Pokerstars awards over $1.5 million to players during PACOOP

(PRESS RELEASE) -- FOX Bet and PokerStars' inaugural Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PACOOP) attracted more than 12,600 entries resulting in over 1,700 cashes and a massive $1,559,576 prize pool, beating its $1,225,000 guarantee, which was increased from $1 million.

The player who took the biggest first-place prize from the debut Championship was ‘Gyea08’, after they turned a free entry into $31,335.64. He outlasted 639 entries in the $300 buy-in Main Event, which saw the original $100,000 guarantee balloon to $179,200.

The state’s very own online poker championship took place from 30 November to 16 December at PokerStars.bet, and saw such success within its opening weekend that PokerStars increased the $1 million guarantee by $100,000 on 2 December. The world’s most popular online poker operator then raised the guarantee again two days later on 4 December by $125,000, following ongoing exceptional performance.

“After the incredible number of players that joined together online in the first few days of the tournament, we knew we needed to increase the prize pools to match their enthusiasm,” said Matt Primeaux, President, FOX Bet. “PACOOP exceeded all our expectations. We’re very proud to be the only place you can play poker legally online and look forward to poker’s future here in Pennsylvania."

Other key event successes include:

• Event 1 - $100 PACOOP Warm-Up – Smashed its $20,000 to reach $50,122 prize pool.
• Five events (the two Sunday Specials, Main Event, opening event, and the High Roller) had prize pools of more than $50,000.
• The biggest events in terms of entries were Event 12 – the $30 Mini Super Tuesday - with 824 entries, and Event 45 – the $50 NLHE Main Event – with 830 entries.
• There were nine non-NLHE events, featuring Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 8-Game, Limit Hold’em, and Stud Hi/Lo. The biggest of these was the $500 PLO High Roller, which achieved a prize pool of $29,140 and was won by ‘ChinaPaul412’ for $10,392.

PACOOP also created five double champions. ‘HeavyLizard’ took down Events 3 and 13, ‘Wolfofbrdst’ won Events 14 and 33, ‘Fubadbeatbob’ became the champion of Events 15 and 50, ‘NeolithicFarmer’ won Events 25 and 30, and ‘RevoltingBlob12’ had back-to-back wins in Events 36 and 37. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanian PokerStars Ambassador Jennifer Shahade cashed in Events 1, 45, and 50.

PokerStars, PokerStars Casino and FOX Bet are available for download on iOS and Android and via the internet in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.