The PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship annihilated records for poker tournaments of the $25,000 buy-in level, absolutely obliterating the records for field size and prize pool in an event of this price tag. The 2019 PSPC attracted 1,039 entries and generated a $26,455,500 prize pool, and did so without the benefit of re-entries.

“Passion and interest in poker are alive and well in 2019, and this tournament highlights the global excitement for the game,” said Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars Director of Poker Marketing. “Tens of thousands of players participated in a year of unique promotions leading up to the event and that enthusiasm delivered one of the most exciting events in poker history.”

Even if you exclude the 320 Platinum Pass winners that PokerStars threw into the $25,000 fire, the PSPC still produced a field of 719 entries.

The field was largely made up of players from the United States, who accounted for 36% of the player pool. Canada was the second most well-represented country, making up 9% of the field, and the United Kingdom and Brazil were tied for third at 6% each.

The winner of the PSPC will take home $5.1 million. That figure includes a chunk of $1 million that PokerStars added to first place. Second place will take home just less than $3 million, third place is $2.168 million, and spots fourth through sixth will each walk away with seven-figure paydays.

The top 181 places from the 1,039-entry field will reach the money.

The previous record for a $25,000 buy-in event stood for nearly 12 full years, having been set in April 2007 with the Season V WPT World Championship. That famous World Poker Tour event was won by Carlos Mortensen for $3.97 million. Mortensen topped the field of 639 entries to claim the lion’s share of the $15.495 million prize pool. Also in that event, Kirk Morrison finished second for $2.01 million and Paul Lee took third for $1.08 million.

The PSPC also set a record for largest prize pool ever for an event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure poker festival, previously held by the 2011 PCA Main Event that attracted 1,560 entries for a $15.132 million prize pool. Furthermore, if you stack this $25,000 buy-in PSPC event up against previous PCA Main Event tournaments, it ranks as the sixth-largest PCA tournament by field size.