PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series Racks Up Over $2M In Prize Pools

Written By Martin Harris on March 9, 2021

The launch of PokerStars MI and the inaugural Michigan Championship of Online Poker might have grabbed most of the US online poker-related headlines over recent weeks.

But in Pennsylvania, the PokerStars and FOX Bet Bounty Builder Series did quite well in its own right. Players in the PokerStars PA series won over $2 million across 75 events played using the popular progressive knockout format.

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Few overlays among 75 events, Main awards $178K

The PokerStars PA series featured guaranteed prize pools adding up to just over $1.67 million. Ultimately events attracted more than 35,000 total entries, with prize pools totaling $2,012,204.25.

Nearly all 75 tournaments produced prize pools that exceeded the scheduled guarantees. Just seven events had overlays, most of which were small. The largest overlay of just over $6,000 came in one of the earliest events, a $100 buy-in Sunday Special with a $100,000 guarantee, the largest of any tournament other than the Main Event.

Speaking of the Main Event, that tournament sported a $150,000 guarantee. With 957 total Main Event entries, players built a prize pool of just over $178,000. Player “KennytheRipper” took away the top prize, earning more than $23,000 including bounties.

Pennsylvania series awards more than NJ, less than MI

The PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series ran during the same Feb. 20-Mar. 8 window as did both the first-ever MICOOP at PokerStars MI and a similar Bounty Builder Series at PokerStars NJ.

The MICOOP was a 60-event series that awarded just over $2.2 million across those same 17 days. The MICOOP had originally featured just over $1 million in total guarantees. However, PokerStars boosted the guarantees in many of the events, pushing that total up to more than $1.4 million.

Meanwhile, the PokerStars NJ Bounty Builder Series featured 58 events and awarded just under $700,000 total. A number of events in the New Jersey series featured overlays, although the total amount awarded did manage to exceed just over $650,000 in guarantees.

Here’s a look at the turnouts and prize pools for the entire PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series.

