PokerStars Michigan’s Summer Stacks Festival Has Awarded $545K At Halfway Mark

Written By Martin Harris on June 21, 2021
PokerStars Summer Stacks June 2021

We’re in the first days of summer, but the PokerStars Michigan Summer Stacks Festival has already crossed its halfway point. So far, 55 of 100 scheduled tournaments have been completed in the series, for which the total guaranteed prize pools add up to $1 million.

Although there have been some overlays, turnouts have been good enough to keep close to that pace, as PokerStars MI players have won more than $545,000 so far.

Despite almost 15,000 entries, overlays in nearly half the events

The 55 tournaments have attracted more than 14,800 entries over the first nine days of the series.

There have been two tournaments with $60,000 guarantees to this point, both being Sunday Special events with $100 buy-ins. The first on June 13 attracted 569 entries, and the second on June 20 drew 567, meaning there were overlays of $7,500-plus in both events.

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Those were the largest overlays of the series so far. To this point, 27 out of 55 tournaments — or just under half the events — have had overlays. In all, overlays have added up to just over $45,000, averaging around $1,680 per instance. In fact, all eight of yesterday’s PokerStars MI Summer Stacks tournaments had overlays.

Overlays don’t always represent a negative for tournament organizers. Indeed, if the overlay is not too high, the tournament can still be profitable, thanks to tournament fees. For example, in a third of the tournaments with overlays (nine of the 27), the total collected in fees by PokerStars MI exceeded the amount they had to provide to meet the guarantee.

PokerStars MI and PA outpacing NJ in simultaneous Summer Stacks

PokerStars is running similar 100-event Summer Stacks Festival series on each of its other two US sites during the same 17-day window this month.

Over at PokerStars PA, the schedule is almost identical to the one being used in Michigan, with guarantees totaling just a tad more than $1 million. Meanwhile, at PokerStars NJ, the guarantees are lower, totaling $500,000 over the course of the series.

So far, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have completed 55 Summer Stacks events as well.

At PokerStars PA, the events have attracted just over 18,900 entries. Players have won just over $626,000 so far, making Pennsylvania the pace-setter among the three state sites.

At PokerStars NJ, Summer Stacks events have drawn just over 8,600 entries, with a little more than $301,000 having been awarded.

Freerolls, $100K guaranteed Main Event highlight final week

There are still eight days’ worth of Summer Stacks Festival left to go at PokerStars MI. All events feature buy-ins of $100 or less, with many also sporting fast, turbo-style structures.

The remaining schedule includes the $100 buy-in, two-day Main Event that starts Sunday, June 27 and features a series-high $100,000 guarantee.

Also ongoing are the many freerolls enabling players to win their way into Summer Stacks events, including the Main Event.

Second Chance Freerolls continue for players who bust shy of the money in any Summer Stacks Festival event. They run each day and are awarding $10,000 worth of Summer Stacks tournament tickets overall.

There is also a Main Event Depositor Freeroll happening at 2 p.m. Sunday (four hours before the Main Event begins).

PokerStars MI players who deposit at least $30 using the bonus code “SUMMER21” by 1:59 p.m. on Sunday automatically earn a seat in the Depositor Freeroll. The top 100 finishers in the freeroll will win a seat in the Main Event, meaning PokerStars MI is giving away $10,000 worth of Main Event tickets.

Click here for the full remaining Summer Stacks Festival schedule on PokerStars MI. Meanwhile, take a look at the turnouts and prize pools for events thus far.

PokerStars Michigan Summer Stacks Festival:  By the Numbers (Events Nos. 1-55)

