When players who have attended the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in past years cite their favorite moments from the tournament series, at least one story tends to involve the opening night party hosted by the site. This year, PokerStars is aiming to outdo itself by hosting not one, but two seaside shindigs.
As tradition dictates, the first fiesta will take place on Monday, January 4th, the night before the $10,000 buy-in Main Event gets underway. The party will take place on the Royal Tower of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island at 7:00pm. It is scheduled to last until 9:00pm and will feature free hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. All players taking part in the Main Event are invited to attend and can bring one guest. In past years, the party has included greetings from Team PokerStars Pro members as well as local entertainment. Last year, party guests watched as a small parade of local dancers performed along with a band.
In addition to the open-invite party on the 4th, PokerStars will be hosting a second party on the 9th. This invitation-only event will take place from 9:00pm to Midnight at Paradise Harbour. Those in attendance will see R&B singer Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, perform. It will be one of Rowland’s only musical appearances in January, as her official website indicates her next performance date is not until the 23rd, when she will perform as part of the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, France.
This is not the first time that PokerStars has teamed up with a musical star from the world of hip-hop and R&B. At the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), rap star and poker enthusiast Nelly performed at the Las Vegas PokerStars party. In addition to being the musical guest for the site’s WSOP party, Nelly was also a mainstay at the Rio during the six-week tournament series, playing in a number of events and frequently taking part in the Amazon Room cash games. He also took part in the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) Monte Carlo Grand Final.
Nelly is one of a number of celebrities expected to make an appearance at PCA. As part of the tournament series, PokerStars is teaming up with amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, to host a charity poker tournament as part of the PCA. The event will feature a $5,250 buy-in and half of the prize pool will be given to amfAR to benefit global AIDS research. Team PokerStars Sports pros Boris Becker, Mats Sundin, and Sebastian Chabal are all also expected to attend, according to a press release from PokerStars.
Rowland and Nelly are not the only musical acts with ties to PokerStars. Team PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu and the PokerStars logo were featured in Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In Vegas” video. NBA star LeBron James also made an appearance in Drake’s “Forever” video and is prominently seen playing heads-up at the PokerStars virtual tables at the beginning of it. Even R&B songstress Rihanna has ties with the online poker room, as she plays poker with PokerStars-branded chips in her new video for “Hard,” featuring Young Jeezy.
Rowland’s appearance at PCA is just the latest incident of a musical star taking up with PokerStars, but considering the recent influx of PokerStars appearances in music videos, it certainly does not appear to be the last.
