A Torrent Of Tourneys: PokerStars Michigan Giving Players What They Want

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Written By Martin Harris on February 2, 2021Last Updated on February 19, 2021
pokerstars michigan

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Last Friday marked the launch of PokerStars Michigan, and it has already witnessed a significant influx of players from both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, resulting in a substantial surge in site traffic.

The cash games are experiencing high activity, offering a range of stakes from $0.01/$0.02 to $25/$50 for the no-limit hold’em tables. Additionally, there are Sit-n-go’s and Spin & Go’s available to enhance the variety for players.

In the meantime, players participating in multi-table tournaments in Michigan are witnessing a plethora of options emerging in the lobby. As the number of players joining these tournaments continues to rise, the size of the fields and prize pools are also experiencing a significant growth.

Take a glance at what tournament players can currently anticipate finding at PokerStars MI.

PokerStars MI opens up with familiar lineup of ‘Sunday Majors’

Unsurprisingly, PokerStars has designated a series of weekly events as the Sunday “majors.” Listed below are the five prominent tournaments, along with their respective guaranteed prizes for this Sunday.

  • The Sunday Storm is a poker tournament with a buy-in of $10 and a guaranteed prize pool of $2,000.
  • The Sunday Warm-Up has a buy-in of $30 and guarantees a prize pool of $5,000.
  • The Sunday Supersonic is a poker tournament with a $50 entry fee and a guaranteed prize pool of $2,500.
  • The Sunday High Roller event guarantees a prize pool of $10,000 with a buy-in of $250.
  • Join us for our Sunday Special poker tournament with a $100 buy-in and a guaranteed prize pool of $20,000.

PokerStars MI hosted four out of five events on its inaugural Sunday online. Additionally, the upcoming schedule for Sunday, February 7 now includes the Sunday Special event.

Since the site had only been operational for two days, it is probable that PokerStars MI did not want to immediately introduce the marquee Sunday Special with its significant $20,000 guarantee.

However, all four of the remaining Sunday tournaments exceeded their respective guarantees without any difficulty. Notably, the Sunday High Roller drew a significant number of participants, resulting in a prize pool of nearly $14,700, which was nearly double the initial guarantee of $7,500.

Dozens of tournaments filling out each day’s schedule

In the meantime, visitors to PokerStars in Michigan will discover a diverse range of tournaments taking place every day as the weekly schedule has been filled.

All of these events offer assured prize pools, and after starting with modest guarantees over the weekend, they have now seen an increase. For instance, The Big $30 initially had a $300 guarantee, but now it guarantees a sum of $2,500.

Practically every scheduled tournament features the popular variant of No-limit hold’em. However, pot-limit Omaha and PLO hi-lo events only appear occasionally. Among the recurring events, some notable ones are NLHE tournaments.

  • The $5 Big, the $10 Big, the $20 Big, and the $30 Big.
  • The Turbo Tournaments: The Hot $5, The Hot $10, The Hot $30, The Hot $50.
  • Progressive knockout tournaments: Bounty Builder $15, Bounty Builder $20, Bounty Builder $30.
  • Nightly Stars, a nightly event with a price of $100.
  • There are two tournaments available, the Moonlight Express taking place at midnight and the Moonlight Express 2nd Chance happening at 12:30 a.m. Both tournaments have an entry fee of $20.

All players on PokerStars MI are encouraged to participate in the various freeroll tournaments this week. These events can be found in the lobby under the name “We Are in Michigan – Welcome Freeroll.”

Players have the freedom to participate in as many tournaments as they desire, without any cost. The majority of these tournaments offer prize pools of $2,500, but as the week progresses, there are also tournaments with larger prize pools of $5,000 and $7,500.

Cash won in these events will be immediately deposited into players’ accounts, allowing them to utilize it for cash games or tournaments without delay. Furthermore, players have the freedom to withdraw the money without any playthrough prerequisites or additional limitations.

PokerStars MI has a total of $50,000 up for grabs in these freerolls, which will continue until February 7th.

Comparing Michigan online poker to Pennsylvania, New Jersey

PokerStars Pennsylvania was introduced in late 2019, following PokerStars New Jersey’s initial release in 2016, with a gap of approximately three and a half years between them. Shortly after its launch, the Pennsylvania site swiftly surpassed the player traffic of its New Jersey counterpart.

