‘kingboss93’ takes home a $46,410 payday as successful series concludes at PokerStars PA
SCOOP madness isn’t quite over yet across PokerStars’ family of U.S.-facing sites. The two-and-a-half-week schedule for the Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) played to its conclusion Monday night, as the latest tournament series offered at PokerStars PA wrapped up as a successful online festival.
The 2021 PASCOOP concluded with the $300 Main Event #36-H, which offered a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. The prize pool ended up well over that mark, as 1,015 Pennsylvania players registered for the tournament, pushing the actual prize money to $284,200 awarded.
Monday night action crowned ‘kingboss93’ as the champion, awarding a $46,410 payday in the process. The PASCOOP offered 41 events, all with a low, medium, and high buy-in tier as per usual across PokerStars Championship of Online Poker festivals.
The slate of 123 total tournaments ran on the Pennsylvania-only PokerStars PA platform from April 17 though May 3. Many of those 123 tournaments exceeded the guaranteed prize money.
For PokerStars PA, which launched in Pennsylvania in November 2019, the 2021 PASCOOP marked the second annual running of the series. The festival guaranteed over $2 million in combined prize money across all events, equaling the promised prize money in last year’s series.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest winners from the 2021 PASCOOP:
2021 PASCOOP notable events
| Event | Prize Pool | Winner | First Place Prize |
| 04-H: $100 Sunday Special | $75,000 guaranteed; $92,993 actual | ‘Admiral Overbet’ | $13,762 |
| 11-H: $2,000 NLHE 8-Max High Roller | $100,000 guaranteed; $100,700 actual | ‘pariszoo11’ | $16,970 |
| 20-H: $200 NLHE Sunday Special | $100,000 guaranteed; $111,228 actual | ‘jbrink22’ | $17,737 |
| 36-H: $300 NLHE PASCOOP Main Event | $200,000 guaranteed; $284,200 actual | ‘kingboss93’ | $46,410 |
Outlook for Pennsylvania online poker
PokerStars PA enjoyed a monopoly on the Pennsylvania regulated online poker market, from its November 2019 launch through April 27, 2021. BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker launched on that date as a shared player platform powered by the partypoker US Network.
Neither PokerStars PA nor the new BetMGM/Borgata network share player pools with any other state for now. Both brands offer online poker in both New Jersey and Michigan, however, and Pennsylvania players could look forward to a future of merged player pools among Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan.
The status for interstate regulated poker networks in the U.S. stands as follows:
U.S. regulated online poker networks
| Network | States Operating | Online Skins | Merged Player Pools? |
| WSOP.com/888poker | Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware | WSOP.com (Nevada and New Jersey) 888 New Jersey, 888 Delaware | Yes* |
| Partypoker US Network | New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania | Partypoker (New Jersey) BetMGM Poker (New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania), Borgata Poker (New Jersey, Pennsylvania) | No |
| PokerStars USA | New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania | PokerStars (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan) | No |
Pennsylvania’s poker sites are limited to in-state competition for now. In order for either PokerStars or partypoker to merge their Pennsylvania networks with other states, Pennsylvania lawmakers would have to pass an interstate poker bill.
Michigan passed such a bill in January, and as it looks now, Michigan’s poker sites are ahead of Pennsylvania in the effort to offer merged online poker networks anytime soon.
Featured image source: Twitter
