Spring has turned to summer, and PokerStars PA has continued to stay hot, with big turnouts and prize pools for its first-ever Summer Series.
The 11-day, 38-event tournament series crossed its halfway point last night. So far, through 21 events, prize pools have totaled more than $533,000.
That’s more than $150,000 above the total guaranteed prize pools for those events. It is also well over halfway to the $750,000 in total guarantees for the PokerStars PA Summer Series.
Big prize pools as guarantees met, often doubled
Thus far, 20 of 21 completed events have exceeded their guarantees. The only event to have an overlay was the one with the largest guarantee.
The $100 buy-in Sunday Special SE had a $100,000 guarantee. With 1,041 entries, it needed about 50 more to hit its guarantee, thus making for a $4,436.20 overlay.
Meanwhile, all other events have consistently exceeded their guarantees. In fact, 10 of the 21 have had prize pools adding up to more than twice the guarantees.
Five more days of summer fun in the PokerStars PA Summer Series
The PokerStars PA Summer Series continues through this weekend. It culminates with five tournaments this Sunday, June 28. Of those five, the highlight will be the $200 Main Event that features a $150,000 guarantee.
Other highlights on the remaining schedule include tonight’s $500 High Roller (6-Max) with a $35,000 guarantee and tomorrow’s $200 Thursday Thrill Special Edition (Progressive KO) with a $30,000 guarantee.
There is also a Mini Main Event on Sunday for the lower-stakes crowd, a $50 buy-in event with a $25,000 guarantee.
Click to check out the full PokerStars PA Summer Schedule.
Similar story in New Jersey for PokerStars NJ Summer Series
PokerStars NJ is simultaneously running its own Summer Series for players in New Jersey. The Garden State version is almost identical, with 40 total events and lower guarantees adding up to about $500,000.
The PokerStars NJ Summer Series has been very similar. Prize pools have exceeded guarantees for 21 of 22 events completed at this point. So far, around $325,000 has been awarded in PokerStars NJ Summer Series events.
In fact, the lone outlier was again the largest one in terms of its guarantee, the Sunday Special SE event. The PokerStars NJ version had a $45,000 guarantee, and it came very close to — just three entries shy of — hitting that mark, making for a small overlay of just over $500.
PA casinos reopening, but online still only poker option
PokerStars PA remains the only online poker site up and running in Pennsylvania. During recent months, the site enjoyed its highest-ever traffic and revenue, most certainly a consequence of casino closures in PA due to the coronavirus.
After launching last November, PokerStars PA broke a record in March with $3.1 million in revenue. The site promptly obliterated that mark with a new revenue high of almost $5.3 million in April.
Things settled a bit for PokerStars PA in May, when the site’s revenue totaled about $4.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Keystone State’s land-based casinos are starting to reopen. Following the mid-March closures, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and The Meadows opened back up on June 9.
Lady Luck Nemacolin welcomed back guests on June 12, and Hollywood Casino reopened June 19. Then both Mohegan Sun Pocono and Mount Airy Casino reopened June 22.
The state’s other six retail casinos are all scheduled to reopen as well by the end of the month.
Worth noting, however, is that no poker rooms are reopening in any of the casinos yet. Poker room operations will be reconsidered going forward, with casinos following guidelines issued by the CDC and the PA Department of Health. Thus online poker will remain the only option for PA poker players, at least for the near future.
PokerStars PA Summer Series by the numbers (through Event #21)
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event 1: Summer Series Kick-Off [8-Max] | $100 | $30,000 | 544 | 255 | $73,348.20 |
| Event 2: Summer Series Mini Kick-Off [8-Max] | $20 | $7,500 | 624 | 216 | $15,288.00 |
| Event 3: Thursday Thrill SE [Progressive KO] | $200 | $25,000 | 208 | 83 | $54,126.00 |
| Event 4: Mini Thrill [Progressive KO] | $30 | $12,500 | 521 | 243 | $20,857.20 |
| Event 5: NLHE [8-Max] | $75 | $10,000 | 200 | 61 | $17,813.25 |
| Event 6: Escalating Antes | $50 | $10,000 | 435 | 198 | $28,801.50 |
| Event 7: NLHE [6-Max] | $20 | $6,000 | 466 | 162 | $11,429.60 |
| Event 8: NLHE [6-Max] | $100 | $20,000 | 233 | 125 | $32,864.40 |
| Event 9: PLO [6-Max] | $50 | $5,000 | 211 | 78 | $13,149.50 |
| Event 10: Progressive KO [8-Max] | $75 | $7,500 | 210 | 53 | $18,541.50 |
| Event 11: NLHE [6-Max] | $75 | $20,000 | 241 | 105 | $23,614.50 |
| Event 12: Sunday Special SE | $100 | $100,000 | 678 | 363 | $100,000.00* |
| Event 13: Mini Special | $25 | $15,000 | 583 | 189 | $17,563.00 |
| Event 14: Progressive KO [8-Max] | $75 | $12,500 | 326 | 112 | $29,893.50 |
| Event 15: Sunday Supersonic SE | $50 | $10,000 | 237 | 51 | $13,536.00 |
| Event 16: NLHE [4-Max] | $20 | $7,500 | 504 | 242 | $13,577.20 |
| Event 17: Battle Royale SE [Progressive KO, 6-Max] | $50 | $15,000 | 408 | 195 | $27,436.50 |
| Event 18: NLHE [8-Max] | $75 | $7,500 | 175 | 78 | $17,267.25 |
| Event 19: Super Tuesday SE | $200 | $35,000 | 252 | 121 | $69,378.00 |
| Event 20: Mini Super Tuesday | $20 | $15,000 | 681 | 289 | $17,654.00 |
| Event 21: Progressive KO [8-Max] | $50 | $7,500 | 266 | 106 | $16,926.00 |
*Event #12 had an overlay of $4,436.20