It was expected, and not surprising at all. This can be attributed to the fact that Pennsylvania has a larger population than New Jersey, with approximately 12.8 million people compared to 8.9 million.

PokerStars PA held the advantage of being the sole operating online poker room in Pennsylvania, while PokerStars NJ had to contend with competition from WSOP.com and the partypoker NJ network. Even after more than a year, PokerStars PA remains the only active online poker room in Pennsylvania, although there are possibilities of other sites launching in the near future.

In terms of population, Michigan falls in the middle of these two states, housing approximately 10 million inhabitants. This past Saturday, PokerStars had the pleasure of accommodating 1,500 players in Michigan.

PokerStars was the pioneer in bringing online poker to Michigan, similar to its debut in Pennsylvania. However, it is expected that PokerStars will not have the same extended period of being the sole provider in Michigan, unlike its experience in Pennsylvania.

Similar to the websites in PA and NJ, PokerStars MI operates within a “ring-fenced” system, where players are exclusively matched against opponents within the state. Currently, there is no agreement between the various PokerStars platforms to merge player pools across different states.

Looking at the Sunday majors at PokerStars NJ, PA, MI

The poker tournaments held on Sundays in both PA and NJ share similar features, making them suitable for comparison between the two states.

Initially, PokerStars MI offered Sunday tournaments with similar buy-ins to those of PokerStars PA, although the guarantees were understandably lower. Generally, PokerStars NJ’s Sunday tournaments have had about half the guarantees of PokerStars PA’s, and in most cases, the buy-ins for the NJ events are higher.

To provide a comparison, let’s take a look at what players in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey can expect on PokerStars sites this upcoming Sunday.

Tournament PokerStars NJ PokerStars PA PokerStars MI
Sunday Storm $10 buy-in, $3,000 gtd. $10 buy-in, $3,500 gtd. $10 buy-in, $2,000 gtd.
Sunday Warm-Up $50 buy-in, $4,000 gtd. $30 buy-in, $8,500 gtd. $30 buy-in, $5,000 gtd.
Sunday Supersonic $75 buy-in, $3,000 gtd. $50 buy-in, $6,000 gtd. $50 buy-in, $2,500 gtd.
Sunday High Roller $500 buy-in, $6,500 gtd. $250 buy-in, $15,000 gtd. $250 buy-in, $10,000 gtd.
Sunday Special $200 buy-in, $25,000 gtd. $100 buy-in, $50,000 gtd. $100 buy-in, $20,000 gtd.

The guarantees in NJ vary from week to week, with some being higher on previous Sundays. It seems that PokerStars MI will adopt a similar strategy for their Sunday schedule, just like they did in PA. PokerStars players in Michigan should anticipate adjustments in guarantees for all events as the site’s traffic becomes more evident in the upcoming weeks.

Over the past weekend, PokerStars MI surpassed PokerStars NJ in terms of traffic, even though players were only allowed to create accounts at PokerStars MI two days prior. While PokerStars PA is currently leading the pack, it will be fascinating to observe the performance of Michigan’s PokerStars site after such a promising beginning.

Get ready for Michigan COOPs, other tournament series

In terms of future developments, players participating in online tournaments in Michigan should anticipate the upcoming Michigan “COOP” event, which may take place as early as this month.

Every year, both PokerStars PA and PokerStars NJ organize two major online poker series. They host the Spring Championship of Online Poker series (PASCOOP, NJSCOOP) and the Championship of Online Poker series (PACOOP, NJCOOP).

Following the launch of PokerStars PA, the inaugural PACOOP swiftly took place, comprising 50 events with a combined initial guarantee of $1 million. The remarkable initial response prompted the site to increase the guarantees for subsequent events, resulting in a final overall total of $1.225 million.

In addition, these series typically include a variety of events other than NLHE, such as stud, draw, and mixed games.

Michigan is anticipated to emulate Pennsylvania’s COOP series by launching its own series, and it is likely that more tournament series will be added to the 2021 calendar in the future.

PokerStars seems resolute in their commitment to offer Michigan tournament players with unlimited action until then.

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