PokerStars has only been operational in Pennsylvania for a short period of time and already, the brand has hosted a successful tournament series. The Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker finished up this week and saw so many players competing that most of the guaranteed prize pools were increased by a significant amount.
The festival took place less than a month after PokerStars launched in the state. The series offered 50 events and ended up offering $1,559,767 in payouts. The guaranteed prize in each event was greatly increased due to 13,456 entries within the series.
Details of the Series
The PACOOP started on November 30th with a No Limit Hold’em Event. The tournament had a $100 buy-in and the $20,000 almost tripled in size as the event had 546 entries. Once PokerStars saw how interested players were in the PACOOP, they made an announcement that prize pool guarantees would be increased. Prize pool guarantees were actually increased two times by PokerStars officials.
Most of the events pushed past their guarantees easily while only ten saw an overlay. Those ten didn’t even reach $20,000 when combined.
The big event of the series was the Main Event which started this past Sunday. The two day event had a $300 buy-in and was played in No Limit Hold’em format. A total of 420 players competed in the tournament and with 220 re-entries, the $150,000 prize pool guarantee jumped to $179,200. The final 89 players of the event earned a payout.
All eyes were on the Main Event as generally that is the tournament to watch during a series. With the PACOOP, the Main Event was a smashing success and may help to show that online poker is still alive and well despite struggles in other states.
Online Poker Issues
In the United States, online poker has only been on offer in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey since 2013. Over the years, the online poker markets have struggled to gain ground. Online casino gaming in Delaware and New Jersey has done much better when compared to online poker gaming.
Take New Jersey for example. The state earns tens of millions each month in online casino revenue earnings, but online poker can barely reach the $1 million mark. All eyes were on Pennsylvania as online poker came in to play.
The player reaction to the PACOOP gives hope that online poker is not dead and players still want to take part. If the interest continues, Pennsylvania may quickly become a leader in the online poker industry within the US.
PokerStars was successful with the series, so they will no doubt offer something similar as 2020 begins. We shall watch over the coming months to see how the online poker market fares in the state. Revenue reports have not been revealed as of yet and it will take a few months for the industry to mature enough to see how big of an impact online poker has in the region. For now, we congratulate PokerStars on their successful PACOOP!
