The first Michigan Championship of Online Poker has reached the midway point at PokerStars MI. Judging by the first week of MICOOP, it’s safe to say Michigan poker players were hungry to play an online tournament series on the first site to launch in Michigan.
The series has been a hit so far, with consistently big turnouts and large prize pools in all events.
Through 35 tournaments, players have won just over $1.147 million. In other words, the total prize pools have already overshot the $1 million in guarantees of the original 60-event MICOOP schedule.
Visit PokerStars Michigan and sign up to join the MICOOP.
Michigan > Pennsylvania: MICOOP crushing pace for first PACOOP
That total amount of guarantees for MICOOP events has increased since the original schedule was set. That’s because over the weekend PokerStars MI boosted guarantees in all of the Saturday and Sunday events (more on that below).
So far there have been more than 15,800 total entries in the 35 events (counting re-entries), plus nearly 1,600 rebuys and add-ons in two rebuy events.
The largest prize pool to this point came yesterday in the $250 buy-in Sunday Special (Event #31). The 461 total entries created a prize pool of more than $107,000 for that event. That topped the previous high prize pool of just over $81,000 in the $100 Kickoff (Event #1).
The first MICOOP is on pace to perform much better than the first Pennsylvania Championship on Online Poker staged in late 2019 shortly after PokerStars PA launched.
The first PACOOP was a 50-event series in which players won just over $1.55 million.
Michigan players come out in droves for ‘Double Up Weekend’
Having easily bested all guarantees through the first 22 events (and doing so as well in the three Friday events), PokerStars Michigan announced late last week the doubling of guarantees in all 10 events on Saturday and Sunday.
How did the last-minute “Double Up Weekend” go? Quite well, all things considered.
Eight of the 10 weekend events attracted big enough fields to produce prize pools greater than the newly doubled guarantee. In one case (Event #26), the prize pool ($12,649) ended up doubling the doubled guarantee ($6,000).
Two of the later events on Sunday night did end up with overlays. The $50 PLO (Event #33) had an overlay of just over $1,300, while the $75 NLHE Sunday Supersonic (Event #35) had an overlay of a little more than $5,200.
PokerStars has yet to adjust any remaining guarantees on the tourney schedule, although that remains a possibility. On Sunday comes the two-day, $300 buy-in Main Event currently sporting a $125,000 guarantee.
Here’s a look at the turnouts and prize pools for all MICOOP events thus far.
2021 MICOOP by the numbers (through Event #35)
| Event | Buy-in | Guarantee | Entries | Re-Entries | Prize Pool | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1: NLHE [MICOOP Kick Off, Nightly Stars SE] | $100 | $30,000 | 597 | 286 | $81,059.40 | |
| 2: NLHE [Rebuy] | $20 | $10,000 | 747 | 1,153** | $34,580.00 | |
| 3: NLHE [8-Max] | $50 | $20,000 | 548 | 229 | $35,353.50 | |
| 4: NLHE [8-Max, Deepstacks] | $100 | $25,000 | 430 | 226 | $60,220.80 | |
| 5: NLHE [Progressive KO, Sunday Warm Up SE] | $50 | $10,000 | 430 | 206 | $28,938.00 | |
| 6: NLHE [Sunday Special SE] | $200 | $40,000 | 289 | 141 | $79,980.00 | |
| 7: NLHE [Sunday Special Mini] | $25 | $12,500 | 820 | 409 | $27,959.75 | |
| 8: PLO [8-Max] | $100 | $10,000 | 146 | 72 | $20,012.40 | |
| 9: NLHE [Second Chance] | $75 | $7,500 | 223 | 76 | $20,406.75 | |
| 10: NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic SE] | $50 | $5,000 | 199 | 51 | $11,750.00 | |
| 11: NLHE [4-Max] | $100 | $15,000 | 206 | 106 | $28,641.60 | |
| 12: NLHE [6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale SE] | $50 | $20,000 | 443 | 203 | $29,393.00 | |
| 13: PLO8 [8-Max] | $50 | $7,500 | 193 | 87 | $12,740.00 | |
| 14: NLHE [Super Tuesday SE] | $200 | $30,000 | 189 | 109 | $55,428.00 | |
| 15: NLHE [Super Tuesday Mini] | $30 | $15,000 | 624 | 326 | $25,935.00 | |
| 16: PL 5-Card Draw [Turbo] | $50 | $3,000 | 81 | 14 | $4,322.50 | |
| 17: PLO [6-Max] | $100 | $7,500 | 114 | 44 | $14,504.40 | |
| 18: NLHE [6-Max, High Roller] | $500 | $35,000 | 90 | 41 | $61,570.00 | |
| 19: NLHE [6-Max] | $50 | $20,000 | 382 | 180 | $25,571.00 | |
| 20: NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE] | $200 | $30,000 | 171 | 85 | $47,616.00 | |
| 21: NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill Mini] | $30 | $15,000 | 556 | 276 | $22,713.60 | |
| 22: 5-Card PLO [6-Max, Turbo] | $30 | $3,000 | 135 | 63 | $5,405.40 | |
| 23: FLHE [6-Max] | $100 | $5,000 | 71 | 16 | $7,986.60 | |
| 24: NLHE [Big Antes] | $100 | $7,500 | 230 | 112 | $31,395.60 | |
| 25: NLHE [6-Max, Turbo] | $150 | $10,000 | 109 | 27 | $18,727.20 | |
| 26: HORSE [Turbo] | $50 | $6,000 | 194 | 84 | $12,649.00 | |
| 27: NLHE [Rebuy] | $50 | $20,000 | 394 | 439** | $37,901.50 | |
| 28: NLHE [Turbo, Saturday Speedway SE] | $100 | $20,000 | 222 | 65 | $26,346.60 | |
| 29: NLHE [8-Max, Marathon] | $100 | $50,000 | 382 | 193 | $52,785.00 | |
| 30: NLHE [Sunday Warm Up SE] | $50 | $25,000 | 442 | 160 | $27,391.00 | |
| 31: NLHE [Sunday Special SE] | $250 | $100,000 | 332 | 129 | $107,413.00 | |
| 32: NLHE [Sunday Special Mini] | $30 | $30,000 | 768 | 369 | $31,040.10 | |
| 33: PLO [8-Max, Turbo] | $50 | $10,000 | 156 | 35 | $10,000* | |
| 34: NLHE [6-Max] | $100 | $20,000 | 215 | 104 | $29,284.20 | |
| 35: NLHE [Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic SE] | $75 | $20,000 | 168 | 41 | $20,000* | |
*Events with overlays: Event No. 33 — $1,309.05; Event No. 35 — $5,265.50; **total rebuys and add-ons; bold = doubled guarantees
