The Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker is well underway at PokerStars PA. Through the first eight days of PACOOP, PA poker players have won just over $1 million.
Meanwhile, the series-climaxing, $300 buy-in Main Event stands out on the remaining schedule with a $200,000 guarantee.
A few overlays as guarantees mostly met
The 50-event schedule has just crossed the halfway mark. With 28 events completed, 23 of them exceeded their guarantees, while most of the other five just missed hitting them.
The largest overlay, of just over $3,100, came on the busy first day of PASCOOP in Event #3, a $100 buy-in deep-stacked turbo. Another small one came in the lone five-card draw event of the series, Event #18 ($100 PL 5-Card Draw).
There have been two events with $100,000 guarantees thus far, both $100 buy-in Sunday Special events. One barely eclipsed that mark, while the other came up just short.
The first Sunday Special (Event #6) drew 1,117 entries to create a prize pool of a little over $102K. The second one, completed yesterday (Event #26), had 1,077 total entries, just 13 shy of what was needed to add up to more than $100K.
Amount awarded tops $1 million through first week
Events completed on Sunday pushed the overall total amount awarded thus far into seven figures — $1,005,045.85, to be exact. The guarantees through the first 28 events added up to $839,000, meaning the total prize pools are about 20% above that total.
Highlights on the remaining schedule include:
- Event #30 – $500 PLO 6-Max High Roller, $25K gtd. (Sep. 28)
- Event #31 – $250 NLHE Hyper-Turbo Super Tuesday, $40K gtd. (Sep. 29)
- Event #36 – $250 NLHE Progressive KO Thursday Thrill, $40K gtd. (Oct. 1)
- Event #40 – $300 NLHE 6-Max, $40K gtd. (Oct. 3)
- Event #43 – $300 NLHE Main Event, $200K gtd. (Oct. 4)
- Event #44 – $50 NLHE Mini Main Event, $40K gtd. (Oct. 4)
- Event #49 – $50 NLHE 8-Max Phase 2, $50K gtd. (Oct. 5)
Back in April, the “High” version of the Pennsylvania Spring Online Championship of Online Poker Main Event, also a $300 buy-in tournament, attracted 1,315 total entries to build a $368,200 prize pool.
PokerStars PA continues to enjoy a monopoly … for now
PokerStars PA remains the only game in town for Pennsylvania poker players in a couple of ways.
While Pennsylvania casinos are now open, live poker rooms remain closed in the state due to COVID-19 restrictions, with one shutting down altogether. Thus has online poker filled a void as the only ready and legal option for the state’s players.
Meanwhile, PokerStars PA remains the lone online poker room up and running in the state, having enjoyed its monopoly for nearly a year after first launching in early November 2019.
That said, other Pennsylvania sites may be taking seats at the virtual tables soon, as both partypoker and WSOP.com are nearing possible launches.
PokerStars players in New Jersey wondering when it will be their turn should know that PokerStars NJ has already announced the return of NJCOOP next month. The series will run Oct. 10-26, with $1M in total guarantees, including a $125K gtd. Main Event.
Here’s a look at the turnouts and totals through the first 28 events of the 2020 PACOOP.
2020 PACOOP by the numbers (through Event #28)
| Event | Buy-in | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: NLHE (Nightly Stars - PACOOP Warm-Up) | $100 | $50,000 | 401 | 231 | $58,017.60 | |
| 2: NLHE (8-Max, PACOOP - Warm-Up) | $50 | $30,000 | 537 | 271 | $36,764.00 | |
| 3: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Deepstack) | $100 | $35,000 | 226 | 121 | $35,000.00* | |
| 4: NLHE (6-Max) | $50 | $20,000 | 271 | 163 | $20,000.00* | |
| 5: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO) | $150 | $30,000 | 180 | 94 | $37,729.80 | |
| 6: NLHE (Sunday Special SE) | $100 | $100,000 | 673 | 444 | $102,540.60 | |
| 7: PLO (6-Max) | $100 | $15,000 | 135 | 56 | $17,533.80 | |
| 8: NLHE (8-Max, Sunday SuperSonic SE) | $50 | $10,000 | 210 | 55 | $12,057.50 | |
| 9: NLHE (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Progressive KO, Battle Royale SE) | $50 | $30,000 | 524 | 281 | $36,627.50 | |
| 10: PLO8 (8-Max) | $75 | $12,000 | 145 | 70 | $14,673.75 | |
| 11: NLHE (Super Tuesday SE) | $200 | $40,000 | 205 | 120 | $60,450.00 | |
| 12: NLHE (Mini Super Tuesday SE) | $20 | $15,000 | 667 | 375 | $18,964.40 | |
| 13: NLHE (8-Max) | $150 | $15,000 | 121 | 50 | $23,546.70 | |
| 14: NLHE (6-Max, High Roller) | $500 | $50,000 | 116 | 53 | $79,430.00 | |
| 15: NLHE | $150 | $15,000 | 135 | 55 | $26,163.00 | |
| 16: NLHE (Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE) | $200 | $40,000 | 196 | 90 | $53,196.00 | |
| 17: NLHE (Progressive KO, Mini Thrill) | $20 | $20,000 | 738 | 511 | $22,731.80 | |
| 18: PL 5-Card Draw (8-Max, Turbo) | $100 | $10,000 | 62 | 25 | $10,000.00* | |
| 19: 8-Game | $200 | $15,000 | 70 | 23 | $17,298.00 | |
| 20: NLHE (6-Max, Turbo) | $150 | $20,000 | 157 | 69 | $31,120.20 | |
| 21: NLHE (8-Max, Deepstack) | $100 | $35,000 | 321 | 157 | $43,880.40 | |
| 22: NLHE (Saturday Speedway SE) | $50 | $15,000 | 322 | 156 | $21,749.00 | |
| 23: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Marathon) | $100 | $35,000 | 231 | 134 | $35,000.00* | |
| 24: PLO (8-Max, Turbo) | $100 | $10,000 | 78 | 34 | $10,281.60 | |
| 25: NLHE (6-Max) | $150 | $25,000 | 128 | 68 | $26,989.20 | |
| 26: NLHE (Sunday Special SE) | $100 | $100,000 | 653 | 424 | $100,000.00* | |
| 27: NLHE (Progressive KO) | $200 | $35,000 | 146 | 64 | $39,060.00 | |
| 28: NLHE (Sunday SuperSonic SE) | $75 | $12,000 | 162 | 40 | $14,241.00 | |
*Events with overlays: Event No. 3 – $3,145.40; Event No. 4 – $253.00; Event No. 18 – $2,013.40; Event No. 23 – $1,493.00; Event No. 26 – $1.131.40.
