PokerStars became one of the biggest names in online poker, but who actually founded the company? The answer involves father-and-son team Isai and Mark Scheinberg, who turned an ambitious online poker project into a multibillion-dollar business.
Who Founded PokerStars?
PokerStars was founded by Isai Scheinberg and his son, Mark Scheinberg, in 2001.
While Isai is frequently referred to as the founder of PokerStars, Mark was his co-founder and played a major role in building the business that would eventually become the world’s biggest online poker company.
Their responsibilities complemented each other from the beginning.
Isai, a former IBM programmer and keen poker player, was heavily involved in developing the software behind PokerStars. Mark focused more on the operational side of the growing online poker business.
The combination proved extraordinarily successful.
Within little more than a decade, PokerStars had gone from a new entrant in a developing industry to the dominant force in online poker.
Who Is Isai Scheinberg?
Isai Scheinberg is a programmer, businessman and poker player best known for creating PokerStars alongside his son.
Before PokerStars existed, Scheinberg worked as a programmer for IBM in Canada. His technical background became particularly important when he began developing the software that would eventually power the poker room.
Online poker was already available at the time. Planet Poker had begun offering real-money games in 1998, while sites including Paradise Poker, UltimateBet and PartyPoker subsequently entered the market.
Scheinberg believed there was room to do it better.
PokerStars was built using software developed through Pyr Software, with Isai overseeing the technical side of the project in Canada.
The site initially launched with play-money games in September 2001 before dealing its first real-money hand on December 12, 2001.
It was the beginning of a company that would transform both online poker and the Scheinberg family’s fortunes.
What Role Did Mark Scheinberg Play in PokerStars?
Mark Scheinberg was 28 when he helped launch PokerStars with his father.
While Isai concentrated heavily on the technology, Mark handled gaming operations from Costa Rica during the company’s early years.
PokerStars gradually established itself against an increasingly competitive field, but the events of 2003 would change everything.
An unknown accountant from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker qualified for the World Series of Poker Main Event through PokerStars.
Moneymaker went on to win the tournament for $2.5 million.
His victory became one of the defining moments in poker history.
Millions of viewers watching the WSOP on television saw an amateur player who had qualified online defeat established professionals to become world champion.
If Moneymaker could do it, thousands of other recreational players wondered if they could do the same.
PokerStars was perfectly positioned to benefit.
How PokerStars Became an Online Poker Giant
PokerStars was already investing heavily in online tournaments before the Moneymaker boom.
The first World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was held in 2002, giving online players the opportunity to compete in a major tournament series without sitting at a physical poker table.
The company’s tournament offering continued expanding as online poker exploded in popularity.
PokerStars eventually introduced events and brands that became familiar throughout the poker world, while its enormous player pool allowed it to offer increasingly large tournaments and cash games around the clock.
The company also established a significant presence in live poker through tours, sponsorships and major televised events.
By the end of the 2000s, PokerStars was no longer simply another online poker room.
It was one of the biggest companies in the entire poker industry.
Black Friday and PokerStars
The company’s rise was not without controversy.
On April 15, 2011, a date that became known throughout poker as Black Friday, US authorities took action against several major online poker operators.
PokerStars was among the companies affected, alongside Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.
Isai Scheinberg was named in the federal case relating to the operation of online poker in the United States.
PokerStars subsequently reached a settlement with the US government in 2012. As part of that agreement, the company also acquired the assets of former rival Full Tilt Poker.
The deal helped make it possible for Full Tilt players to recover money that had been inaccessible following the site’s collapse.
PokerStars continued operating internationally and remained the dominant name in online poker.
Then came a deal that would make the Scheinbergs extraordinarily wealthy.
How Much Was PokerStars Sold For?
In 2014, Amaya Gaming purchased PokerStars parent company Rational Group for approximately $4.9 billion in cash.
The deal included both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
Mark Scheinberg was the largest shareholder in Rational Group, owning approximately 75% of the business at the time of the sale.
According to Forbes, Mark received more than $3 billion from the transaction.
It completed an extraordinary journey.
Just 13 years after launching PokerStars, the father-and-son founders had turned their online poker business into a company worth almost $5 billion.
How Rich Is Mark Scheinberg?
The PokerStars sale made Mark Scheinberg one of the wealthiest people ever associated with poker.
Forbes estimated his fortune at approximately $6.6 billion in 2026.
Rather than disappearing into retirement after selling PokerStars, Scheinberg moved into investments across several industries.
Much of his activity has been conducted through Mohari Hospitality, the investment company he founded in 2017, with interests in luxury hotels, resorts and other hospitality businesses.
His wealth has also allowed for some particularly spectacular purchases.
One of them recently put the former PokerStars owner back in the headlines.
Mark Scheinberg’s $152 Million Superyacht
Mark Scheinberg has been publicly linked to Synthesis, an enormous 230-foot superyacht delivered by Dutch shipbuilder Amels in 2021.
The yacht includes an owner’s deck, wellness facilities and a distinctive red-tiled infinity pool that glows when illuminated at night.
In August 2026, Synthesis was placed on the market for €132 million, approximately $152 million.
Poker Type recently took a closer look inside Mark Scheinberg’s incredible $152 million megayacht, including the story of how a fortune built during online poker’s first great boom ultimately helped fund one of the world’s most spectacular private yachts.
Does Mark Scheinberg Still Own PokerStars?
No.
The Scheinberg family sold Rational Group, including PokerStars, to Amaya Gaming in 2014.
Amaya later renamed itself The Stars Group before The Stars Group was acquired by Flutter Entertainment in 2020.
That means neither Isai nor Mark Scheinberg owns PokerStars today.
Their connection to the company, however, remains impossible to separate from its history.
What Happened to Isai Scheinberg?
Unlike his son, Isai has remained closely connected to poker itself.
He has played live poker tournaments and has occasionally appeared at major events, although he has traditionally maintained a much lower public profile than many of the industry’s biggest figures.
In 2020, the long-running US legal case connected to PokerStars was finally resolved when Scheinberg was sentenced to time served and a $30,000 fine after pleading guilty to operating an illegal gambling business.
His contribution to poker continues to generate discussion, including debate over whether he should eventually be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Whatever happens on that front, his influence on online poker is difficult to dispute.
The Scheinbergs’ PokerStars Legacy
Isai and Mark Scheinberg did not invent online poker.
What they did was help transform it.
Isai’s technical background helped create a poker platform capable of offering the games and large tournaments players wanted, while Mark helped turn that technology into an enormously successful international business.
Timing also played its part.
PokerStars launched just before online poker exploded into mainstream consciousness, then found itself at the center of the boom when Chris Moneymaker qualified through the site and won the 2003 WSOP Main Event.
By 2014, the company the Scheinbergs had started just 13 years earlier was worth $4.9 billion.
More than two decades after its launch, PokerStars remains one of the best-known brands in poker.
And it all started with a poker-playing programmer, his son and an idea for a better online poker room.
