PokerStars’ US brand, PokerStars on FanDuel, has two very different series to talk about this month. One was a live tournament series in Maryland that has just finished with a much better result than last year. The other is an online series running now in New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Read together, they show how the brand is using tournament sizing to grow its American audience, a theme that connects to the broader restructuring at its parent, Flutter, which we have covered in our piece on the CEO transition.
The Maryland State Poker Championship
The Maryland State Poker Championship was played at Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland from August 26 to September 7, 2026, and this was its eighth edition. According to Pokerfuse’s report, it had 16 events and nearly $1.1 million in combined guarantees, and it produced $1,491,760 in total prize money from 3,032 entries. That is what Pokerfuse describes as nearly 40 percent above the combined guarantees. It was also the series’ return under FanDuel branding.
A few events stood out:
- Event #2, a $600 buy-in, drew the biggest field of the series with 728 entries.
- Event #10, the Mini Main, at $220, drew 651 entries.
- Filippos Stavrakis won two trophies in the Omaha based events.
The Main Event and the buy-in cut
The result that best explains the series is the Main Event. It carried a $500,000 guarantee, but the buy-in was reduced from $2,200 to $1,700. It drew 380 entries and a $570,000 prize pool, which is 14 percent above the guarantee. It ended with a three way deal:
| Player | Payout |
|---|---|
| Justin Arnwine | $86,167 (largest share) |
| Daniel Iachan | $78,112 (trophy) |
| Aaron Pinson | $76,221 |
The comparison with 2025 is what makes the change instructive. Pokerfuse reports that last year’s $2,200 buy-in drew only 228 players and fell short of the guarantee. Moving from 228 to 380 entries is an increase of about 67 percent, in exchange for a buy-in cut of about 23 percent.
Some rough arithmetic of our own shows why that trade works. This year’s $570,000 pool over 380 entries implies about $1,500 of each $1,700 goes to the prize pool. If a similar $2,000 of each $2,200 buy-in went to the prize pool last year, 228 entries would have produced about $456,000, roughly $44,000 short of the $500,000 guarantee. So the same $500,000 guarantee went from a likely shortfall to a comfortable pass, and the prize pool grew by about a quarter even though the price was lower. That is an estimate, but the direction is not in doubt.
A perk that links live and online
PokerStars also attached a reward that ties the live series to its online funnel. It is randomly selecting one of the 16 event winners to receive an all expenses paid EPT Main Event package worth €5,300, including hotel and travel. It is a modest cost for a piece of marketing that points a Maryland live player toward the wider PokerStars tour, and it echoes the classic satellite to live event pipeline that built the brand, which we described in our look at PokerStars at 25.
The online side: the Dynasty Series
The online counterpart is the PokerStars on FanDuel Dynasty Series. As PokerNews’ preview sets out, it runs from September 12 to 28, 2026 in New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, with $3.5 million in guarantees across 100 tournaments and buy-ins from $10 to $1,500 in No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and specialty variants.
The schedule is built around three finishing events on September 27:
| Event | Buy-in | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Main Event | $300 | $350,000 |
| High Roller Main | $1,500 | $200,000 |
| Mini Main | $50 | $75,000 |
The series opens with six events, including the $1,000 Storm Kickoff, which carries a $100,000 guarantee and is the largest tournament on the first day. There are multiple six figure guarantees at different stake levels throughout, and nightly tournaments continue in the background.
What the two series have in common
The two events look different, one live and one online, but the design choices line up.
Buy-ins are pitched for a mid range player. The Maryland Main Event only worked once its price came down, and the Dynasty Series puts its biggest guarantee on a $300 Main Event rather than its $1,500 High Roller.
Every series has a low entry route. The Dynasty Series starts at $10, and Maryland’s Event #10 was a $220 Mini Main that drew 651 entries.
A clear ladder to a bigger event. The EPT package in Maryland and the tiered Main Events online both give players a reason to move up.
Why the contrast with other US series is useful
It is worth placing this alongside the US series run under other brands. The WSOP’s fall series has also cut its average buy-in, to $758, and leaned into mystery bounties, as we describe in our look at the WSOP Fall Online Series. That two of the largest brands in US regulated poker have both moved toward lower priced headline events in the same month suggests the operators are reading the same market data: small player pools grow by lowering the price of admission, not by raising it. That is our reading of the pattern rather than a stated strategy from either company.
What to watch
The Dynasty Series Main Event on September 27 is the main test. A $350,000 guarantee at a $300 buy-in needs roughly 1,200 to 1,300 entries depending on the fee, and how easily it is cleared in three states will show whether the Maryland result was a sign of appetite for reasonably priced tournaments across the brand or a one series effect.