UK Qualifier Living The Dream at PokerStars Festival New Jersey

It may seem like a long way from the Northwest of England to Atlantic City, but PokerStars has helped bridge that gap this week.

Before Black Friday forced the world’s largest online poker site out of the US market, it bridged a lot of gaps, offering American players the chance to qualify for big live events at great destinations around the world for pennies on the dollar.

It’s one of the things many U.S. players say they miss most about the site, but with PokerStars’ online product returning to New Jersey earlier this year and its first live event on U.S. soil in almost six years going off in Atlantic City this week, it’s something that’s coming back in a big way.

Dozens of players have qualified online for the PokerStars Festival New Jersey Main Event, which kicked off at the Resorts Casino Hotel on Wednesday. Of those who qualified online, 73 came from the New Jersey site and three came from the global PokerStars site, including one from Liverpool, England.

“I was at home playing a couple of tournaments and happened to see there was a qualifier,” explained Peter Smyth, 60. “There were three packages and only 10 or 11 people in. I’ve been to Atlantic City before and I’ve got good memories of being here, having cashed in a couple of tournaments at Borgata. I haven’t played much live poker in while, so I thought, why not? There were 12 players in and you could reenter once, so basically, if nobody else came into it, there was a big overlay and I was lucky enough to win one of the packages.”

Smyth, who is a SuperNova player on PokerStars, hasn’t had much luck with early side events on the schedule, …

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