Last year was a good one for PokerStars Pennsylvania, the first full year the site has been live. From the looks of things, this year has begun in fine fashion as well with a successful PokerStars PA and Fox Bet Winter Series.
The 11-day, 45-event series concluded Monday night. The tournaments attracted more than 20,000 total entries and collectively awarded just over $1.7 million.
That total was more than one-and-a-half times the tournaments’ guarantees. In fact, all 45 of the tournaments had prize pools exceed their guarantees.
Series-ending Main Event awards $321K
It was the first time a PokerStars PA tournament series saw the prize pool of every single tournament top its scheduled guarantee.
All of the tournament series on the site have been popular among Pennsylvania players. However, each previous series has had at least a few tournaments end with (usually small) overlays. That wasn’t the case with this year’s Winter Series.
The largest prize pool came in the series-climaxing Main Event, a two-day, $300 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament in which participants were allowed up to five re-entries.
The Main Event came with a $200,000 guarantee, but with 738 entries and 409 re-entries, the prize pool ultimately totaled $321,160. Player “okstaeks” took the title to win just over $51,500, the largest first prize of the series.
Big turnouts, large prize pools across all 45 events
There were 13,544 entries and 6,633 re-entries across the 45 events. The 20,177 total entries means there was an average of 448 entries per event.
The 1,257 entries in the $50 Mini Main Event was the largest field of the Winter Series.
The $1,700,218.90 won over the course of the Winter Series was well above the $1,072,000 in total guarantees. That ratio of prize pools totaling nearly 1.6 times the guarantees rivals what PokerStars PA enjoyed in last April’s Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker and the PokerStars PA Summer Series in June.
It also more than doubles the amount of money awarded in the inaugural PokerStars PA Winter Series a year ago. That series consisted of 30 events during which players won just over $828,000.
Nine of the events had prize pools that more than doubled the guarantees. Another one that came close was the $50,000-guaranteed High Roller event with a $1,000 buy-in. The event drew exactly 100 entries, pushing the prize pool up to $95,000.
Here’s a look at all the turnouts and totals from the PokerStars PA and FOX Bet Winter Series.
PokerStars PA Winter Series by the numbers
| Event | Buy-in | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: NLHE [8-Max, Series Kick-Off] | $50 | $25,000 | 617 | 370 | $44,908.50 |
| 2: NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE] | $200 | $40,000 | 225 | 102 | $60,822.00 |
| 3: NLHE [Progressive KO, Mini Thrill] | $20 | $15,000 | 663 | 342 | $18,291.00 |
| 4: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo] | $100 | $8,500 | 140 | 54 | $17,809.20 |
| 5: NLHE [7-Max, Progressive KO] | $150 | $20,000 | 244 | 120 | $50,122.80 |
| 6: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo] | $50 | $12,500 | 372 | 127 | $22,704.50 |
| 7: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Deep] | $100 | $10,000 | 145 | 38 | $17,385.00 |
| 8: NLHE [8-Max, Deepstack] | $100 | $30,000 | 368 | 208 | $52,876.80 |
| 9: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Saturday Speedway SE] | $50 | $15,000 | 294 | 112 | $18,473.00 |
| 10: HORSE [6-Max] | $75 | $5,000 | 125 | 34 | $10,851.75 |
| 11: NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Deep] | $50 | $12,500 | 356 | 129 | $22,067.50 |
| 12: NLHE [8-Max, Marathon] | $100 | $25,000 | 237 | 96 | $30,569.40 |
| 13: NLHE [6-Max] | $50 | $17,500 | 328 | 174 | $22,841.00 |
| 14: NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] | $150 | $20,000 | 177 | 71 | $34,149.60 |
| 15: NLHE [Sunday Special SE] | $100 | $100,000 | 691 | 503 | $109,609.20 |
| 16: PLO [6-Max] | $75 | $6,500 | 134 | 63 | $13,445.25 |
| 17: NLHE [Progressive KO] | $200 | $25,000 | 153 | 74 | $42,222.00 |
| 18: NLHE [Turbo, Sunday Special 2nd Chance Turbo] | $100 | $20,000 | 205 | 60 | $24,327.00 |
| 19: NLHE [Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic SE] | $75 | $10,000 | 167 | 44 | $14,875.50 |
| 20: NLHE [4-Max] | $200 | $25,000 | 115 | 79 | $36,084.00 |
| 21: NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] | $10 | $6,500 | 692 | 404 | $9,973.60 |
| 22: NL 5-Card Draw [8-Max] | $50 | $3,000 | 61 | 23 | $3,822.00 |
| 23: NLHE [7-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO] | $100 | $10,000 | 152 | 42 | $17,809.20 |
| 24: NLHE [Super Tuesday SE] | $250 | $50,000 | 204 | 97 | $70,133.00 |
| 25: NLHE [Mini Super Tuesday] | $30 | $12,500 | 508 | 279 | $21,485.10 |
| 26: NLO8 [8-Max, Turbo] | $100 | $7,500 | 90 | 31 | $11,107.80 |
| 27: NLHE [6-Max] | $30 | $15,000 | 549 | 349 | $24,515.40 |
| 28: NLHE [8-Max, High Roller] | $1,000 | $50,000 | 75 | 25 | $95,000.00 |
| 29: NLHE [8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO] | $100 | $12,500 | 176 | 55 | $21,205.80 |
| 30: NLHE [4-Max, Progressive KO] | $50 | $10,000 | 333 | 207 | $24,570.00 |
| 31: NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE] | $250 | $50,000 | 169 | 85 | $59,182.00 |
| 32: NLHE [Progressive KO, Mini Thrill] | $30 | $15,000 | 505 | 216 | $19,683.30 |
| 33: NLHE [Turbo, Deepstack] | $75 | $8,500 | 236 | 80 | $21,567.00 |
| 34: 5-Card PLO [6-Max, Turbo] | $50 | $5,000 | 122 | 37 | $7,234.50 |
| 35: NLHE [Heads-Up, Turbo, Progressive Total KO, Zoom] | $20 | $5,000 | 494 | 283 | $14,141.40 |
| 36: NLHE [8-Max] | $300 | $30,000 | 133 | 59 | $53,760.00 |
| 37: 8-Game | $100 | $6,500 | 75 | 27 | $9,363.60 |
| 38: NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] | $50 | $15,000 | 485 | 218 | $31,986.50 |
| 39: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo] | $75 | $10,000 | 148 | 50 | $13,513.50 |
| 40: NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO, Deepstack] | $100 | $30,000 | 443 | 219 | $60,771.60 |
| 41: NLHE [Main Event] | $300 | $200,000 | 738 | 409 | $321,160.00 |
| 42: NLHE [Mini Main Event] | $50 | $35,000 | 816 | 441 | $57,193.50 |
| 43: NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO] | $100 | $25,000 | 302 | 119 | $38,647.80 |
| 44: PLO [6-Max, Turbo] | $100 | $7,500 | 94 | 27 | $11,107.80 |
| 45: NLHE [7-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Series Wrap-Up] | $75 | $10,000 | 188 | 51 | $16,849.50 |
| TOTALS | 13544 | 6633 | $1,700,218.90 |
