With last month’s successful Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PACOOP) having completed just a couple of weeks ago, PokerStars PA this week announced another big event for its players in October with a new installment of Pennsyl-MANIA.
The $300 buy-in, two-day no-limit hold’em tournament will take place October 24-25 and features a big $350,000 guarantee.
Fifth Pennsyl-MANIA follows successful PACOOP series at PokerStars PA
The tournament features a structure similar to the one used in the PACOOP Main Event. That tournament had a lower guarantee of $200,000 and drew 851 total entries to create a $238,280 prize pool. Overall, the September PACOOP awarded nearly $2.38 million over 69 events.
Pennsyl-MANIA’s $300 buy-in matches that of the PACOOP Main. The first hands will be dealt Sunday, Oct. 24 at 5 p.m. and there will be five hours of late registration during which players can re-enter up to five times. Starting stacks are 100,000 chips (200 big blinds) with 15-minute levels.
Day 1 will last seven-and-a-half hours. Those who survive will return for Day 2 on Monday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. to play down to a winner.
It is the fifth go-round for Pennsyl-MANIA on PokerStars PA. The first three installments in 2020 each had $200 buy-ins, with the price tag increased to $300 for the fourth one earlier this year. Otherwise the tournaments have primarily featured the same formats with only the guarantees being adjusted each time.
The first Pennsyl-MANIA in May 2020 remains the largest in terms of participation and money awarded with nearly 2,800 entries and a prize pool topping $515,000.
Here’s a look at how the first four Pennsyl-MANIAs played out at PokerStars PA:
| Date | Buy-In | Guarantee | Total Entries | Prize Pool | Winner (Prize) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2020 | $200 | $250,000 | 2,774 | $515,964 | D-Low1527 ($69,671) |
| Aug. 2020 | $200 | $350,000 | 2,026 | $376,836 | SlotWinna777 ($44,642) |
| Dec. 2020 | $200 | $500,000 | 2,309 | $500,000* | PokerAnomoly ($74,148) |
| Apr. 2021 | $300 | $400,000 | 1,416 | $413,280 | throwitinthebag ($63,084) |
*tournament had $70,526 overlay
Players can enter for less via satellites, spin & go’s, and depositor freeroll
As usual, there are numerous satellites running already for Pennsyl-MANIA with buy-ins as low as $15. PokerStars PA is also randomly awarding some Pennsyl-MANIA seats in the $3 Spin & Go’s between now and Oct. 24.
Players have another way of playing the event without having to put up that $300 entry fee. On Sunday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. the site is running a Pennsyl-MANIA Depositor Freeroll.
Any PokerStars PA player who deposits at least $30 using the code “PAMANIA21” before 1:59 p.m. on Oct. 24 receives free entry into the freeroll. The top 50 finishers will then earn seats into the big event later that afternoon, a value of $15,000 worth of tourney tickets.
PokerStars again schedules parallel events for all three US sites
Much as PokerStars did with its “COOP” series in September and with the last running of Pennsyl-MANIA in April, parallel events will be taking place on the same dates at both the PokerStars Michigan and PokerStars New Jersey sites.
Over in Michigan, the Michigan Classic will feature a similar two-day format and $300 buy-in. There the guaranteed prize pool will be $250,000.
Meanwhile in New Jersey, the New Jersey Classic will also take place Oct. 24-25 and have the same $300 buy-in. There the guarantee will be $100,000.
PokerStars has been running other promotions on all three of its sites as well. For example, last Sunday PokerStars staged what it called “Half-Price Sunday” on all three US sites, including PokerStars PA. For that promo, each of the scheduled “Sunday major” tournaments ran as usual but with the entry fees cut in half.
Note that at present all three of the PokerStars US sites remain ring-fenced, meaning there is no sharing of player pools between the states. However if PokerStars and the states in which it operates enter into a multi-state agreement, the site may be well-positioned to begin offering especially large events and series via a new US network.
