First-Ever MICOOP Series Starts Feb. 20 At PokerStars Michigan

Written By Martin Harris on February 9, 2021Last Updated on March 4, 2021
2021 MICOOP

PokerStars‘ brand new Michigan online poker room just launched on Jan. 29, and after one week has already become PokerStars’ busiest US site.

Like a poker player building a big stack early, PokerStars Michigan will look to ride that momentum with its first major tournament series, the Michigan Championship of Online Poker.

The first MICOOP will play out Feb. 20-Mar. 8. There are 60 events planned, with guarantees totaling just over $1 million. The series will climax with a two-day, $300 buy-in Main Event with a $125,000 guarantee. The PokerStars poker client announced the upcoming tournament.

Visit PokerStars Michigan and sign up to join the MICOOP. 

60 events, $1M in guarantees for first MICOOP series

The early (and packed) tournament schedule at PokerStars MI has largely mirrored those featured at PokerStars NJ and PokerStars PA. Thus it was no surprise to see the MICOOP schedule also resemble previous COOP series PokerStars has hosted in New Jersey in Pennsylvania.

Each of those sites most recently ran such a tournament series last fall.

The PACOOP took place at PokerStars PA from late September to early October. It featured 50 events with guarantees totaling $1.5 million, ending with a $200,000 guaranteed, $300 buy-in Main Event. Ultimately players won just over $2 million in those events.

The NJCOOP happened a little later at PokerStars NJ in October, featuring 54 events with $1 million in guarantees. There, the Main Event also had a $300 buy-in with a $125,000 guarantee attached. In the end, players won about $1.12 million over the course of the series.

The first MICOOP will have more events than either of those COOPs, though its guarantees conform more closely to those of the NJ online poker championship.

2021 MICOOP at PokerStars schedule highlights

A quick skim of the MICOOP schedule yields a few tournaments that Michigan players will likely be highlighting:

  • Event #1 – $100 NLHE Kickoff, Nightly Stars SE, $30K gtd. (Feb. 20)
  • Event #6 — $200 NLHE Sunday Special SE, $40K gtd. (Feb. 21)
  • Event #18 — $500 NLHE 6-Max. High Roller, $35K gtd. (Feb. 24)
  • Event #31 — $250 NLHE Sunday Special SE, $50K gtd. (Feb. 28)
  • Event #41 — $250 PLO 6-Max. High Roller, $12.5K gtd. (Mar. 3)
  • Event #55 — $300 NLHE Main Event, $125K gtd. (Mar. 7)
  • Event #56 — $50 NLHE Mini Main Event, $35K gtd. (Mar. 7)

Most of the events are no-limit hold’em, of course, although there are several non-NLHE tournaments peppered here and there. Those include multiple pot-limit Omaha events (high only, hi-lo, and 5-card). There are also pot-limit five-card draw, seven-card stud hi-lo, H.O.R.S.E., and 8-game mix events.

As with other COOP series, there are also satellites and freerolls associated with MICOOP. The satellites start as low as $2.

There will be a Main Event Depositor Freeroll on Mar. 7. Any player depositing $30 or more while using the bonus code “MICOOP” between now and then earns entry into the tournament. The event will award a total of 35 seats into the Main Event.

There will also be daily Second Chance Freerolls throughout MICOOP for players who bust shy of the money in series events. Those events will also award tickets into other MICOOP tournaments.

Take a look below for the full 2021 MICOOP schedule at PokerStars Michigan.

