Mark your calendars, New Jersey -- PokerStars is coming

It's been nearly five years. Five years of hoping. Five years of waiting. Five years of anticipating the time I could write these words again:

PokerStars is back.

Just moments ago, PokerStars announced that it plans to launch in New Jersey on March 21 in partnership with Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, marking the first time in nearly five years that people living in America will have a chance to play for real money on the world's biggest online poker site.

Want to play on your desktop or laptop in New Jersey just like you once did? That's coming back.

Want to play on your tablet or phone? You'll now be able to do that, too.

If you were once a PokerStars player and want to play from New Jersey, you'll be eligible to use your old PokerStars screen name and regain your former VIP status just as soon as you come back.

Remember what Sundays used to be like? New Jersey will have its own Sunday Special to go along with all the other poker tournaments and games everyone remembers. What's more, for the first time, PokerStars players in New Jersey will be able to play Spin & Go tournaments as well as a wide variety of casino games.

"PokerStars is the global leader in online poker and trusted by its customers for its robust and innovative technology, world-class security and game-integrity. We are honored and excited to now bring these experiences to New Jersey," said David Baazov, Chairman and CEO of Amaya, PokerStars' parent company.

In September of last year, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement authorized PokerStars and Full Tilt to operate in that state. PokerStars expects to run a testing period and beta period with a limited player base beginning in mid-March in the run-up to the full launch.

PokerStars is no stranger to the regulated gaming industry. It has licenses in more than a dozen jurisdictions. Worldwide, more than 100 million people have registered to play on the site. PokerStars is now set to bring its games and reputations back to the Garden State.

For more information, visit the brand new PokerStars New Jersey web site.

What are you doing this Saturday? You have plans? Well, cancel them. Because this Saturday isn't just any Saturday on PokerStars, it's Super Saturday, with a combined prize pool of some $250,000 and a selection of VIP tournaments good enough to cancel all but your grandmother's birthday party*.

All right, so we're not advocating anything too extreme (although more than a few poker players learned the game on their grandmother's knee pushing pennies around the kitchen table), but we think we have a line-up of events that will render shoes redundant, and the outdoors as uninviting as outer space.

It kicks off on Saturday at 9:00 ET with a full day of events to suit every VIP status.

09:00 ET Bronzestar VIP Tournament: 25 StarsCoin buy-in, $5,000 Prize pool
11:00 ET ChromeStar Freeroll: $20,000 Prize pool
12:30 ET SilverStar Freeroll: $30,000 Prize pool
14:00 ET GoldStar Freeroll: $100,000 Prize pool
15:00 ET VIP Bash Sunday Million 10th Anniversary Special: 1,000 StarsCoin buy-in, 50 Seats added.
17:15 ET VIP Club: $100k Added. 50 StarsCoin buy-in (part of the 100 Million Promotion)

(Note: This currently has 47,000 entries, so the prize pool will be at least $123,500.)

That's not all. In between all of that, there's a ticket-only freeroll (Hyper-Turbo) at 13:47 ET with some $47k added - made up of 200 Sunday Million 10th Anniversary tickets, and a prize pool of $4,000.

To enter all you need to do is deposit $20 or more using the code 'MILLIONFREE3' and then find Tournament ID 1471575778 in the PokerStars lobby. And by the way, these run every Saturday up to and including March 19, 2016. Last week they had more than 16,000 runners. Sounds like a fun crowd.

So let's just recalculate. That means we're giving away more like $300,000. Even more reason to get involved. That goes for your grandmother too.

* We at the PokerStars Blog advocate only good things towards grandmothers.

PokerStars is celebrating 100 million players this month. Today, we take a deep and sometimes unflattering dive into the PCA photo archives

As you might have seen over the past couple of weeks, the PokerStars Blog has been taking look back at the past 15 years of PokerStars, celebrating the biggest player milestones, and remembering the good ol' days. It's all part of the 100 million player celebration.

I waded through lots of memories. Along the way, I found reports about people we'd never known before the PCA who are now international superstars. I found reports about people who have since gone broke. I found reports about people who are no longer alive. The archive is deep and, in ways I didn't expect, bittersweet in a lot of ways.

As I worked on an essay about the triumphs and tragedies that have come and gone with the PCA, I'll be honest...I got a little sad. The chronicle of the PCA is a story of life and death, and it was a little heavy for a celebration.

Then I saw a picture of Patrik Antonius with hair, and I started to giggle.

Here's the thing: back in the early days of the PCA, our photography was not of the standard it is today. In fact, for the first three years, there was a lot of pointing and shooting going on, but there wasn't a ton of art in it. Nevertheless, in those early years, there were some real gems in the photo archives. As I dug deeper and deeper, I saw faces I knew well in photos that I hadn't seen in a decade. This is where the fun started.

I don't know how long I spent piddling around in the photo archives, but by the time I'd finished, I was running out of time to write. That's when I realized, these photos are are a story in themselves.

