The first ever Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) got underway on PokerStars PA last Saturday.
As has been the case with previous tournament series on the site, players are coming out in big numbers to create large fields and guarantee-exceeding prize pools.
Pennsylvania players staying at home, playing PASCOOP
Ever since the shutdown of casinos in the state due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic forced a temporary pause on live poker, traffic on PokerStars PA traffic has been higher than it has ever been since first launching just over five months ago.
Since mid-March, most evenings have seen 3,000-4,000 players or more logged onto the site, already twice the number typically seen previously. On Saturday, April 4 — the first day of PASCOOP — the number of “seats filled” exceeded 6,000 during the evening hours once the first events were underway.
Turnouts for tournaments that first Saturday night certainly reflected the heavier traffic, with prize pools more than doubling the guarantees in multiple events on Day 1 of PASCOOP.
Over $1 million won during first third of series
Indeed, the kickoff $100 buy-in Event #1-H: Nightly Stars – PASCOOP Warm-Up saw more than 1,100 total entries build a prize pool of $102,540.60, over twice the $50K guarantee and the largest prize pool of the series thus far.
Event $15-H, the $500 buy-in High Roller event scheduled last night, attracted a large turnout as well with 177 total entries creating a $83,190 prize pool, well above that tournament’s $50K guarantee.
About one-third of the 100 scheduled events have now completed, 16 each from the “High” and “Low” tournament tiers. Of those 32 tournaments, all but two exceeded the guarantees, the exceptions coming in a couple of $5 buy-in “Low” events.
Through 32 tournaments, the prize pools have totaled just over $1.05 million already, well over the $664K worth of guarantees to this point.
That puts PASCOOP on pace easily to exceed the $1,559,767 in prize money won during the first-ever Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker in December.
Packed PASCOOP schedule leading up to 4/19 Main Event
Modeled after the long-running Spring Championship of Online Poker that takes place each year on PokerStars’ global site, the inaugural PASCOOP features 100 tournaments and runs through Monday, April 20 with the scheduled guarantees totaling exactly $2 million.
In the coming days the PASCOOP schedule includes more non-hold’em events, including pot-limit Omaha (tonight and again next Monday) and the 8-game mix (on Friday). There are numerous no-limit hold’em events as well at a variety of buy-ins and featuring many different formats. Click here for the full PASCOOP schedule.
The PASCOOP Main Event happens Sunday, April 19, the “High” version of which features a $300 buy-in and a $200,000 guarantee, while the “Low” will have a $50 buy-in and $100,000 guarantee.
Here’s a look at the turnouts and totals thus far during the first third of the 2020 PASCOOP.
PASCOOP by the numbers (through Events #16-H and #16-L)
| Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event 1-H: Nightly Stars – PASCOOP Warm-Up | $100 | $50,000 | 730 | 387 | $102,540.60 |
| Event 1-L: PASCOOP Warm-Up | $10 | $10,000 | 1,794 | 1,173 | $26,999.70 |
| Event 2-H: NLHE | $50 | $35,000 | 849 | 340 | $54,099.50 |
| Event 2-L: NLHE | $5 | $6,000 | 1,284 | 506 | $8,144.50 |
| Event 3-H: 6-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO | $200 | $25,000 | 194 | 70 | $49,104.00 |
| Event 3-L: 6-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO | $20 | $10,000 | 934 | 422 | $24,679.20 |
| Event 4-H: 8-Max, DeepStack | $100 | $40,000 | 469 | 208 | $62,148.60 |
| Event 4-L: 8-Max, DeepStack | $10 | $8,000 | 1,095 | 548 | $14,951.30 |
| Event 5-H: NLHE, 6-Max | $50 | $30,000 | 428 | 247 | $30,712.50 |
| Event 5-L: NLHE, 6-Max* | $5 | $6,000 | 787 | 453 | $6,000.00 |
| Event 6-H: NLHE, Progressive KO | $150 | $35,000 | 259 | 90 | $48,057.30 |
| Event 6-L: NLHE, Progressive KO | $15 | $8,000 | 625 | 226 | $11,616.15 |
| Event 7-H: Sunday Special SE | $100 | $70,000 | 733 | 343 | $98,776.80 |
| Event 7-L: Mini Special | $10 | $10,000 | 1,107 | 538 | $14,969.50 |
| Event 8-H: PLO, 6-Max | $100 | $15,000 | 175 | 92 | $24,510.60 |
| Event 8-L: PLO, 6-Max | $10 | $5,000 | 537 | 277 | $7,407.40 |
| Event 9-H: Hyper-Turbo, Sunday SuperSonic SE | $50 | $15,000 | 262 | 72 | $15,698.00 |
| Event 9-L: Hyper-Turbo, Mini SuperSonic** | $5 | $3,000 | 448 | 155 | $3,000.00 |
| Event 10-H: 6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale SE | $50 | $30,000 | 640 | 343 | $44,726.50 |
| Event 10-L: 6-Max, Progressive KO | $5 | $3,500 | 1,125 | 605 | $7,871.50 |
| Event 11-H: NLO8, 6-Max | $150 | $15,000 | 105 | 42 | $20,241.90 |
| Event 11-L: NLO8, 6-Max | $15 | $3,500 | 354 | 109 | $6,319.95 |
| Event 12-H: Super Tuesday SE | $250 | $50,000 | 239 | 99 | $78,754.00 |
| Event 12-L: Mini Super Tuesday | $25 | $20,000 | 1,077 | 557 | $37,173.50 |
| Event 13-H: Escalating Antes | $150 | $20,000 | 152 | 67 | $30,156.30 |
| Event 13-L: Escalating Antes | $15 | $6,000 | 506 | 228 | $10,019.10 |
| Event 14-H: 6-Max, Progressive KO | $75 | $17,500 | 283 | 127 | $27,982.50 |
| Event 14-L: 6-Max, Progressive KO | $7.50 | $5,000 | 612 | 274 | $5,927.34 |
| Event 15-H: 6-Max, High Roller | $500 | $50,000 | 117 | 60 | $83,190.00 |
| Event 15-L: 6-Max, High Roller | $50 | $25,000 | 560 | 354 | $41,587.00 |
| Event 16-H: Progressive KO | $100 | $30,000 | 334 | 118 | $41,493.60 |
| Event 16-L: Progressive KO | $10 | $7,500 | 1,112 | 600 | $15,579.20 |
*Event #5-L had an overlay of $358
**Event #9-L had an overlay of $165.90
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