Poker rooms remain closed in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. But online, there is a great deal of poker being played on practically every site.
On PokerStars PA, the ongoing Bounty Series has provided poker players in the Keystone State an opportunity to play their favorite card game, and they have taken advantage in large numbers. Through the first 40 events of the 70-event series, more than $1 million has been awarded.
Guarantees routinely bested during Bounty Builder first week
Players in neighboring New Jersey are currently vying for World Series of Poker bracelets in the WSOP Online series on WSOP NJ. Pennsylvanians cannot participate in those events, although players continue to keep an eye out for WSOP potentially launching a PA site.
The lone operating online poker site in the state, PokerStars PA continues to attract consistently high traffic. This has been shown by turnouts for the Bounty Builder series, a 15-day series of progressive knockout tournaments.
Of the 40 completed events, 38 have featured prize pools exceeding the scheduled guarantees. Of those, four events had prize pools that more than doubled the guarantees. Interestingly, three of those four were non-hold’em events — pot-limit Omaha, pot-limit Badugi and pot-limit 5-Card Omaha.
The largest single prize pool thus far came in last night’s Sunday Special – Bounty Builder Edition (Event #35). The $100 event carried a $100,000 guarantee, and with 1,166 total entries, the prize pool ultimately totaled just over $107,000.
Just two overlays so far, both small
The two events with overlays both missed their guarantees by about 30 entries.
One was the first version of the $100 buy-in Sunday Special – Bounty Builder Edition (Event #4) on July 12 that also carried a $100,000 guarantee and ultimately had an overlay of close to $2,700.
The other was a $50 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Turbo (8-Max) (Event #27) on Saturday with a $12,500 guarantee that ended up with about a $1,450 overlay.
Bounty Builder Championship Belts still up for grabs
Thirty events remain on the PokerStars PA Bounty Builder schedule. Among highlights still to come will be the awarding of more Championship Belts, a first for tournaments on PokerStars PA.
Winners of 18 of the 70 events are being awarded a Bounty Builder Championship Belt for their victories. So far, 10 belt events have been completed. Of the eight Championship Belt events that remain, highlights include:
- Thursday Thrill Special Edition on July 23 ($200 buy-in, $50,000 guaranteed prize pool)
- Mini Main Event on July 26 ($50 buy-in, $40,000 gtd.)
- Main Event, a two-day event starting on July 26 ($200 buy-in, $150,000 gtd.)
Overlays in PokerStars New Jersey version of Bounty Builder
Over in New Jersey, PokerStars NJ is running its own version of the Bounty Builder series. There, the series features 53 events taking place over the same 15-day period, with guarantees adding up to $600,000. (With its 70 events, the PokerStars PA version’s guarantees total just over $1.5 million.)
Perhaps reflecting the fact that some NJ players may have been drawn to play in the daily World Series of Poker bracelet events on WSOP.com NJ, there have been a number of overlays thus far in the PokerStars NJ Bounty Builder series.
Through the first 31 events, 11 have had overlays ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to more than $3,000. Overall, almost $400,000 has been awarded in the PokerStars NJ Bounty Builder Series so far, which is ahead of the total guarantees (about $333K).
Weekend events appear to be the ones most affected on PokerStars NJ. Of the 11 events with overlays, 10 have come in weekend tournaments.
Like the PokerStars PA Bounty Builder, the New Jersey version culminates next Sunday, July 26, with several events, including the two-day Main Event.
PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series by the numbers
Here’s a look at the Bounty Builder Series through Event #40.