If you have played in a poker tournament in the last decade or so, you will know almost every person in the photos below. Some are bigger. Some are smaller. Some have more hair. Some have markedly less. They may not look like they look today, and that's where the fun is. You won't have seen these pictures on Facebook, and if you're young enough, you may never have seen these photos at all.

So, get to clicking and see how many of the people below you can identify. Then, head over to our @PokerStarsBlog Twitter account and let us know your favorites. Enjoy!

PokerStars is celebrating 100 million players this month. See how you can join in the celebration and win some big money here.

Other stories from this series:

PokerStars has the need for speed
Meet PokerStars' longest-serving player of all time
The ghosts of WCOOP
The Moneymaker Boom that almost wasn't
Alexander Stevic and the start of a new era in poker
The PokerStars Sunday Million Two-Timer Club
Smile! You're on Kid Poker Camera!
Biggest poker tournament ever? Check!
So who was that first winner on PokerStars mobile?
PokerStars has the need for speed
'How I took my chance in 100 billion'

As usual, this week's Super Tuesday featured a number of poker's top performing tournament players going deep, with a final nine including Ivan "Negriin" Luca, Sam "aaajack" Chartier, Nick "FU_15" Maimone, Juan "Malaka$tyle" Pardo, and Lander "tua133" Lijo. In the end, though, it was Argentina's pucho2100 who outlasted everyone, topping a big field of 527 to take away a $100,130 payday.

Those 527 build a prize pool of $527,000 -- way over the $425K guarantee, and it would take almost exactly six hours for the field to be cut down to 63 players and the money bubble to burst. At that point Sh0w3rd4u was sitting in the chip lead with 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25K High Roller winner Nick "FU_15" Maimone next in the counts.

Steve "Mr. Tim Caum" O'Dwyer was among the players knocked out shortly after the tournament reached the cash, going out in 57th for $2,318.80.

Over the next hour-and-a-half the field was whittled further down to 18, with Artem "roi kin23" Litvinov (56th, $2,318.80), Laurynas "LaurisL91" Levinskas (55th, $2,318.80), Daniel "42ayay" Erlandsson (51st, $2,476.90), Fernando "fviana" Viana (52nd, $2,476.90), Michael "chipsxxx" Kossov (39th, $2,635), Ezequiel "TEENageTuRtl" Kleinman (31st, $2,898.50), Luis "Turko_man" Rodriguez (27th, $3,162), Bjorn "kleath" Kleathersson (24th, $3,162), Daniel "GusanoZ" Silveira (21st, $3,162), and Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot (20th, $3,162) among the eliminated.

Sh0w3rd4u was still in front, having widened the lead with just two tables were left. EliteEvil (18th), Paul "paulgees81" Volpe (17th), and Pimmss (16th) were the next players out, each earning $4,216.

I Visor I (15th), BOOGANDEHAH (14th), and duffm0n (13th) then were successively eliminated, earning $5,270 apiece. airforlife20 (12th) and last week's Super Tuesday winner Dhr. Awesome (11th) then followed those players to the virtual rail, and a little while later during hand-for-hand play xxxmato was ousted in 10th by readas_reada when the latter's [As][Qd] outdrew xxxmato's [Kh][Kc]. Those three eliminated players each earned $6,324.

Meanwhile before the final table could officially get started, Ivan "Negriin" Luca was all in and at risk with [9d][9s] versus Lander "tua133" Lijo's [Kc][Qc].

A queen then fell among the community cards and the Argentinian was knocked out in ninth, thereby leaving one seat open when the final table began with Sh0w3rs4u still leading with eight left.

Seat 1: empty
Seat 2: PreyOnDaLine (United Kingdom) -- 356,945
Seat 3: readas_reada (Austria) -- 632,550
Seat 4: Sam "aaajack" Chartier (Canada) -- 110,260
Seat 5: Lander "tua133" Lijo (Czech Republic) -- 448,236
Seat 6: pucho2100 (Argentina) -- 162,102
Seat 7: Sh0w3rs4u (United Kingdom) -- 498,345
Seat 8: Nick "FU_15" Maimone (Honduras) -- 205,860
Seat 9: Juan "Malaka$tyle" Pardo (United Kingdom) -- 220,702

About 10 minutes into the final table, the tournament's 10th hour had just begun when Sam "aaajack" Chartier open-raised all in from the hijack seat for 83,360 -- a bit over 10 big blinds -- then watched pucho2100 reraise-shove from the button for about twice that amount. Leader Sh0w3rs4u then pushed all in from the small blind over the top, scattering Nick "FU_15" Maimone in the big blind, and the three players showed their hands:

pucho1200: [Kh][Kd]
Sh0w3rs4u: [Jh][Jc]
aaajack: [Js][9s]

The board came [6s][3d][Qd][Th][As], giving pucho1200 a huge pot while knocking out Chartier in eighth.

