It's the most important live tourney announcement PokerStars has made in recent memory, and it'll forever change how you take a look at PokerStars live events.

Today, PokerStars announced that beginning in 2017, all of its live events will fall under one among two tours, the PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival. It is a move that's been within the making because the days the ecu Poker Tour broke out of European borders. Now, the entire PokerStars EPT experience goes worldwide.

This is the massive one.

Starting with the primary PokerStars Championship within the Bahamas (known formerly because the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure) January 6-14, 2017, the Championship tour will circle the globe and hit one of the biggest cities and prestigious casinos. Most stops will last 10-11 days and have as much as 100 tournaments, including a €/$5,000 Main Event and a number of cash games. Stops within the Bahamas, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Macau, and Panama are already planned, and more may be announced within the coming months.

The new tour can even mean a brand new Player of the Year contest with a tournament leader board at each stop. The player who tops each individual leaderboard will win a VIP package, including accommodation and PokerStars Championship Main Event buy-in for the primary PokerStars Championship the next year, plus entry right into a special invitational tournament featuring $100,000 winner-takes-all first prize. Additional info on PokerStars Championships are available here.

Looking for something somewhat cheaper and fun? The PokerStars Festival events might be your thing. They'll last 6-7 days and be more like a poker holiday with all kinds of events meant for recreational players. Each Festival may have a chief Event with buy-ins starting from $1,000-$1,500. The primary two Festival stops can be in New Jersey and London. Stay tuned for more on other planned ports of call. Additional information on PokerStars Festival events are available here.

"The PokerStars Championship will include top-tier events so they can visit essentially the most exciting and prestigious destinations worldwide, very similar to the much-loved European Poker Tour, while the PokerStars Festival events have a more regional feel, positioned as an action-packed poker vacation," said Edgar Stuchly, PokerStars' Director of Live Events.

This announcement is not only an issue of consolidating tours. As a part of the brand new Championship tour, PokerStars has upgraded its PSLive registration system with a web-based platform for players to register for tournaments previous to events, a brand new mobile app for all PokerStars Championship events, and self-serve terminals to streamline the registration process. What's more, the tour will soon launch a brand new website providing a single stop for everything associated with PokerStars sponsored live events.

"We are always contemplating bring the most productive experience to players, during the number of tournaments we sponsor, the benefit of finding information, how we communicate to players and media, and the whole experience off and on the felt," Stuchly said . "The PokerStars Championship and PokerStars Festival events are an enhancement of the prevailing PokerStars sponsored live tours, helping to take our vision for live poker to an entire new level."

To kick things off, the first actual PokerStars Festival will happen in New Jersey October 29-November 6. Over the process that week at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, you'll be able to expect 40 poker tournaments with buy-ins starting from $100 to $5,000.

Here are a couple of highlights from the schedule:

• November 1-5, $1,100 PokerStars Festival Main Event• October 30-31, $340 PokerStars Cup• November 4-5, $2,200 PokerStars Festival High Roller• November 4-6, $230 PokerStars Open

We're expecting to look the likes of Jason Somerville, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Jason Mercier, Chris Moneymaker, and Vanessa Selbst in the course of the Festival.

We'll also see so much more.

Along with the poker, there'll be a casino festival with blackjack, video poker, slots, and roulette tourneys. There'll even be a StarsFun skills zone and a RunItUp Day with Team PokerStars Pro and Twitch superstar Jason Somerville. Also, stay tuned for details of a Survivor "Immunity" Tournament featuring Tyson Apostol and "Boston Rob" Mariano.

"We are committed to growing the poker market in New Jersey and a part of this strategy is to assist make New Jersey the poker hub of America in November," Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars' Director of Corporate Communications, said.

So, there it's the. new era of PokerStars live tours is upon us. Do we see you on tour? Tell us on our Twitter account: @PokerStarsBlog.

See you soon!

Brad Willis is the PokerStars Head of Blogging. Follow him on Twitter: @BradWillis.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars news]