Days after PokerStars announced its first-ever tournament series in Michigan, the operator’s other two US states New Jersey and Pennsylvania will have their own too.
It will not to be flagship COOP series, but rather the operator’s traditional progressive knockout tournament festival, Bounty Builder Series (BBS), that will return to the regulated US online poker rooms of PokerStars NJ and PokerStars PA after seven months starting this Saturday, February 20.
The two events will run separately on both platforms spanning over two weeks offering up more than $2 million in combined guarantees.
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In Pennsylvania, the BBS guarantees over $1.5 million and in its neighboring state, more than $600,000 is guaranteed.
As the name would imply, all the tournaments will be played in the progressive knockout format—a wildly-popular MTT format where half the buy-in goes towards the prize pool and the rest towards the player’s bounty.
Both series will award seven title championship belts to the event winners, a trend that started on these two markets last year. There are a total of 14 championship events combined.
The Bounty Builder Series will partly coincide with the Winter Online Championships and Planet Hollywood Online Circuit series running on WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey.
With MICOOP over on PokerStars MI promising over $1 million, the total prize money across all three tournament series running on PokerStars US markets over the next month totals $3 million.
Upcoming Online Tournament Series in PokerStars US Regulated Markets
| Series | Bounty Builder Series | Bounty Builder Series | MICOOP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market | PokerStars PA | PokerStars NJ | PokerStars MI |
| Total Gtd | $1,500,000 | $600,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Total Tournaments | 75 | 58 | 60 |
| Avg Gtd | $20,000 | $10,345 | $16,667 |
| Buy-ins | $10 – $1000 | $10 – $750 | $10 – $500 |
| Main Event | $300 buy-in, $75K Gtd | $200 buy-in, $150K Gtd | $300 buy-in, $125K Gtd |
| Duration | Feb 20 – Mar 8 | Feb 20 – Mar 8 | Feb 20 – Mar 8 |
Bounty Builder Series February 2021: Similar Schedule But More Options in Pennsylvania
Although both series are similar in nature, the guarantees in Pennsylvania are much higher. $1.5 million is on offer for PA players compared to $600k in New Jersey.
The average guarantee per tournament is exactly $20,000 for players in the Keystone State while for those in the Garden State, it is just over half, at $10,345 per tournament. The guarantees are higher on PokerStars PA because it has many more players on the site.
Pennsylvania players also have more choice than its counterpart New Jersey: 75 tournaments versus 58. But both feature the same number of Championship Belt events. Mixed games are also on offer on both the sites, however PA players have the extra option of HORSE and Badugi while the BBS events in NJ are limited to Hold’em, Omaha and 8-Game variants.
Buy-ins are in the same range across both series, starting at $10. However, PA players have a High Roller tournament costing $1000 to enter while the maximum buy-in on offer for NJ players is $750.
The Main Events differ a bit: In Pennsylvania the Main Event boasts a $150,000 guarantee for a buy-in of $200; the New Jersey edition features a buy-in of $300 and promises $75,000.
Both have a Mini companion version: A $50 buy-in Mini Main guaranteeing $40,000 in PA; the same event costs $30 in NJ for a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000.
Some of the standout tournaments of the Bounty Builder Series across both PS PA & PS NJ include:
- February 20 — Series Kick-Off Event $100 buy-in – $40K in PA, $15K in NJ
- February 21 — Sunday Special – $100 buy-in and $100K in PA, $200 buy-in and $35K in NJ
- February 25 — Thursday Thrill $200 buy-in – $50K in PA, $20K in NJ
- February 28 — Storm $10 buy-in – $5K in both PA and NJ
- March 2 — Super Tuesday – $200 buy-in and $50K in PA, $250 buy-in and $25K in NJ
- March 6 — 25% PKO $100 buy-in – $30K in PA and $10K in NJ
- March 7 — Main Event – $200 buy-in and $150K in PA, $300 buy-in and $75K in NJ
To reward high volume players, both platforms are offering a KO Leaderboard giving away $16,000 respectively. Players will earn one point every time they knock out a player. The topper of the leaderboard will walk away with a $4000 cash prize.
New Jersey players will also have a special $3 buy-in Bounty Builder Series special Spin & Go giving away tickets to the Main Event. Since PokerStars PA doesn’t have the Spin & Go offering, it is only available to NJ players.
Third Bounty Builder Series in a Year
This will be the third instance that a tournament series dedicated wholly to bounty tournaments will run on PokerStars NJ & PokerStars PA. The Bounty Builder Series was first introduced in the US regulated markets last year following its huge popularity in the dot-com market.
The first BBS in PA had just $500,000 guaranteed across 32 tournaments while the NJ version had even lower guarantees—$300,000 over the same number of tournaments.
The PKO festival returned in July and boasted the same amount of guarantees as it will be for the upcoming edition.
Bounty Builder Series 2021 runs on PokerStars NJ and PokerStars PA from Saturday, February 20.
