The Main Event of the ongoing Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP) has attracted a stunning 1284 total entries, blowing through its already-increased guarantee to build a prize pool of almost $360,000.
Ever since MICOOP got underway on February 20, it has repeatedly exceeded all expectations.
Even accounting for the high early turnouts, no one would have expected the number of players who would enter Day 1 of MICOOP-55, the first ever Main Event of a tournament series in the regulated Michigan online poker market.
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A Main Event to Remember
The $300 buy-in tournament ($280 entry fee + $20 in rake) got underway on Sunday, March 7, at 5pm ET.
When it was first scheduled, it had a $125,000 guarantee, which would require around 450 players to cover. Given the high turnout to earlier events, the operator upped this to an ambitious $200,000, meaning it would have to attract 715 players and re-entries to cover it.
It sailed past this target. By the time late registration closed after 3 hours, 45 minutes of play, 1284 entries had joined the tournament to build a prize pool of $359,520. This is almost three times the size of the original guarantee.
Notably, while the tournament allowed up to five re-entries during late reg, the large majority of players fired only one bullet. There was a total of 882 individual players and only 402 re-entries.
This mean that, even if this tournament were a freezeout, it would have still covered its guarantee easily—almost $250,000 was collected from first entries alone.
MICOOP has been on an absolute tear ever since the first events ran:
- The first weekend blew through initial guarantees.
- PokerStars responded by doubling the guarantees on the next weekend’s events.
- Players blew through even these high targets.
- PokerStars MI upped prizes again, including the Main Event.
- And now it has smashed through that target with ease.
By pokerfuse’s own count, a total of $2,142,559.80 has been paid out across the first 58 events of the series, attracting 27,418 total entries.
This blows through the equivalent first tournament series in the larger Pennsylvania online gambling market. The inaugural PACOOP, which itself performed very well, generated $1.55 million in total prize money.
Final Events on Monday, with $40,000 Still Guaranteed in Prize Money
The series is not over yet. There are 43 players still in the Main Event, returning for the concluding Day 2 this evening. All remaining players are guaranteed a payday of just under $1400. Those that make it to the final table will lock up $3760; the top six will win a five-figure sum.
The eventual winner, assuming no final table deal making, will walk away with a cool $56,398.35—by far the largest single prize in regulated online poker in Michigan to date.
But that’s not all. If you haven’t yet participated in any events, there is still a chance to get in on the action: The are two closing events that start today. Both are reasonably priced—$20 and $100—and guarantee a five-figure prize pool.
Given the turnouts we have seen so far, these could easily be exceeded.
PokerStars MICOOP: Final Day Events
| Date | DoW | Event # | Game | Format | Guarantee | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-08 | Mon | 59 | NLHE | Nightly Stars SE | $30,000.00 | $100.00 |
| Mar-08 | Mon | 60 | NLHE | Heads-Up Turbo PKO Zoom | $10,000.00 | $20.00 |
Event #59 is a special edition of the regular Nightly Stars, with an increased guarantee of $30,000 on a reasonable $100 buy-in.
For low-stakes players, the $10 Turbo MICOOP-60 should be a lot of fun: It is played in Zoom format and is Progressive Total KO—meaning the entire prize pool will be distributed in bounties, awarded when you knock a player out.
Even if you have not signed up to PokerStars Michigan yet, there is still time to do so—you should be able to get your account set up, verified, and even get your PokerStars MI Welcome Bonus credited, then participate in these final two events.
