The ballroom at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas will be packed with poker players soon (PokerStars photo)

In just over a week the Atlantis Resort and Casino in the Bahamas will begin welcoming some of poker’s best as well as a number of players hoping to strike it rich. Only this year they won’t be chasing down the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure title – thanks to the rebranding of all PokerStars live events under the PokerStars Live banner, players are making their way to Atlantis to play in the first ever PokerStars Championship event.

There are 92 events on the PokerStars Championship Bahamas schedule this year, but we’ve gone ahead and picked out five events that stand out as highlights of the schedule.

Event #12: PokerStars National Championship

The EPT wasn’t the only tournament series that was rebranded. The Latin American Poker Tour also fell under the same umbrella and the PCA schedule included an LAPT event and that’s now been replaced by a $2,200 buy-in National Championship. The event is typically one of the bigger fields on the schedule. Last year Georgios Sotiropoulos topped 850 other players to win just over $300,000. Keep in mind though, winning it means you have to late reg the Main Event at the start of Day 2.

Players start with 25,000 chips and levels last 45 minutes.

Event #23: PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event

The marquee event on the schedule each year is the Main Event. This one will hold special weight as the first ever PokerStars Championship Main Event. The $5,000 buy-in event has two starting flights, one on January 8 and another January 9. In 2016 the PCA Main Event also had a $5,000 buy-in and had 928 entries when Mike Watson beat Anthony Gregg heads-up to win $728,325.

Players start with 30,000 chips and levels last 75 minutes.

Event #38: Limit HOSE

A good chunk of the Bahamas schedule is built around No Limit Hold’em events, so finding something to give players a break from that grind wasn’t easy. The $330 buy-in Limit HOSE event on January 9 gives players an affordable option and a chance at winning a Red Spade trophy against a smaller field. It’s also just a single day event. Last year Christoph Strehl topped the 42 player field to win $3,720.

Players start with 10,000 chips and levels last 20 minutes.

Event #67: PokerStars Cup

While the Main Event, High Roller and Super High Roller are geared towards well-bankrolled players, there is a good selection of events for the players who might be on a budget. The PokerStars Cup has four starting flights on January 12 and 13, a $440 buy-in, and allows for one entry per flight.

Players start with 10,000 chips and levels last 20 minutes.

Event #91: Hyper Turbo, Deep Stack, $500 Knockouts, Win the Button

If you’re looking for a bigger buy-in event with a number of different variations in it, the $2,150 buy-in event on the final day of the Championship has almost all of it. It’s a hyper turbo, levels last just 10 minutes, players are awarded $500 for every knockout they get, and just to keep it interesting, it’s also a Win the Button event.

Players start with 20,000 chips and levels last 10 minutes.

BONUS – Events #14, 19, 25, 31: PokerStars Championship Turbo Qualifier

Traveling all the way to the Bahamas and not having a seat into the Main Event can be a bit of a downer for some players. So PokerStars has made it easy to get in at the last minute – and on the cheap – with four different $650 buy-in turbo qualifiers running January 7-8.

Players start with 10,000 chips and levels last 15 minutes.