PokerStars PA Winter Series Off to Fast Pace Ahead of $200K Main Event

This year’s PokerStars PA Winter Series is an ambitious one. The schedule features 45 events and just over $1 million in total guarantees. That is significantly up from the 30 events and $675,000 in total guarantees during the first running of the Winter Series in January 2020.

It appears, from the first half of the series, that those changes were warranted.

Turnouts have been consistently high on each of the first six days. In fact, all 26 events thus far have had prize pools exceeding their guarantees.

While most tournament series run on PokerStars PA have attracted big fields and created prize pools often exceeding guarantees, typically, at least a handful of tournaments feature small overlays along the way.

That hasn’t been the case in this year’s Winter Series. In a few instances, the prize pools have more than doubled the guarantees.

Event #4, a $100 buy-in no-limit hold’em 6-max turbo, had a $8,500 guarantee and wound up awarding over $17,800. Event #5, a seven-handed turbo bounty event with a $20,000 guarantee, had enough players to push the prize pool over $50,000.

Similarly, the $5,000 guaranteed Event #10, the $75 H.O.R.S.E., awarded more than $10,800. Also, Event #16, a $75 pot-limit Omaha tournament, had a prize pool of more than $13,400, which more than doubled the $6,500 guarantee.

The largest prize pool to this point came in the event sporting the largest guarantee. The $100 buy-in Event #15, a “special edition” of the Sunday Special, came with a $100,000 guarantee. Almost 1,200 total entries together pushed the prize pool for that one close to $110,000.

As noted, just over $738,000 has been won so far in the series. That’s more than $200,000 clear of the $532,000 in total guarantees through the first 26 events.

High Roller, Main Event highlight remaining Winter Series schedule

There are still a number of big events left on the PokerStars PA Winter Series schedule, which continues through this Sunday, Jan. 31. Some of the remaining highlights include:

Event #28 – $1,000 NLHE High Roller, $50K gtd. (Jan. 27)
Event #31 – $250 NLHE Prog. KO, Thursday Thrill SE, $50K gtd. (Jan. 28)
Event #41 – $300 NLHE Main Event, $200K gtd. (Jan. 31)
Event #42 – $50 NLHE Mini Main Event, $35K gtd. (Jan. 31)

Also still to come is the Depositor Freeroll on Jan. 31. Players who deposit $30 or more at PokerStars PA using the bonus code “FREEZE” before the freeroll begins on Sunday earn seats. The tournament will award entries into that day’s $300 Main Event, with the tickets totaling $10,000.

Second Chance Freerolls also continue on PokerStars PA. For those, anyone playing an event who does not cash wins a free seat. Those tournaments also award tickets to other Winter Series events.

Here’s a look at the field sizes and prize pools through the first 26 events of the PokerStars PA Winter Series. Click here for the remaining schedule of events.

PokerStars PA Winter Series by the numbers (through Event #26)

Event	Buy-in	Guarantee	Entries	Re-Entries	Prize Pool
1: NLHE [8-Max, Series Kickoff]	$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	$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	$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	$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	$100	$7,500	90	31	$11,107.80

Written by

Martin Harris

Martin Harris is a writer and teacher who has reported on poker, online gambling, and sports betting since the mid-2000s. Once a full-time academic (Ph.D., English), he currently teaches part-time in the American Studies program at UNC Charlotte. In 2019, his book Poker & Pop Culture was published by D&B Books.

View all posts by Martin Harris