There’s no doubt that the poker world is excited to see online rooms making progress to bring real money online poker back to the United States, and although the Poker Stars launch is limited to New Jersey for now, if all goes well that is surely going to expand to new States and involve more poker rooms. However, there are a few things you need to know about this launch.

5 Things You Need To Know About PokerStars In New Jersey

#1 – New Age Restrictions – Must be 21 Years Old

One of the minor differences for New Jersey players is that you must be 21 years old to play at NJ Pokerstars. This stays in line with US laws which require players to be 21, as opposed to 18 years old which is the standard age barrier online.

#2 – Player to Player Transfer Are Not Allowed

Another stipulation set forth by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE) is that players playing from New Jersey cannot make Player to Player transfers of funds. The NJDGE didn’t elaborate on why they insisted on this restriction, but it’s expected to be only a minor inconvenience.

#3 – New Jersey Players vs New Jersey Players Only

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has been keeping up with Online Poker in the US, but it’s worth stating again. Players in New Jersey can only play against other players living in New Jersey. This means that players playing on pokerstars.nj won’t have access to the massive player pools around the world, but hopefully, that will change as US regulation is updated.

#4 – Improved VIP Program for NJ Players

To make up for the smaller player pools and the lack of some of the major VIP tournaments after the initial launch, PokerStars.nj will have a more player friendly VIP program with lower thresholds to reach the various tiers. See the new tiers listed below:

#5 – PokerStars.nj Promotions and Incentives

PokerStars.nj is pushing hard to get players to sign up by putting up some nice promotions and incentives.  One of the big player promotions is their “We Are in New Jersey Freeroll” which is for any player who creates a new account within the first week of launch. The freeroll takes place on March 27 at 17:00 ET with a nice $25,000 guarantee tournament.

As we mentioned above, this is a great first step for Poker in the US, granted it’s not the perfect dream scenario but it’s a good start especially if you are lucky enough to live in New Jersey. In the coming weeks we should have a good idea on how the new launch is going, and new revenue streams are always important in an election year. With the two largest online poker rooms like PartyPoker and PokerStars finally breaking into the US market, this can only mean good things for players in the months to come.

The post PokerStars Launches In New Jersey first appeared on US GAMBLING ONLINE.

Here is the original press release:

This platform migration will allow Amaya’s development and technology teams to focus on improving one market-leading platform rather than two, leading to a better gaming experience for all; improvements and features will be delivered faster and more efficiently rather than doubling development requirements. For instance, rather than splitting resources developing Full Tilt Jackpot Sit & Go and PokerStars Spin & Go features independently, teams will be able to work together on delivering the best possible product on one platform.

“Players will benefit from a larger pool of players offering greater game choice, bigger prize pools,” said Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of Rational Group. “It will also make us more nimble as we can focus our technological innovation on one platform, rather than two, so we will be able to innovate more quickly and enter newly-regulating and existing markets swiftly.” 

PokerStars + Full Tilt Merger = Good for Players

As they mentioned in the press release, it makes sense to focus their development and promotional resources in one spot. this will give Pokerstars an even larger player base, bigger tournaments, and best of all the specialty Sit & Go Games, Jackpot Games, Spin-n-Go games will be available all in once place.

The biggest drawback may be the loss of the actual Full Tilt Poker Software which has always been popular among players due to the rich features and ease of customization. But there is no doubt that the current Pokerstars software is top notch.

Why Shut Down Full Tilt Poker?

The full press release did reveal that since the re-launch of the Full Tilt Platform, the numbers have not come close to reaching their goals and players have been hesitant to invest their time and money back at Full Tilt. Before the shut down of Full Tilt in 2012, the room was #2 in terms of daily traffic and large payouts, second only to Pokerstars. Since the re-launch Full Tilt has not breached the Top 10 in terms of traffic.

What Does This Means For Players?

If you have a Full Tilt Poker account that is active, and you have an existing Pokerstars account (if not signup for one free), then you can merge your player accounts together anytime between now and the final close date sometime this spring. It’s a simple process which takes just a few minutes to complete. PokerStars has setup a dedicated page to walk you through the process of pairing your accounts. Account Pairing Guide

What About Full Tilt Points and Rewards?

Pokerstars has not yet announced how Full Tilt Player Points, Edge rewards, and other comp promotions will be compensated, but we have been told there will be some type of reward points exchange.

The Bottom Line? Savings!

This should be a good thing for players overall. Merging all the resources towards one poker room is going to increase everything from player support, to player rewards, new feature development, and best of all an expanded player pool. Of course players probably won’t notice many of these changes right away, but the addition of the Full Tilt Specialty Games such as Rush Poker and the Progressive Jackpot/Knockout games will be a nice addition to the specialty games PokerStars already offers.

This also saves the company a lot of money they can now use to continue to lobby various US States to pass online poker friendly regulations like we see in New Jersey.

The post PokerStars and Full Tilt Merging first appeared on US GAMBLING ONLINE.