Pennsylvania online poker players, take a bow. Your collective efforts led to eclipsing the PokerStars PA SCOOP prize guarantees on the first weekend of events and that by a comfortable margin. Your success should breed more opportunities, too.
PokerStars’ Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) is still ongoing with many events remaining. Find the full schedule here.
Beyond PASCOOP, exciting times could be ahead for online poker players in the Keystone State if another market reaches maturity soon.
PokerStars PASCOOP guarantees quickly came and went
When PokerStars started PASCOOP on April 17, it guaranteed at least $280,000 in prizes over the first weekend. Over those two days, Pennsylvanians actually claimed $350,000 in prizes. In fact, the first 10 tournaments exceeded guarantees by an average of 40%.
That percentage dropped a bit over the following 11 tourneys, but still produced a respectable 16% above guarantees. Part of the success is due to PokerStars’ experimentation with expanding access to the events.
For the first time in a US Series event, PokerStars granted three buy-in tiers. The result was more players taking virtual seats in tournaments regardless of the size of their bankrolls. The math was simple from there; more players means more winnings.
That didn’t mean the tournaments with the highest buy-ins went neglected, either. The PASCOOP Event 04-H $100 buy-in Sunday Special actually attracted its largest field ever, totaling over 1,000 entries. Players split a pool of over $92,000, which was $17,000 more than the guarantee.
It isn’t too late to get in on PokerStars’ offerings in PA, either. Overall, PASCOOP guarantees over $2 million in prize pools and continues through May 3, with dozens of events still on tap. As a matter of fact, you can try it out for free this Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. That’s when PokerStars will offer a freeroll with no deposit necessary and a main event seat at stake.
That $300 Main Event goes down on May 2 with a guaranteed prize pool of $200,000. There are also smaller Main Events the same day priced at $75 ($40K GTD) and $30 ($20K GTD).
However, there could be a lot of action on the horizon should regulatory frameworks allow.
Playing poker across Lake Erie?
Online poker sites like PokerStars have also launched in Michigan, the lower peninsula of which is just across Lake Erie from PA. PokerStars is running its first MISCOOP next month, as a matter of fact.
So far, the regulatory landscape in MI does not allow for multi-jurisdiction play. The law in the Great Lakes State does allow for the MI Gaming Control Board to form compacts with regulatory bodies elsewhere, though.
There’s no telling how soon that could happen between MI and PA, but when it does, it would open up an entire host of potential new events for players in both states. If the same thing happens with New Jersey as well, then the possibilities grow exponentially.
Speaking of exponential growth, the prize pools for PA online poker players are on that same trajectory. With so many events and buy-in options, PokerStars PASCOOP is a can’t-miss event.
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