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PokerStars Network,
or a poker platform of your own?

In 2026 Flutter opened the PokerStars Network to outside operators: plug your brand into its shared liquidity, or run the PokerStars brand in your market. Here is how that compares with owning the platform your poker room runs on.
The comparisonRequest a demo

The short answer

Which to choose

Join the PokerStars Network if

  • Liquidity on day one matters more than anything else: the network markets itself as the largest regulated liquidity pool.
  • You want the PokerStars brand itself in your market, which the Brand Franchise model offers.
  • You are content for the network to decide the games, formats and schedule your players see.

Run your own PokerEnginePro platform if

  • You want your own brand, your own rules and your own player relationships, on infrastructure you control.
  • You need games, formats and limits set market by market — from Stud and Badugi to bomb pots and run it twice.
  • You want to host it yourself, in your cloud or your jurisdiction, or have it hosted for you.

Where PokerStars Network is strong[1][5][7]

  • A shared pool that the network describes as the largest regulated liquidity pool in poker.
  • The best-known brand in online poker, with two decades of tournament series behind it.
  • Licences across many European markets, Great Britain, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ontario.
  • A random number generator with a certificate published by Gaming Laboratories International (GLI).

Side by side

The comparison

Facts about PokerStars Network come from public sources, footnoted and dated below.

  • What you get

    PokerStars Network
    A seat on Flutter's network: your brand on the shared pool (Access), or the PokerStars brand in your market (Brand Franchise).[1][2]
    PokerEnginePro
    The whole platform: engine, games, tournaments, ledger, back office and compliance, licensed to you.

  • Liquidity

    PokerStars Network
    Shared across every brand on the network.[1]
    PokerEnginePro
    Your own player pool, across all your markets; regional pools for larger operators.

  • Where it runs

    PokerStars Network
    On the network's own platform, operated by Flutter.[1]
    PokerEnginePro
    Your cloud, your data centre or ours — any Kubernetes, from one chart.

  • Player accounts and data

    PokerStars Network
    Terms not published.[1]
    PokerEnginePro
    In your own database, with export and erasure per player.

  • Games

    PokerStars Network
    PokerStars runs Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, Razz, Draw, Badugi and mixed games, with Zoom fast-fold and Spin & Go.[5]
    PokerEnginePro
    Every variant on one engine — Hold'em, Omaha, Short Deck, Stud, Razz, Draw, Badugi and mixed games — chosen per market.

  • Table features

    PokerStars Network
    Set by the network.[1]
    PokerEnginePro
    Run it twice, all-in insurance, bomb pots, the 7-2 bounty and straddles — each a switch per table and per market.

  • Rules per market

    PokerStars Network
    The network's own, across its licensed markets.[1][5]
    PokerEnginePro
    Each market's rules as a signed rule pack: ages, limits, registers, games, methods.

  • Play money

    PokerStars Network
    PokerStars Play is a separate free-to-play app.[6]
    PokerEnginePro
    Play money and real money on the same platform and the same ledger, kept apart.

  • Random number generation

    PokerStars Network
    GLI certificate publicly listed.[7]
    PokerEnginePro
    A committed shuffle per hand that players can verify; built for GLI-19, with the certification kit ready.

  • Commercial terms

    PokerStars Network
    Not published.[1]
    PokerEnginePro
    A platform licence, self-hosted or hosted; talk to us.

Who should choose which

The PokerStars Network suits an operator whose first problem is liquidity: a sportsbook or casino brand adding poker, with players who will follow the PokerStars name. The trade is control. Games, formats, schedules and the product itself are the network's.

Your own platform suits an operator who wants poker to be its own product: its own lobby, its own formats and promotions, its own rules per market, and its own player relationships — and who plans to build liquidity, or already has it.[1]

What 2026 changed

Flutter turned PokerStars into a network open to other brands. Betfair Poker left Playtech's iPoker network on 13 August 2026 to relaunch as PokerStars on Betfair, with Paddy Power and Sky Poker due to follow. In the United States, PokerStars now runs on Playtech's software as part of FanDuel. Networks are moving; operators who own their platform are not moved with them.[3][2][4]

Liquidity without a network

A platform of your own starts with your own players, and that is the honest gap against any network. PokerEnginePro closes it the way standalone rooms do: one pool across all of an operator's markets where the rules allow, tournaments with satellites and guarantees, play money that brings players to the tables, and the social features that keep them.

  • Satellites and tickets feeding bigger events.
  • A social casino built in: chip store, daily chips, missions and rewarded ads.
  • Fields of up to 10,000 players in one tournament.

Questions

Asked and answered

Is PokerEnginePro part of, or approved by, PokerStars?

No. PokerEnginePro is an independent poker platform. PokerStars and PokerStars Network are trademarks of their owner, and this page compares the two from public information.

What does the PokerStars Network offer an operator?

As the network describes it, two models: Access, where your brand joins the shared player pool, and Brand Franchise, where you operate the PokerStars brand in your market.[1][2]

Does PokerEnginePro have shared liquidity?

Not across operators. Each operator runs its own pool, across all its markets where regulators allow, with regional pools for the largest.

Can I host PokerEnginePro myself?

Yes. It installs on any Kubernetes cluster, in any cloud or data centre, from one chart — or we host it for you.

Method

Facts about other companies come from their own pages and from trade press, listed here with the date each was last checked. Facts about PokerEnginePro describe the platform itself. Where a company does not publish something, the page says so instead of guessing. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.

Last reviewed 7 October 2026

Sources

  1. [1]PokerStars Network: home page — Flutter / PokerStars, checked 7 October 2026
  2. [2]PokerStars opening its network to outside brands — pokerfuse, checked 7 October 2026
  3. [3]PokerStars announces major network restructuring — PokerNews, checked 7 October 2026
  4. [4]Playtech online poker network in North America with FanDuel — Intergame, checked 7 October 2026
  5. [5]PokerStars — Wikipedia, checked 7 October 2026
  6. [6]PokerStars launches social poker app — Gaming Intelligence, checked 7 October 2026
  7. [7]GLI certificate — Gaming Laboratories International, checked 7 October 2026

PokerStars and PokerStars Network are trademarks of their respective owner. PokerEnginePro is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by PokerStars or Flutter Entertainment.

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