The second running of Pennsyl-MANIA on PokerStars PA featured a larger guarantee than did the first, and perhaps some bigger expectations, too.
After all, the first Pennsyl-MANIA made history back in May. That event set a standard as the largest tournament ever in the short history of legal online poker in the Keystone State.
Pennsyl-MANIA Part 2 did not break records set by the original. However the event did attract a large turnout, successfully exceeding its huge $350,000 guarantee.
Pennsyl-MANIA sequel produces second-largest prize pool ever
The two-day no-limit hold’em tournament drew 2,026 total entries (1,274 uniques, 752 re-entries). That created a prize pool of $376,836, thereby exceeding the $350K guarantee.
That big field played down to 69 players on Sunday. Then on Monday night “SlotWinna777” emerged as the winner following a four-way chop to take away $44,641.87 and the title.
In the end, the Pennsyl-MANIA sequel featured the second-largest tournament prize pool ever on PokerStars PA.
In May the first Pennsyl-MANIA was also a $200 buy-in event that allowed up to five re-entries. That one drew 2,774 entries, the highest number for any tournament on PokerStars PA. Such an enormous turnout created a $515,964 prize pool that more than doubled the guarantee.
The second Pennsyl-MANIA’s $376K prize pool didn’t reach those heights. But it was a bit more than the $368,200 awarded in the Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker Main Event (High) back in April.
PokerStars PA hopes Pennsyl-MANIA helps boost August revenue
Pennysl-MANIA should help raise PokerStars PA revenue numbers in August, though not as dramatically as tournament series like April’s PASCOOP and others have done.
Since launching in November 2019, PokerStars PA enjoyed its highest revenue numbers ever during the spring months.
PokerStars PA operates in partnership with Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono. The site averaged around $2.3 million in revenue during its first five months of operation. Then in April the site’s revenue surged to more than $5.2 million.
Following that peak, the last three months have seen PokerStars PA revenue numbers gradually decline back to just under $3 million in July.
The closure of live poker rooms in PA in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic was an obvious factor affecting online poker traffic during the spring.
Live poker rooms closed, but online poker competition on the way
Casinos have now reopened in Pennsylvania with limited capacity and safety guidelines in place. However poker rooms remain closed per protocols issued by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
It may be a while, then, before PokerStars PA faces competition from live poker in the state. That said, PokerStars PA’s monopoly as Pennsylvania’s only operating online poker room might be short-lived, as both partypoker and WSOP.com appear to have edged closer to launching in the state.
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