Following the successful PACOOP or Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (Nov. 30-Dec. 16) and Winter Series (Jan. 25-Feb. 1), PokerStars PA continued to fill the schedule for online poker players in Pennsylvania with the Bounty Builder Series (Feb. 20-Mar. 1).
Thus far Bounty Builder Series appears to be another hit with consistently large turnouts and guarantees easily exceeded in nearly every event.
Monday night the 32-event series reached its halfway point, and through 16 events all but one have featured prize pools greater than the stated guarantees, in a few cases more than doubling the guarantee.
PokerStars PA smashing guarantees overall
The Mini Kick-Off and 4-Max events (both with $20 buy-ins) and the Bounty Builder $30 all had prize pools that were more than twice their guarantees, with the Mini Kick-Off attracting a total of 690 entries (including re-entries), the largest field of the series to this point.
The bigger buy-in events have for the most part also easily met their guarantees. Four out of five of the $100 buy-in events have done so, as did the $250 buy-in Sunday High Roller – Bounty Builder last weekend.
Among these the $100 buy-in Bounty Builder Series Kick-Off with a $20,000 guarantee was a highlight, attracting 363 total entries to create a $33,323.40 prize pool.
The lone event so far with an overlay was the $100 buy-in Sunday Special – Bounty Builder Edition. It was one of seven events on Sunday, the busiest day of the entire schedule. That event also sported the largest guarantee thus far of $50,000, and with 470 total entries they were 75 shy of hitting that mark, thus creating a $6,854 overlay.
More Bounty Builder Series action lies ahead at PA and NJ
Overall tournaments in the PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series total $500,000 in guarantees. The series continues with two or three events each day this week and five on Sunday.
Tonight comes the $750 buy-in High Roller with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool. Meanwhile on Sunday will be the $300 buy-in Main Event with a $100,000 guarantee.
Over in New Jersey, PokerStars NJ is concurrently running their own Bounty Builder Series with an almost identical 32-event schedule and guarantees totaling $300,000.
There the story has been similar, with guarantees being routinely exceeded in most events. Only two of the 16 tournaments thus far have had overlays, a $10 buy-in event and a $50 one.
The largest prize pool to this point came in their version of the Sunday Special – Bounty Builder Edition which actually featured a larger buy-in of $200 and had a $30,690 prize pool, just eclipsing the $30,000 guarantee.
Here’s a look at the turnouts so far for the PokerStars PA Bounty Builder Series:
Bounty Builder Series by the numbers (through Event #16)
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event 1: Bounty Builder Series Kick-Off | $100 | $20,000 | 266 | 97 | $33,323.40 |
| Event 2: Mini Kick-Off | $20 | $5,000 | 484 | 206 | $12,558.00 |
| Event 3: Bounty Builder $30 | $30 | $8,000 | 437 | 191 | $17,144.40 |
| Event 4: Turbo | $75 | $8,000 | 157 | 42 | $13,581.75 |
| Event 5: DeepStack | $100 | $20,000 | 225 | 94 | $29,284.20 |
| Event 6: 4-Max | $20 | $5,000 | 407 | 211 | $11,247.60 |
| Event 7: Hyper-Turbo | $50 | $5,000 | 120 | 32 | $7,144.00 |
| Event 8: Marathon | $100 | $20,000 | 167 | 83 | $22,950.00 |
| Event 9: Warm-Up – Bounty Builder Edition | $30 | $10,000 | 332 | 118 | $12,285.00 |
| Event 10: Storm – Bounty Builder Edition | $10 | $5,000 | 420 | 166 | $5,332.60 |
| Event 11: Sunday Special – Bounty Builder Edition* | $100 | $50,000 | 311 | 159 | $50,000.00 |
| Event 12: Mini Special | $25 | $10,000 | 419 | 200 | $14,082.25 |
| Event 13: Sunday High Roller – Bounty Builder Edition | $250 | $15,000 | 66 | 22 | $20,504.00 |
| Event 14: SuperSonic – Bounty Builder Edition | $50 | $5,000 | 119 | 41 | $7,520.00 |
| Event 15: Battle Royale SE | $50 | $15,000 | 326 | 146 | $21,476.00 |
| Event 16: PL Omaha | $100 | $8,000 | 85 | 39 | $11,383.20 |
*Event had an overlay of $6,854.
