The Statistics Behind PokerStars’ Success with Power Path

In the last few years, PokerStars has introduced several new game mechanics, tournaments, and promotions. One of its innovative poker systems, Power Path, has been astoundingly successful in the year since its debut. We examine the figures of this system’s success and what it means for PokerStars’ future.

Power Path originally debuted in late June 2023. It’s an alternative qualification route to the brand’s various poker events. It’s focused on helping casual players qualify at affordable price points for tournaments. It’s a four-step system that starts with a 50-cent buy-in. It awards three tiers of power passes (PP):

• Bronze PP - $109
• Silver PP - $2,500
• Gold PP - $10,300

This poker mechanic is popular because it offers equal opportunity to professional and casual players. All players must advance to and win Step 3 to become eligible for Silver and Gold passes. 

This structure eliminates the traditional issue with step-based satellite systems, where professional players can buy into the final step. It also gives recreational players more opportunities to qualify for iconic tournaments.

Since its debut, this qualification system has awarded over 35,000 power passes across all of its markets. As such, it’s provided over $15 million in prize money within one year. We can see the success of this mechanic simply by the fact that 75% of PokerStars’ active players use it.

The initial release was only for the dot-com market, but it wasn’t long before the poker room expanded its offer to other markets. Italy received access in September 2023. Southern Europe (Spanish, French, and Portuguese players) joined the party in December 2023. 

The dot-com market awarded the most passes overall at 14,660 (worth $9,206,000). Meanwhile, the Southern European markets come in second with 13,050 (worth $3,112,220 or €2,865,000). The Italian market awarded 7,750 passes, which are worth around $3,014,566 (€2,775,000).

When looking at each market individually, we can see that although the dot-com market did the best overall, the Southern European market awarded the most Bronze PPs.

• Dot-Com: 14,660 Passes

• Bronze - 12,000 ($1,308,000)
• Silver - 2,500 ($6,250,000)
• Gold - 160 ($1,648,000)

• Southern Europe: 13,050 Passes

• Bronze - 12,500 (€1,250,000)
• Silver - 500 (€1,150,000)
• Gold - 50 (€465,000)

• Italy: 7,750 Passes

• Bronze - 7000 (€700,000)
• Silver - 700 (€1,610,000)
• Gold - 50 (€465,000)

This system is especially popular with the Sunday Million series. Statistics show that over 1,000 players participate in the weekly tournament using their Bronze Pass or Step 4 tickets. That is around 9,000 Power Path qualifiers for the game, bringing the prize money up to around $2.4 million for the Sunday Million.

PokerStars released this system to encourage recreational players to participate more in iconic tournaments. While PokerStars hasn’t regained its concurrent cash game figures from its glory days, this system is definitely one of its most successful ventures. We look forward to how the Power Path qualifiers will perform in its second year of operation.