The second installment of the Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) held on PokerStars PA has come to a glittering end, paying out well in excess of $2.6 million in prize money.
All major tournaments hit their guarantees, including the Main Event and the market’s first $2000 High Roller.
The festival, by far the largest in the PA online poker market, spanned 17-days. It initially included 40 events with each of them spread into three buy-in tiers to make a total of 120 individual tournaments.
However, during the series the operator added a new event: #41 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo—increasing the tally of tournaments offered in the schedule to 123. These promised $2.1 million in prize money.
The series was broadly a success, with 86 out of 123 tournaments exceeding their guarantees. 37, representing nearly one-third of the schedule, fell short, though mostly by small margins.
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Turnouts were consistently large throughout the series with the total entrants touching just over 47,000. Three tournaments, including the Main Event, attracted over a thousand entries while nearly two dozen tournaments smashed their guarantees by over 50%.
The biggest tournament of the series—the PASCOOP Main Event costing $300 to enter—was naturally the star performant of the series drawing the largest turnout. The tournament boasted a $200,000 guarantee, but this was easily exceeded, with 1015 entries (637 runners and 378 re-entries) growing the prize pool to $284,200.
Its Mini and Mid editions also easily surpassed their guarantees with prize pools of $27.4k and $55.6k respectively.
The first-ever $2000 buy-in High Roller tournament in the regulated Pennsylvania online poker market did not disappoint. It posted a $100,000 guarantee, meaning it needed 53 entries to cover. And it drew exactly 53 entries to amass a prize pool of $100,700.
There were a few overlays to be seen. About a third of the schedule fell short but the overlays were mostly of small amounts. One notable miss was the $100 buy-in PASCOOP 32-H [Win the Button], falling short of its guarantee in excess of $6000.
PASCOOP 2021 By the Numbers:
- Total Guaranteed $2,112,500
- No. of Tournaments 123
- Total Prize Money Awarded $2,642,303.55
- Guarantee Surpassed 25%
- Total Entrants 47,081
- No. of Overlays 37 (30%)
- Total Overlay $54,286.9
- Main Event Prize Pool $284,200 (1015 entries)
In total, the operator collected $214k in tournament fees and, taking overlays into account, the PASCOOP 2021 generated a net profit of $160k.
PASCOOP 2021 Top Line Numbers
| Total Prize Pool Awarded | $2,642,303.55 |
|---|---|
| Total Rake Collected | $214,618.35 |
| Overlay Amount | $54,286.90 |
| Total Profit | $160,331.45 |
Second-Largest Series in PokerStars’ US Regulated Market History
While the participation was huge throughout the series, this was not enough to beat its previous record set in 2020.
The same series last year generated $3.2 million over 100 tournaments, smashing the guarantees across the board by 63%. Total participation in that series hit almost 80,000.
However, the PASCOOP 2020 had the distinct advantage of being held during a stringent lockdown, which resulting in online poker traffic surging to sk-yhigh levels.
PASCOOP Stats Comparison: 2021 vs 2020
| 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Prize Pool Awarded | $2,642,303.55 | $3,267,725.45 |
| Total Tournaments | 123 | 100 |
| Gtd Surpassed | 25% | 63% |
| Total Entries | 47,081 | 79,910 |
| No. of Overlays | 37 (30%) | 4 (4%) |
| Overlay Amount | $54,286.90 | $4,741.50 |
| Main Event Prize Pool | $284,200 | $368,200 |
| Rake Collected | $214,618.35 | $280,138.55 |
| Net Profit | $160,331.45 | $275,397.05 |
Still, the PASCOOP 2021 festival will go down as the second-largest in the operator’s history in the US market.
Top Four Largest Series in PokerStars’ US Markets
| Prize Pool Awarded | Tournaments | Avg Prize Pool per Tournament | Total Entries | Avg Entries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PASCOOP 2020 | $3.2M | 100 | $32,677 | 79,910 | 799 |
| PASCOOP 2021 | $2.6M | 123 | $21,482 | 47,081 | 383 |
| MICOOP 2021 | $2.2M | 60 | $36,800 | 28,830 | 481 |
| PACOOP 2020 | $1.5M | 50 | $31,195 | 12,612 | 252 |
Upcoming SCOOP Series in Michigan and New Jersey
The SCOOP series in Pennsylvania is over but now it will be Michigan and New Jersey's turn to flex their muscles. Between the two series, more than $3 million combined is guaranteed. Both the series runs simultaneously, kicking off this Saturday, May 8 and running through May 24.
The MISCOOP which will be its first edition will guarantee $2 million across 120 tournaments while the NJSCOOP will guarantee $1.2 million spread over 165 tournaments.*
