When September rolls around, Poker players know that it is time to start gearing up for the highly anticipated US Championship of Online Poker, commonly abbreviated as USCOOP. This year’s USCOOP was offering punters guaranteed cash prizes worth $4.5 million across all the PokerStars jurisdictions.
The action for the US SCOOP kicked off on September 9th September and concluded on the 26th. Out of the $4.5 million guaranteed, close to $2.2 million worth of cash prizes was guaranteed by various championship events on the schedule. While the schedule consisted of more than 60 poker tournaments, the championship events were less than 20.
The good news is that most of the championship events had affordable buy-ins ranging between $200 and $250. As such, poker players with reasonably priced bankrolls could easily sign up for the different professional poker tournaments. The guarantees across the states varied with punters in Pennsylvania enjoying the highest cash guarantee at $2 million.
As the largest of the 3 states, Pennsylvania punters were offered more championship events to choose from. In total, punters in the state were offered a variety of 19 games which when combined, offered an excess of $1 million in guarantees. Punters in New Jersey and Michigan also had lots to look forward to.
In New Jersey, gamblers were offered $1 million while in Michigan, they were treated to $1.5 million worth of guarantees. New Jersey offered more than $400k in Championships while in Michigan, poker players were allowed to compete for more than $650k in Championship prizes.
What we cover
PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) returning in 2023
Not too long ago, PokerStars announced that the PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC) was making a comeback next year. The PSPC will be held in the Bahamas at the Baha Mar Hotel and will run for 5 days starting from January 30th to February 3rd, 2023.
The buy-in for the PSPC will start from $25,000, similar to the first iteration of the event. In 2020, the PSPC postponed both its EPT Barcelona and Players No Limit Hold’em Championship until 2021 owing to the devastating effects of the pandemic. This year, players will also be given the chance to win packages, also known as Platinum Passes to the tournament.
The passes consist of money to cater for travel expenses and will also include a 6-nights stay in Barcelona for a poker player and 1 guest. The PSPC is scheduled to kick off on January 30th and will conclude on February 3rd. The first PSPC event was held in 2019 alongside the PCA festival.
The inaugural event was won by PokerStars Ambassador Ramon Colillas. As the winner of the 2019 PSPC, Ramon took home a whopping $5.1 million for his participation. After the success of the 2019 versions, the 2 events were set to make a comeback over the last couple of years but have faced numerous challenges that have prevented their return.
The tournament will take place at the same time as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which will be held for the first time in 3 years. The PCA is scheduled to run from January 22nd and will conclude on February 3rd. 2023. Although the schedule for the PCA has not been finalized, the buy-in for the Main Event is already set at $10,300.
Many poker players have missed congregating in live events such as these. As such, the first 2 poker tournaments of the year will be some of the most highly anticipated events of the first half of 2023. Professional poker pro Chino Rheem was the last poker player to etch his name on the Main Event trophy at the 2019 PCA Main Event.
In 2019, the Main Event managed to attract a total of 856 participants, which consequently generated a combined prize pool worth $8,390,500. As the champion, Rheem walked away with the largest share of the prize money worth $1,567,100.
All indications suggest that the poker tournaments in 2023 will be even bigger than their last editions. Close to 400 platinum pass winners have already secured their seats for the events with several more to be awarded in the next few months. Some poker players that have already secured places include Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, Scott Baumstein, and more.
Those interested in qualifying for the events can take part in the qualifying tournaments, which are scheduled to take place between 29 September to 2 October 2022. The first of these events will take place at the Maryland Live! Casino. The qualifiers at the Maryland Live! Casino will be offering a single pass so there will be a lot of competition on the day.
EPT also makes a stop in London
This year, London will also play host to the European Poker Tour for the first tie in 8 years. The EPT London stop of the tour is expected to kick off on October 18th. The last time the EPT stopped over in London was in 2014.
Until then, the London stop had been a mainstay of the tour since its launch in 2004. Now, it will be returning to London, which has one of the highest populations of professional poker players in Europe. This year’s festival will be held at the Hilton Park Lane starting from October 18th to the 29th.
Those wishing to take part must note that cash will not be accepted at the venue. Instead, participants will be required to load cash into their Hippodrome Card at the Hippodrome Casino. Punters will also be allowed to make withdrawals and deposits via Luxon Pay.
There will be plenty of events to look forward to during the EPT London stop. For instance, the events will kick off with a £10,200 Mystery Bounty, which will be held between October 18th and 19th. The first of the events will be held concurrently with the UKIPT Main Event, which has also been organized by PokerStars.
Final Thoughts
Some other massive events that poker players have to look forward to include the £25,000 Single-Day High Rollers, as well as the £50,000 EPT Super High Roller. The highlight of the events will no doubt be the EPT London Main Event, which will likely attract some of the biggest names in the professional poker world.