Event Buy-in Guarantee Entries Prize Pool Overlay
1: NLHE (Summer Stacks Warm Up – Stars-B-Que) $10 $3,500 556 $5,059.60 n/a
2: NLHE (Summer Stacks Kick Off) $100 $30,000 287 $30,000.00 $3,653.40
3: NLHE (Summer Stacks Mini Kick Off) $30 $8,000 329 $8,981.70 n/a
4: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $15,000 306 $15,000.00 $1,077.00
5: PLO (6-Max, Progressive KO) $5 $1,000 245 $1,114.75 n/a
6: NLHE $50 $8,500 222 $10,101.00 n/a
7: Razz (6-Max) $10 $1,000 113 $1,028.30 n/a
8: Stud Hi/Lo (6-Max) $50 $3,500 54 $3,500.00 $1,043.00
9: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Sunday Storm – PKO Edition) $10 $3,000 312 $3,000.00 $160.80
10: NLHE (Sunday Special) $100 $60,000 569 $60,000.00 $7,765.80
11: NLHE (Mini Sunday Special) $30 $10,000 493 $13,458.90 n/a
12: NLHE (Micro Sunday Special) $5 $3,500 661 $3,500.00 $492.45
13: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 227 $10,328.50 n/a
14: NLHE (The Big Freeze) $100 $12,500 132 $12,500.00 $382.40
15: PLO (6-Max) $30 $4,000 133 $4,000.00 $369.10
16: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale Early Edition) $10 $3,000 387 $3,521.70 n/a
17: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 303 $13,786.50 n/a
18: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale) $100 $20,000 178 $20,000.00 $3,659.60
19: NLHE $5 $1,500 373 $1,697.15 n/a
20: PLO8 (8-Max) $20 $2,500 176 $3,203.20 n/a
21: NLHE (Super Tuesday Early Edition) $10 $3,000 395 $3,594.50 n/a
22: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 244 $11,102.00 n/a
23: NLHE (Mini Super Tuesday) $50 $15,000 361 $16,425.50 n/a
24: NLHE (6-Max, Summer Freeze) $100 $10,000 82 $10,000.00 $2,472.40
25: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO) $10 $2,000 294 $2,675.40 n/a
26: NLHE (6-Max) $20 $4,000 212 $4,000.00 $141.60
27: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 267 $12,148.50 n/a
28: NLHE (6-Max) $100 $17,500 191 $17,533.80 n/a
29: NLHE $30 $5,000 215 $5,869.50 n/a
30: 8-Game $50 $5,000 89 $5,000.00 $950.50
31: NLHE (Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill Early Edition) $10 $3,000 409 $3,721.90 n/a
32: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 233 $10,601.50 n/a
33: NLHE (Progressive KO, Mini Thursday Thrill) $50 $15,000 302 $15,000.00 $1,259.00
34: NLHE (Summer Freeze) $25 $3,500 159 $3,617.25 n/a
35: PLO (6-Max, Turbo) $5 $1,000 209 $1,000.00 $49.05
36: NLHE (4-Max, The Big $10 – 4-max Edition) $10 $2,500 334 $3,039.40 n/a
37: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 296 $13,468.00 n/a
38: NLHE (8-Max, Mega-Stack Turbo) $100 $15,000 198 $18,176.40 n/a
39: NLHE $20 $3,000 263 $4,786.60 n/a
40: NLHE (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Progressive KO) $5 $1,000 267 $1,254.90 n/a
41: NLHE $10 $2,500 273 $2,500.00 $15.70
42: NLHE (6-Max, Saturday Warm Up) $20 $5,000 194 $5,000.00 $1,469.20
43: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $10,000 212 $10,000.00 $354.00
44: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Bigstack) $100 $20,000 220 $20,196.00 n/a
45: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Bigstack) $30 $10,000 400 $10,920.00 n/a
46: NLHE (6-Max, Summer Freeze) $30 $4,000 80 $4,000.00 $1,816.00
47: 5-Card PLO (6-Max) $10 $2,000 118 $2,000.00 $926.20
48: HORSE (6-Max) $50 $3,500 43 $3,500.00 $1,543.50
49: NLHE (6-Max, Sunday Storm) $10 $3,000 222 $3,000.00 $979.80
50: NLHE (Sunday Special) $100 $60,000 567 $60,000.00 $7,949.40
51: NLHE (Sunday Special – Mid) $30 $15,000 515 $15,000.00 $940.50
52: NLHE (Sunday Special – Low) $5 $3,500 591 $3,500.00 $810.95
53: PLO (6-Max) $30 $3,500 100 $3,500.00 $770.00
54: NLHE (8-Max, Nightly Summer Stack) $50 $8,000 111 $8,000.00 $2,949.50
55: NLHE (Summer Freeze) $50 $7,500 136 $7,500.00 $1,312.00
TOTALS 14,858 $545.412.45 $45,312.85

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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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