2021 PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series by the numbers

EventBuy-inGuaranteeEntriesRe-EntriesPrize Pool
1: NLHE [8-Max, Series Kick-Off]$100$40,000 414194$55,814.40
2: NLHE [8-Max, Mini Kick-Off]$25$15,000 777370$26,094.25
3: NLHE [Turbo]$10$5,000 588238$7,516.60
4: NLHE$50$20,000 424209$28,801.50
5: NLHE [Warm-Up - Bounty Builder Edition]$30$12,500 428162$16,107.00
6: NLHE [6-Max, Storm - Bounty Builder Edition]$10$5,000 485229$6,497.40
7: NLHE [Sunday Special - Bounty Builder Edition]$100$100,000 631391$100,000.00*
8: NLHE [8-Max, Mini Special]$200$15,000 615298$16,616.60
9: NLHE [6-Max, Sunday High Roller - Bounty Builder Edition]$250$35,000 12945$40,542.00
10: NLHE [8-Max]$50$10,000 266103$16,789.50
11: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$20$7,500 331129$8,372.00
12: NLHE [Hyper-Turbo, SuperSonic - Bounty Builder Edition]$50$10,000 17651$10,669.00
13: NLHE [6-Max, Battle Royale SE]$50$35,000 552283$37,992.50
14 :PLO [8-Max]$100$20,000 15385$21,848.40
15: NLHE [8-Max]$75$30,000 384195$39,516.75
16: NLO8 [6-Max]$100$10,000 9939$12,668.40
17: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$50$15,000 311105$18,928.00
18: NLHE [6-Max]$50$20,000 420201$28,255.50
19: NLHE [8-Max, Super High Roller]$1,000 $75,000 7315$83,600.00
20: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$20$5,000 326107$8,140.40
21: PL Badugi$50$4,000 8462$6,643.00
22: NLHE [Thursday Thrill SE]$200$50,000 18873$50,000.00*
23: NLHE [Mini Thrill]$25$20,000 638345$22,363.25
24: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo, BigStack]$75$15,000 20283$19,451.25
25: NLHE [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$50$10,000 20885$13,771.00
26: 5-Card PLO [6-Max]$30$7,500 244191$11,875.50
27: NLHE [8-Max, Escalating Antes]$50$20,000 450202$29,666.00
28: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo]$20$10,000 497244$13,486.20
29: NLHE [8-Max]$100$25,000 20197$27,356.40
30: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$50$10,000 23278$14,105.00
31: NLHE [8-Max]$200$35,000 16175$43,896.00
32: NLHE [4-Max]$20$10,000 605333$17,071.60
33: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$50$10,000 22876$14,288.00
34: NLHE$100$25,000 245119$33,415.20
35: HORSE [6-Max]$50$5,000 12847$7,962.50
36: NLHE [Warm-Up - Bounty Builder Edition]$30$10,000 402193$16,243.50
37: NLHE [6-Max, Storm - Bounty Builder Edition]$10$5,000 511264$7,052.50
38: NLHE [Sunday Special - Bounty Builder Edition]$100$100,000 656402$100,000.00*
39: NLHE [Mini Special]$25$25,000 674354$25,000.00*
40: NLHE [6-Max]$500$35,000 9138$60,630.00
41: PLO [8-Max]$100$15,000 11266$16,340.40
42: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$75$20,000 21580$20,133.75
43: NLHE [Hyper-Turbo]$50$10,000 16857$10,575.00
44: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo, Battle Royale SE]$100$20,000 20399$27,723.60
45: NLHE [6-Max, BigStack]$50$25,000 379273$29,666.00
46: NLHE [4-Max, Turbo]$20$10,000 366186$10,046.40
47: NLHE [8-Max]$50$10,000 255133$17,654.00
48: NLHE [Super Tuesday - Bounty Builder Edition]$200$50,000 17374$50,000.00*
49: NLHE [Mini Super Tuesday]$20$12,500 528250$14,159.60
50: 8-Game [8 Game]$50$5,000 9562$7,143.50
51: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$50$12,500 219103$14,651.00
52: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$100$10,000 10927$12,920.00
53: NLHE [8-Max]$200$30,000 12749$32,736.00
54: NLHE [8-Max]$50$20,000 316124$20,020.00
55: PLO [6-Max]$500$25,000 4020$28,200.00
56: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo]$100$15,000 12054$15,973.20
57: NLHE [Thursday Thrill SE]$200$50,000 18879$50,000.00*
58: NLHE [Mini Thrill]$20$15,000 580291$15,852.20
59: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, BigStack]$50$15,000 257124$17,335.50
60: NLHE [8-Max]$20$7,500 473228$12,758.20
61: PL 5-Card Draw [PL 5 Card Draw]$30$3,000 10042$3,876.60
62: NLHE [6-Max]$50$20,000 373187$25,480.00
63: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$100$10,000 11128$13,205.00
64: NLHE [8-Max, 25% KO]$100$30,000 275130$37,179.00
65: NLHE [Turbo]$50$12,500 31895$18,791.50
66: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo]$10$5,000 505212$6,524.70
67: NLHE [Marathon]$50$15,000 325183$23,114.00
68: NLHE [Warm-Up - Bounty Builder Edition]$30$12,500 456230$18,727.80
69: NLHE [8-Max, Main Event]$200$150,000 576381$178,002.00
70: NLHE [8-Max, Mini Main Event]$50$40,000 646347$45,181.50
71: NLHE [8-Max]$100$20,000 20087$26,346.60
72: PLO [6-Max, Turbo]$50$10,000 16780$11,238.50
73: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo]$75$20,000 18876$20,000.00*
74: NLHE [8-Max]$100$25,000 22292$28,825.20
75: NLHE [Heads-Up, Turbo, Zoom Total Knock Out]$20$10,000 427275$12,776.40
TOTALS$1,677,000 2403911634$2,012,204.25

*Events with overlays: Event No. 7 – $6,180.40; Event No. 22 – $1,454.00; Event No. 38 – $2,875.60; Event No. 39 – $1,613.00; Event No. 48 – $4,058.00; Event No. 57 – $338.00; Event No. 73 – $1,388.00.

Photo by Boaz Yunior Wibowo | Dreamstime.com
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Martin Harris

Martin Harris is a writer and teacher who has reported on poker, online gambling, and sports betting since the mid-2000s. Once a full-time academic (Ph.D., English), he currently teaches part-time in the American Studies program at UNC Charlotte. In 2019, his book Poker & Pop Culture was published by D&B Books.

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