PokerStars Announces First-Ever Carnival Series with $12.5 Million Guaranteed
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Last Updated: January 23, 2024
It’s been a huge couple of weeks for PokerStars, as the operator entered 2024 clearly intent on battling GGPoker for the title of the world’s best online poker site.
The year was opened with a super-successful New Year Series, which featured the first-ever Mystery Bounty events on the platform, which proved to be extremely popular with the players. The operator even followed it up with a small Afterparty series that created even more hype around the new format.
In the midst of all this, PokerStars announced its newly revamped Rewards system, which features eight VIP levels and reverts the rakeback program back to the good old days of the Supernova/Supernova Elite grinds.
Now, PokerStars has come out with yet another novelty, as the inaugural Carnival Series was announced earlier today. The new Series will run from January 28 to February 5 and feature dozens of events with a combined prize pool of $12.5 million.
As is usually the case with PokerStars tournament series, the Carnival Series will feature events in all forms of poker and across the stakes, with buyins ranging from just $5.50 all the way up to $2,100.
Whether you are a high roller or a recreational player looking to have some fun next week, sign up with PokerStars today and access all the amazing Carnival Series events through their lobby.
Win Your Share of Millions in Value
The brand-new Carnival Series brings a schedule adapted to all sorts of players and resembles the recently finished New Year Series in many ways.
The festival will run on the platform for a full week, featuring dozens of events across different game types, formats, and stakes.
Whether you are looking to try out the new Mystery Bounty format, play a classic freezeout NLH event, or mix it up in the Pot Limit Omaha or Draw Poker streets, you will find plenty of events right up your alley.
The Series’ $12.5 million guaranteed prize pool is scattered across the different events, with many low roller events guaranteeing tens, if not even hundreds of thousands in prize money.
On the high end of the spectrum, high roller events with buyins as high as $530 and $2,100 are on the schedule on a regular basis, along with plenty of $215s and $109s you get to play every day of the Carnival Series.
Numerous modern tournament formats like Progressive Knockout and Mystery Bounty will make an appearance in some of the key events of the Series, featuring the biggest prize pools and most attractive prizes.
Key Events of the PokerStars Carnival Series
Carnival Series kicks off on the international PokerStars platform on Sunday, January 28, and will have some extremely exciting events on the schedule from the very first day.
While the entire schedule is quite extensive and brings something for everyone, here is a quick look at some of the key events with the biggest guaranteed prize pools and likely the softest fields you will find around:
| Date | Event | Buyin | Guarantee |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series L-01 NLH | $5.50 | $40k |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series M-01 NLH | $55 | $100k |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series L-02 PKO | $11 | $250k |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series M-01 Sunday Million | $109 | $1M |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series L-04 Mystery Bounty Turbo | $5.50 | $25k |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series M-04 Mystery Bounty Turbo | $55 | $100k |
| Jan 28 | Carnival Series H-04 Mystery Bounty Turbo | $530 | $125k |
| Jan 29 | Carnival Series M-09 8-Max NLH | $33 | $115k |
| Jan 29 | Carnival Series L-10 6-Max PKO | $5.50 | $40k |
| Jan 29 | Carnival Series M-10 6-Max PKO | $55 | $150k |
| Jan 29 | Carnival Series 14 Heads Up NLH Total KO | $22 | $25k |
| Jan 30 | Carnival Series H-16 Super Tuesday High Roller NLH | $1,050 | $175k |
| Jan 30 | Carnival Series H-19 8-Max Fenomeno | $109 | $50k |
| Jan 31 | Carnival Series M-21 8-Max Single Re-Entry | $55 | $100k |
| Feb 1 | Carnival Series L-21 8-Max PKO Thursday Thrill | $22 | $150k |
| Feb 1 | Carnival Series H-21 8-Max PKO Thursday Thrill | $2,100 | $200k |
| Feb 1 | Carnival Series 32 Heads Up NLH PKO | $55 | $35k |
| Feb 2 | Carnival Series M-36 6 Max 8-Game | $109 | $15k |
| Feb 3 | Carnival Series M-39 8-Max PKO | $55 | $130k |
| Feb 4 | Carnival Series L-45 6-Max PKO | $5.50 | $40k |
| Feb 4 | Carnival Series L-46 NLH Mystery Bounty Main Event | $11 | $250k |
| Feb 4 | Carnival Series M-46 NLH Mystery Bounty Main Event | $109 | $1.25M |
| Feb 4 | Carnival Series H-46 NLH Mystery Bounty Main Event | $1,050 | $750k |
| Feb 5 | Carnival Series M-53 6-Max Monster Stack | $33 | $115k |
| Feb 5 | Carnival Series M-57 Mini Sunday Fenomeno | $11 | $30k |
| Feb 5 | Carnival Series 58 Heads Up NLH Total KO | $22 | $25k |
It is worth noting that these are only a few of more than 150 events played in total, and that every day of the festival will feature about 20 unique events you can play in, with both Texas Hold'em Poker and other games represented on a daily basis.
So, make sure to check out the PokerStars lobby for a full list of upcoming events, as well as all the satellite tournaments you can play to get into the bigger buyin events of the inaugural Carnival Series.
Huge Mystery Bounty Action in Carnival Series
While the Carnival Series will be a massive festival of online poker and include all sorts of tournament formats, the few Mystery Bounty events on the schedule will attract the most hype and the biggest playing field.
The newly released tournament format has been gaining massive traction at PokerStars, and the operator has decided to once again run the Main Events as Mystery Bounty tournaments.
With buyins at $11, $109, and $1,050, the three NLH Main Events will carry minimal prize pools of $250k, $1.25M, and $750k, which means players at each buyin level can expect a huge playing field on February 4.
To make sure all players are included, PokerStars is also running a Mystery Bounty PLO Main Event the same day, featuring a buyin of $215 and a prize pool of cool $100k.
Even if you don’t get a chance to play too many events this Carnival Series, make sure your evening is free on February 4 and hop into the Main Events via one of the many feeder satellites that will be running on the platform in the days between today and next Sunday.
