The 2021 PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Championship became the first live poker contest to fall victim to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, as PokerStars announced that the event will not be held this calendar year. It was to have been held in Barcelona, Spain.
“We know that this further news will come as a disappointment to many hoping the PSPC would take place this year,” wrote PokerStars in a March 24 email to the media and on its blog, “but our priority is the safety and good health of all our players and staff, as well as the communities that host such large events.”
The PokerStars No-Limit Hold’Em event was first held in January 2019—a pioneering event in that it is organized by an online poker room as a large buy-in tournament ($25,000) available to players of all bankrolls, who would be able to win their way into the tournament playing online throughout the year. PokerStars awarded 320 “Platinum Passes” to the event to subscribers for online wins throughout 2018.
According to the company, 400 Platinum Passes awarded in 2020 will qualify for the No Limit Hold’em event when it resumes in 2022 in Barcelona.