2021 Michigan Championship of Online Poker Schedule

No. Date Time (ET) Event (Gtd.) Buy-in
1 Feb. 20 (Sa) 6:00 p.m. NLHE [MICOOP Kick Off, Nightly Stars SE], $30K Gtd $100
2 Feb. 20 (Sa) 7:00 p.m. $20 NLHE [Rebuy], $10K Gtd $20
3 Feb. 20 (Sa) 8:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [8-Max], $20K Gtd $50
4 Feb. 21 (Su) 2:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [8-Max, Deepstacks], $25K Gtd $100
5 Feb. 21 (Su) 4:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [Progressive KO, Sunday Warm Up SE], $10K Gtd $50
6 Feb. 21 (Su) 5:00 p.m. $200 NLHE [Sunday Special SE], $40K Gtd $200
7 Feb. 21 (Su) 5:30 p.m. $25 NLHE [Sunday Special Mini], $12.5K Gtd $25
8 Feb. 21 (Su) 7:00 p.m. $100 PLO , $10K Gtd $100
9 Feb. 21 (Su) 8:00 p.m. $75 NLHE [Second Chance], $7.5K Gtd $75
10 Feb. 21 (Su) 10:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [8-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic SE], $5K Gtd $50
11 Feb. 22 (M) 7:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [4-Max], $15K Gtd $100
12 Feb. 22 (M) 8:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale SE], $20K Gtd $50
13 Feb. 22 (M) 9:00 p.m. $50 PLO8 , $7.5K Gtd $50
14 Feb. 23 (Tu) 8:00 p.m. $200 NLHE [Super Tuesday SE], $30K Gtd $200
15 Feb. 23 (Tu) 8:30 p.m. $30 NLHE [Super Tuesday Mini], $15K Gtd $30
16 Feb. 23 (Tu) 9:00 p.m. $50 PL 5-Card Draw [Turbo], $3K Gtd $50
17 Feb. 24 (W) 7:30 p.m. $100 PLO [6-Max], $7.5K Gtd $100
18 Feb. 24 (W) 8:00 p.m. $500 NLHE [6-Max, High Roller], $35K Gtd $500
19 Feb. 24 (W) 8:30 p.m. $50 NLHE , $20K Gtd $50
20 Feb. 25 (Th) 8:00 p.m. $200 NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill SE], $30K Gtd $200
21 Feb. 25 (Th) 8:30 p.m. $30 NLHE [Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill Mini], $15K Gtd $30
22 Feb. 25 (Th) 9:00 p.m. $30 5-Card PLO [6-Max, Turbo], $3K Gtd $30
23 Feb. 26 (F) 5:00 p.m. $100 FLHE , $5K Gtd $100
24 Feb. 26 (F) 8:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [Big Antes], $7.5K Gtd $100
25 Feb. 26 (F) 8:30 p.m. $150 NLHE , $10K Gtd $150
26 Feb. 27 (Sa) 6:00 p.m. $50 HORSE , $3K Gtd $50
27 Feb. 27 (Sa) 7:00 p.m. $50 NLHE , $10K Gtd $50
28 Feb. 27 (Sa) 8:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [Turbo, Saturday Speedway SE], $10K Gtd $100
29 Feb. 28 (Su) 2:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [8-Max, Marathon], $25K Gtd $100
30 Feb. 28 (Su) 4:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [Sunday Warm Up SE], $12.5K Gtd $50
31 Feb. 28 (Su) 5:00 p.m. $250 NLHE , $50K Gtd $250
32 Feb. 28 (Su) 5:30 p.m. $30 NLHE , $15K Gtd $30
33 Feb. 28 (Su) 7:00 p.m. $50 PLO [8-Max, Turbo], $5K Gtd $50
34 Feb. 28 (Su) 8:00 p.m. $100 NLHE , $10K Gtd $100
35 Feb. 28 (Su) 10:00 p.m. $75 NLHE [Hyper-Turbo, Sunday Supersonic SE], $10K Gtd $75
36 Mar. 1 (M) 7:00 p.m. $50 NLHE , $10K Gtd $50
37 Mar. 1 (M) 8:00 p.m. $100 NLHE , $25K Gtd $100
38 Mar. 2 (Tu) 8:00 p.m. $250 NLHE , $35K Gtd $250
39 Mar. 2 (Tu) 8:30 p.m. $50 NLHE , $20K Gtd $50
40 Mar. 2 (Tu) 9:00 p.m. $50 Stud Hi-Lo, $5K Gtd $50
41 Mar. 3 (W) 8:00 p.m. $250 PLO , $12.5K Gtd $250
42 Mar. 3 (W) 8:30 p.m. $30 PLO , $5K Gtd $30
43 Mar. 3 (W) 9:00 p.m. $100 NLHE , $10K Gtd $100
44 Mar. 4 (Th) 8:00 p.m. $250 NLHE , $35K Gtd $250
45 Mar. 4 (Th) 8:30 p.m. $50 NLHE , $20K Gtd $50
46 Mar. 4 (Th) 9:00 p.m. $20 NLHE , $15K Gtd $20
47 Mar. 5 (F) 6:00 p.m. $10 NLHE [6-Max, Rebuy], $10K Gtd $10
48 Mar. 5 (F) 8:00 p.m. $75 NLHE, $15K Gtd $75
49 Mar. 5 (F) 9:30 p.m. $20 NLHE , $5K Gtd $20
50 Mar. 6 (Sa) 6:00 p.m. $50 8-Game, $3K Gtd $50
51 Mar. 6 (Sa) 7:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [6-Max, Turbo, Zoom], $15K Gtd $50
52 Mar. 6 (Sa) 8:00 p.m. $50 NLHE , $5K Gtd $50
53 Mar. 7 (Su) 2:00 p.m. $50 NLHE , $10K Gtd $50
54 Mar. 7 (Su) 4:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [Progressive KO], $30K Gtd $100
55 Mar. 7 (Su) 5:00 p.m. $300 NLHE [Main Event], $125K Gtd $300
56 Mar. 7 (Su) 6:00 p.m. $50 NLHE [Main Event Mini], $35K Gtd $50
57 Mar. 7 (Su) 7:30 p.m. $200 NLHE , $20K Gtd $200
58 Mar. 7 (Su) 10:00 p.m. $100 NLHE , $10K Gtd $100
59 Mar. 8 (M) 7:00 p.m. $100 NLHE [Nightly Stars SE], $30K Gtd $100
60 Mar. 8 (M) 9:00 p.m. $20 NLHE [Heads-Up, Turbo, Progressive KO, Zoom], $10K Gtd $20

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Martin Harris

Martin Harris is a writer and teacher who has reported on poker, online gambling, and sports betting since the mid-2000s. Once a full-time academic (Ph.D., English), he currently teaches part-time in the American Studies program at UNC Charlotte. In 2019, his book Poker & Pop Culture was published by D&B Books.

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