The second edition of the Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) kicked off on April 17 and will run until May 3 on PokerStars PA.
The ongoing festival follows a hugely successful inaugural series held in 2020, which featured $2 million in guarantees, the biggest ever offered by PokerStars in the Keystone State since it launched there in November 2019. The first PASCOOP exceeded expectations and ended up awarding $3.2 million in total prize money across 100 tournaments. Will the 2021 edition replicate that success?
2021 PASCOOP Key Details & Highlights
This year’s PASCOOP comes with the same $2 million guarantee, but the schedule has been expanded to 120 tournaments in total. There are 40 numbered events all in all, and each of them has a Low, Medium, and High edition.
The main highlight of the series are three Main Events, with the biggest one guaranteeing $200,000. Six tournaments carry at least $50,000 in guarantees, majority of them are High Rollers, and there’s also a $100,000 GTD Sunday Special which has a smaller buy-in of only $200.
Mixed Start
Over 30 tournaments have already played out, accounting for 25% of the schedule, but not all were able to reach their respective guarantees, as some ended in overlays. A number of events managed to pull it through though, with tournaments during the opening day smashing their targets by over 40% overall.
Here’s how the festival fared during its first few days:
The 2021 PASCOOP started strong, with its small buy-in NLHE tournaments attracting significant turnout. But over the next few days, 11 tournaments ended in overlay, though the amounts are not that big.
The overlays were then followed by positive results in the $200 buy-in Super Tuesday which easily surpassed its $35K guarantee when it pulled in 258 entries, generating $47.9K in total prize money. A similar result was seen in the $50 buy-in Mini Super Tuesday which attracted more than 650 players and ended up awarding almost $30K in total prize pool, smashing its $20K advertised guarantee.
So far, the $100 buy-in, $75K GTD Sunday Special SE attracted the biggest turnout of more than 1000 entries, generating over $92K in total prize money.
A total of 30 out of 120 tournaments have already concluded as of April 20, and $528,175 in prizes have been awarded. Of the completed tournaments, 11 suffered $6,998 in total overlays, though 28% of the advertised guarantees were also smashed. The initial tournaments attracted a total of 15,044 entries.
Upcoming Big Tournaments
Over the next 10 days, the biggest events of the series will take place, including another $200 buy-in, $100K GTD NLHE Sunday Special SE on April 25; $1,000 buy-in NLHE, $75K GTD (6-Max High Roller) on April 28; and the three Main Events ($20K GTD Mini, $40K GTD Mid, and $200K GTD High) all taking place on May 2.
Other key events to watch out for are multiple Progressive Knockout tournaments guaranteeing up to $50K, Super Tuesday events, as well as some DeepStack and PLO tournaments. The Sunday Warm Up and The Sunday Storm which failed to hit their guarantees during the first week will also make a return.
Ongoing Promotions
PokerStars PA is also running special promotions for the 2021 PASCOOP, among them are Second Chance Freerolls running on a daily basis. Anyone who gets eliminated before reaching the money in any PASCOOP tournament will earn automatic entry into the Second Chance Freeroll scheduled the following day. Players can win a share of $1000 worth of PASCOOP tickets which will be given away each day.
Those keen on taking part in the Main Event can take advantage of the Main Event Depositor Freeroll, and all they need to do is to deposit at least $30 into their PokerStars PA account until May 2, using the code PASCOOP. The top 50 finishers in the freeroll will each earn a free ticket into the $300 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event.
Visit the PokerStars PA for more information.