It would take more than half an hour for the next elimination to come as the blinds increased to 5,000/10,000 with a 1,250 ante. A hand then arose in which Lander "tua133" Lijo opened from UTG to 20,500, then Nick "FU_15" Maimone reraised all in for his last 145,623 from the cutoff seat. It folded back to Lijo who called, turning over [Ac][Qs] to Maimone's [As][Jh].

The board came [6d][3h][Td][Kh][7d], missing both and keeping Lijo in front, which meant a seventh-place finish for Maimone.

The final six marched on, then just after they reached the 10-hour mark readas_reada min-raised to 24,000 from the cutoff, leader Sh0w3rs4u reraised all in from the big bind, and readas_reada committed the 202,764 left behind.

Sh0w3rs4u had [9c][9d] and readas_reada [Ac][Kc], and the [6d][Ad][2d] flop gave the latter top pair while providing a flush draw for Sh0w3rs4u. The [Kd] then completed that draw, leaving readas_reada hoping for an ace or king on the river to survive. But fifth street brought the [3h], and readas_reada was done in sixth.

Just two hands later pucho2100 min-raised to 28,000 from the cutoff, PreyOnDaLine reraised all in for 205,163 from the big blind, and pucho2100 called. PreyOnDaLine had [3d][3h] but pucho2100 had a better pocket pair with [7h][7c], and five cards later -- [Ks][As][9h][Kd][2s] -- they were down to four.

Sh0w3rs4u was still the leader with nearly 1.1 million, although with that knockout pucho2100 had pushed up over 915,000 to close the gap while Lander "tua133" Lijo (almost 470,000) and Juan "Malaka$tyle" Pardo (about 157,000) were well behind.

A short while later it was Pardo open-raising all in for 204,688 (not quite 13 BBs) from the small blind with [Kd][2d] and getting called by Lander "tua133" Lijo in the big with [Ks][Qc]. The board came [9h][6s][9d][Qs][5c], and Pardo was knocked out in fourth.

The last three players made it to the 11-hour mark, with pucho2100 the new leader with about 1.05 million, Sh0w3rs4u next with just over 900,000, and Lander "tua133" Lijo third iwth about 687,000 after enduring pucho2100 having doubled through him.

Soon a hand arose in which pucho2100 raised 2x to 40,000 form the button and got one caller in Lijo in the big blind. The flop came [3c][8h][2c], Lijo checked, pucho2100 bet 41,000, and Lijo called. The turn then brought the [Qs] and another check from Lijo. pucho2100 bet 84,000 this time, and Lijo called again.

The river was the [Ks] and Lijo checked a third time. pucho2100 pushed all in, and Lijo called with his last 572,257. pucho2100 shoed [Qd][8c] for queens and eights, and that was better than the pair of kings Lijo had with [Kc][Jc], sending Lijo railward in third.

Heads-up began with pucho2100 in front with 1,734,123 to Sh0w3rs4u's 900,877 and a quick chat between the two.

pucho2100: deal or play?
Sh0w3rs4u: PLAY
Sh0w3rs4u: gl
pucho2100: gl bro

A few hands into their battle Sh0w3rs4u grabbed the advantage after doubling up with [Kd][Qd] versus pucho2100's [Ad][Kh] when a queen came among the community cards. A little later, though pucho2100 would push back, retaking the lead getting all in on the turn after flopping bottom two pair versus the top pair of Sh0w3rs4u and having the hand hold up.

pucho2100 was able to work up over 2 million while knocking Sh0w3rs4u back down around half a million, then the latter earned a double up to get back to almost 1.15 million to pucho2100's 1.48 million when the final hand suddenly took place.

It began with a min-raise by Sh0w3rs4u to 60,000, followed by a three-bet to 160,000 by pucho2100. Sh0w3rs4u then made it 390,000 to go, and after pucho2100 shoved Sh0w3rs4u thought for a few seconds before calling all in.

pucho2100: [Kd][Ks]
Sh0w3rs4u: [Ac][Qc]

Sh0w3rs4u needed to improve, but the board rolled out [Jc][Td][Jh][Ts][3d] and so Sh0w3rs4u came one spot shy of winning, having to take second-place prize money as the winner's share went to pucho2100.

Congratulations to pucho2100 for topping another big Super Tuesday field and a talented final table to win this week's tournament for a nice six-figure payday.

2/2/16 Super Tuesday ($1,050 No-Limit Hold'em) results
Entrants: 527
Prize pool: $527,000.00
Places paid: 63

1. pucho2100 (Argentina) $100,130.00
2. Sh0w3rs4u (United Kingdom) $73,780.00
3. Lander "tua133" Lijo (Czech Republic) $54,017.50
4. Juan "Malaka$tyle" Pardo (United Kingdom) $41,106.00
5. PreyOnDaLine (United Kingdom) $28,985.00
6. readas_reada (Austria) $22,397.50
7. Nick "FU_15" Maimone (Honduras) $17,127.50
8. Sam "aaajack" Chartier (Canada) $11,857.50
9. Ivan "Negriin" Luca (Argentina) $8,748.20