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: NLHE Series Kickoff (8-Max)* | $100 | $40,000 | 368 | 168 | $49,204.80 |
| 2: NLHE Mini Kickoff (8-Max) | $25 | $15,000 | 563 | 227 | $17,972.50 |
| 3: NLHE | $75 | $15,000 | 214 | 78 | $19,929.00 |
| 4: NLHE Sunday Special - Bounty Builder Edition* | $100 | $100,000 | 750 | 310 | $100,000.00** |
| 5: NLHE Mini Special (8-Max) | $20 | $15,000 | 699 | 284 | $17,890.60 |
| 6: NLHE Sunday High Roller - Bounty Builder Edition (6-Max) | $250 | $30,000 | 150 | 53 | $47,299.00 |
| 7: NLHE (8-Max) | $50 | $10,000 | 270 | 98 | $16,744.00 |
| 8: NLHE Turbo (8-Max) | $20 | $7,500 | 393 | 136 | $9,627.80 |
| 9: NLHE SuperSonic - Bounty Builder Edition | $50 | $12,500 | 211 | 67 | $13,066.00 |
| 10: NLHE Battle Royale Special Edition (6-Max)* | $50 | $25,000 | 580 | 364 | $42,952.00 |
| 11: PL Omaha (8-Max) | $100 | $10,000 | 167 | 106 | $25,061.40 |
| 12: NLHE (8-Max)* | $75 | $20,000 | 440 | 213 | $44,567.25 |
| 13: NL Omaha Hi-Lo (6-Max) | $100 | $7,500 | 110 | 45 | $14,229.00 |
| 14: NLHE Turbo (8-Max) | $50 | $12,500 | 340 | 135 | $21,612.50 |
| 15: NLHE (6-Max) | $50 | $15,000 | 400 | 176 | $26,208.00 |
| 16: NLHE High Roller (8-Max)* | $500 | $60,000 | 124 | 50 | $81,780.00 |
| 17: NLHE Hyper-Turbo (8-Max) | $20 | $5,000 | 350 | 113 | $8,704.40 |
| 18: PL Badugi | $50 | $2,000 | 84 | 43 | $5,778.50 |
| 19: NLHE Thursday Thrill Special Edition* | $200 | $50,000 | 215 | 82 | $55,242.00 |
| 20: NLHE Mini Thrill | $25 | $17,500 | 650 | 340 | $22,522.50 |
| 21: NLHE BigStack Turbo (8-Max) | $75 | $12,500 | 237 | 79 | $21,567.00 |
| 22: NLHE Hyper-Turbo (6-Max) | $50 | $10,000 | 239 | 79 | $14,946.00 |
| 23: PL 5-Card Omaha (6-Max) | $30 | $5,000 | 216 | 171 | $10,565.10 |
| 24: NLHE Escalating Antes (8-Max)* | $50 | $20,000 | 453 | 109 | $25,571.00 |
| 25: NLHE Turbo (6-Max) | $20 | $7,500 | 427 | 211 | $11,611.60 |
| 26: NLHE DeepStack (8-Max) | $100 | $30,000 | 212 | 123 | $30,753.00 |
| 27: NLHE Turbo (8-Max) | $50 | $12,500 | 181 | 62 | $12,500.00** |
| 28: NLHE (8-Max)* | $200 | $30,000 | 148 | 82 | $42,780.00 |
| 29: NLHE (4-Max) | $20 | $10,000 | 413 | 204 | $11,229.40 |
| 30: NLHE Hyper-Turbo (8-Max) | $50 | $10,000 | 230 | 63 | $13,771.00 |
| 31: NLHE Marathon | $100 | $20,000 | 230 | 118 | $31,946.40 |
| 32: H.O.R.S.E. | $50 | $3,000 | 139 | 37 | $8,008.00 |
| 33: NLHE Warm-Up - Bounty Builder Edition | $30 | $12,500 | 392 | 161 | $15,096.90 |
| 34: NLHE Storm - Bounty Builder Edition (6-Max) | $10 | $5,000 | 467 | 209 | $6,151.60 |
| 35: NLHE Sunday Special - Bounty Builder Edition* | $100 | $100,000 | 703 | 463 | $107,038.80 |
| 36: NLHE Mini Special* | $25 | $25,000 | 752 | 399 | $26,185.25 |
| 37: Sunday High Roller - Bounty Builder Edition (6-Max) | $250 | $30,000 | 127 | 53 | $41,940.00 |
| 38: PL Omaha (8-Max) | $100 | $15,000 | 133 | 75 | $19,094.40 |
| 39: NLHE Turbo (8-Max) | $75 | $20,000 | 259 | 94 | $24,092.25 |
| 40: NLHE Hyper-Turbo SuperSonic - Bounty Builder Edition | $50 | $10,000 | 229 | 70 | $14,053.00 |
*Championship Belt event
**Event #4 had an overlay of $2,692; Event #27 had an overlay of $1,443.50
