Top-rated online poker room PokerStars currently offers services in Pennsylvania’s new iGaming and has provided gaming options in New Jersey for years. Just recently, both states finished up their Winter Series, a tournament option offering a ton of value throughout several events. Pennsylvania players enjoyed their very first Winter Series while in New Jersey it was the third edition.
Details of the Series
New Jersey got started and finished first, ending the Winter Series on January 26th. For Pennsylvania, PokerStars started the series a bit later and finished up on February 1st. While the series is essentially the same, the schedules in the two states did vary.
Pennsylvania offered 30 total events while New Jersey had only 21. In Pennsylvania, the prize pool guarantee total was higher at $675,000 to $300,000. The reason the series was larger in PA was due to player traffic. Since the option is new in the state, players have been flocking to the online poker site, so PokerStars knew the turnout would be relatively large.
And players showed up to compete. The series only have seven events out of 30 that needed a pick me up due to overlays. The amount of the overlays came in at just under $16,000. With that being said, several events did really well and saw their guaranteed prize pools bumped up by at least 50% and some even more.
The $675,000 in guaranteed prize money was increased to $828,000 which is quite the increase, especially considering this was the first time the series took place in the state. The most successful poker event in PA was the Main Event. The tournament had 452 entries and with a $300 buy-in, the prize pool came in at $126,560.
A Comeback for Poker?
Many are looking at the PokerStars experience in Pennsylvania as a comeback for the game of poker. Before Black Friday in April 2011, online poker was booming. Players would log on in large numbers to play cash games and tournaments. Once online gaming was back in action by 2013, the poker sites just couldn’t gain any traction.
Online poker was launched in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey in 2013 and has yet to gain any really ground. New Jersey probably has the most success out of the three and they struggle to earn even $1 million in revenues each month.
For some reason, players are more drawn to the online casino sites, to enjoy slots and table games. However, the launch of online poker in Pennsylvania is promising. Players are really taking to the game and the state has already earned millions in revenues.
The hope is that this is the push needed to get more states in on the action and hopefully we shall see players taking part in online poker now more than ever. We shall see in the coming weeks if the momentum continues to build or if the new will eventually wear off.
