shown, however, that it is time for a change to keep things fresh and give our players what they are asking for.”