While Winter Series has come to an end in the international dot-com market, PokerStars hasn’t left out its New Jersey online poker market, where the series will return for its fourth iteration.
Scheduled to kick off on Saturday January 18, the PokerStars NJ Winter Series runs for nine days and guarantees the same $300,000 prize pool as last year.
However, this year, the prize pool is spread across more events: A total of 21 tournaments are part of the schedule, four more than last year.
A wide variety of buy-ins are part of the schedule starting at $30 to a High Roller costing $750. A majority of them offer five-figure prize pools, but some also offer guarantees ranging from $5000 to $60,000.
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Events are predominantly No Limit Hold’em but cover a range of different formats including progressive knockouts, 4-max, deep stacks, escalating antes, and so on. There are a couple of Pot Limit Omaha events as well.
The main attraction of the series is the Main Event, costing the usual $400 but carrying a reduced prize pool of $60,000. The same event last year had $80,000 guaranteed which was itself smaller than the one that ran in 2018.
A mini version of the Main Event is also available dubbed the Mini Main. It comes for a $50 buy-in and guarantees $15,000.
Other highlights include a $200 buy-in Sunday Special SE scheduled to run on the first Sunday, boasting a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool. There is also a $200 buy-in Super Tuesday tournament guaranteeing $18,000 as well as a Thursday Thrill with a $12,000 guarantee.
One high-profile tournament to watch for is Event #12: a 6-Max NLHE carrying $750 buy-in with a guarantee of $16,000. It runs on January 22 at 20:00 ET.
Satellites for a majority of the events are available, with buy-ins starting at $3. Players can also satellite into the Main Event via a special Spin & Go costing just $2, plus it also awards cash prizes.
PokerStars NJ will also be hosting an $8000 Depositor freeroll awarding tickets to the Winter Series Main Event worth $400.
To qualify for the freeroll, players will need to make a deposit of at least $30 using code 'WINTER’. Once deposited, they will receive a ticket to the freeroll that runs on January 26 at 15:00 ET. The freeroll awards top 20 positions an entry to the Main Event.
In addition to the Depositor freeroll, there will also be daily Second Chance All-in Shootout freerolls taking place from January 19 to 25, with each freeroll awarding $1000 in Winter Series tickets.
Winter Series NJ 2020 Schedule
| Date | Tournament | Buy-in | Guarantee | Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 18 | Winter Series Warm-Up | $100 | $16,000 | 18:00 |
| January 18 | Saturday Speedway | $50 | $5,000 | 20:00 |
| January 19 | 6-Max | $75 | $16,000 | 16:00 |
| January 19 | Sunday Special SE | $200 | $30,000 | 18:00 |
| January 19 | Sunday Supersonic SE | $75 | $7,000 | 22:00 |
| January 20 | 4-Max | $150 | $15,000 | 19:00 |
| January 20 | PL Omaha [6-Max] | $250 | $8,000 | 20:00 |
| January 21 | Super Tuesday SE | $250 | $18,000 | 19:00 |
| January 21 | Mini Super Tuesday | $30 | $10,000 | 19:30 |
| January 21 | Escalating Antes | $150 | $10,000 | 20:00 |
| January 22 | 6-Max Deep Turbo | $50 | $8,000 | 19:00 |
| January 22 | High Roller [6-Max] | $750 | $16,000 | 20:00 |
| January 23 | Thursday Thrill SE | $250 | $12,000 | 19:00 |
| January 23 | Mini Thrill | $30 | $6,000 | 19:30 |
| January 24 | Deep Hyper-Turbo | $200 | $6,000 | 21:00 |
| January 25 | Deepstack | $150 | $10,000 | 17:00 |
| January 25 | PKO | $100 | $8,000 | 20:00 |
| January 26 | 6-Max, PKO | $200 | $18,000 | 14:00 |
| January 26 | Main Event | $400 | $60,000 | 17:00 |
| January 26 | Mini Main | $50 | $15,000 | 18:00 |
| January 26 | PL Omaha [8-Max] | $100 | $6,000 | 20:00 |
Elsewhere in the market, the 888/WSOP network has scheduled its New Year Kick Off Series which also runs during the same period. The series kicks off on January 19 and runs for eight days until January 26.
The series guarantees $400,000 in prize money spread over eight tournaments including a $525 buy-in Main Event, guaranteeing $175,000. Besides the guaranteed prize money, players who finish in the top three will also receive a ticket to $400 WSOP Online Bracelet event scheduled to take place this Summer.
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In Pennsylvania where PokerStars is the only online poker provider, the operator has scheduled a Football-Themed Winter Series guaranteeing a much larger amount of $675,000 spread over 30 tournaments. The series kicks off on January 25 and runs until February 1.
