PASCOOP Smashes Guarantees, PokerStars PA Awards Over $3 Million

The article has been updated to reflect the final day numbers

PokerStars’ first-ever annual PA online poker Spring series, the Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) is almost in the books and by all measures, the series has been a smash hit.

Boasting a massive $2 million guaranteed prize money — a record for PokerStars in a US regulated market, the series had no difficulty in breaching its ambitious guarantees.

Over $3.1 million prize pool was generated across 96 tournaments, surpassing the overall series guarantee by 58%.

And the series is not done yet as there are still four tournaments remaining with combined guarantees of $73,000.

PASCOOP Final Day (April 20) Schedule:

PASCOOP-48-H, $100 buy-in NLHE $40K Gtd at 19:00 ET
PASCOOP-48-L, $10 buy-in NLHE $8K Gtd at 19:00 ET
PASCOOP-50-H, $150 buy-in NLHE Wrap-Up, $20K Gtd at 21:00 ET
PASCOOP-50-L, $15 buy-in NLHE Wrap-Up, $$5K Gtd at 21:00 ET

PASCOOP 2020 Guarantees Smashed Across the Board

Almost all tournaments met their guarantees, with some even doubling and one even quadrupling its minimum payout. Half of the $2 million guaranteed prize money was met within the first week.

The opening event: $10 buy-in PASCOOP-01-L Warm-Up boasting $10,000 guarantee drew the largest turnout of the series with total entries of 2967. It ended up awarding $26.9k — more than double its guarantee.

Its companion High tier $100 buy-in tournament drew the second-biggest prize pool of the series thanks to 1117 entries that joined the field, creating a prize pool of $102.5k.

The $500 buy-in High Roller event boasting $50,000 guarantee drew 177 entries to build a prize pool of $83.1k — eclipsing its original guarantees by 66%.

The $100 buy-in Phase tournament drew 959 total entries while the $10 buy-in attracted 4811 with a total prize pool of $43k—more than four times its original guarantees.

$300 PASCOOP Main Event Creates Record for Biggest Prize Pool in Pennsylvania

It was the $300 buy-in Main Event that stole the show. With a record-breaking $200,000 guaranteed prize pool that needed 714 entries to cover, it got almost double of that, pulling in 1315 entries for a total prize pool of $368,200 and smashing its guarantees by 84%.

This makes it the largest online poker tournament in Pennsylvania in terms of the total prize pool. The tournament beat the previous biggest record $178k prize pool, that was set during PokerStars PA’s first-ever tournament series, PACOOP, in December.

The second day of Main Event resumes later today. The winner will take home over $50,000 that would also be another record for the largest single payout in the newly launched Pennsylvania online poker market.

The $50 buy-in low-tier Main Event generated $94k prize pool, almost doubling its $50,000 guarantee.

PASCOOP 2020 By the Numbers

Here is a quick summary of PASCOOP:

Total Guarantees $2,000,000
No. Of Tournaments 100
Total Prize Pool Awarded $3,267,725.45
Guarantee Surpassed 63.39%
Total Entrants 79,910
No. Of Overlays 4
Total Overlay Amount $4741.50
Biggest Prize Pool PASCOOP-45-H $300 [Main Event] – $368.2k prize pool
Biggest Turnout PASCOOP-01-L $10 [Warm-Up] – 2967 entrants – $26.9k prize pool
Last Sunday Prize Pool $720,021.60 across ten tournaments including two Phase tournaments

PASCOOP 2020 Generated Over $270K Tournament Fees

Not all tournaments met their guarantees. Four out of 96 PASCOOP tournaments that have concluded so far, fell short with total overlays amounting to $4741.50 — a negligible amount considering that the series generated tournament fees of over $271k, netting them $267k profit after accounting for the overlays.

PASCOOP 2020 Top Line Numbers

Total Prize Pool Awarded	$3,267,725.45
Total Rake Collected	$280,138.55
Total Overlay	$4,741.50
Total Profit	$275,397.05

The above numbers have been updated to reflect the final day numbers

PASCOOP followed a very successful month as PokerStars PA generated $3.1 million in revenue — the highest since the online poker market went live in November last year, as per figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) last week.

With cash game traffic reaching an all-time high due to COVID-19 and PASCOOP generating over $3.1 million prize pool, online poker revenue for PokerStars PA in April could see record high and possibly generate $5 million in revenue.

PokerStars PA will now look to host its fourth tournament series in the market, possibly Summer Series or a knockout series in May or June.