Second MICOOP at PokerStars MI Awards Nearly $1.79 Million Across 68 Events

Written By Martin Harris on September 28, 2021
PokerStars MICOOP 2021 Recap

The second ever Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP) is done and dusted, and once more PokerStars MI has successfully staged another huge tournament series for MI poker players. During the 18-day, 68-event series, players won almost $1.79 million.

That total exceeded the just over $1.5 million in total guarantees in the series, although came up shy of the more than $2.2 million won in the first running of the MICOOP back in Feb.-March.

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Big series doesn’t reach heights of first MICOOP, MISCOOP

In the end those 68 MICOOP tournaments attracted 18,636 total entries to build prize pools totaling $1,787,502.10.

Nearly all the tournaments featured prize pools exceeding their guarantees, with just nine events having overlays including only a couple of small ones during the final week of the series.

The $300 buy-in Main Event that finished last night had a $150,000 guarantee. That tournament drew 632 entries to create a $176,960 prize pool. Player “WadeDavenport” took top honors in the event, earning a first prize worth just over $31,000 for doing so.

“WadeDavenport” also won a special championship trophy for that main event win. In all, seven trophies were awarded to winners of designated trophy events.

The first MICOOP earlier this year ended up drawing nearly 32,000 total entries across 60 events. That series started out with a modest $1 million in total guarantees, but big turnouts early caused PokerStars MI to increase guarantees for nearly half of the events to push the overall series total guarantees to almost $1.43 million.

As noted, more than $2.2 million was won in that first MICOOP. The Michigan Spring Championship of Online Poker then topped that mark in May by awarding just over $2.35 million, albeit in a larger 120-event series.

Pennsylvania wins three-state battle among COOPs at PokerStars US sites

While completing its World Championship of Online Poker on its global site not available to American players, PokerStars ran concurrent “COOP” series at each of its US sites during the same Sept. 10-27 window. PokerStars’ three US sites in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are each ring-fenced, meaning players can only compete against others within their state.

In Pennsylvania the PACOOP at PokerStars PA was the biggest of the three series. There the 69-event series awarded nearly $2.38 million while attracting more than 25,500 total entries.

That exceeded Michigan’s total, though PokerStars MI outdid PokerStars NJ and the NJCOOP. In New Jersey the series featured 60 events and in the end awarded just over $1.1 million while attracting about 10,500 entries.

Meanwhile the MICOOP drew more traffic and had bigger prize pools than did the BetMGM Online Series at BetMGM Poker MI that ran during MICOOP’s final week from Sept. 19-26. That 10-tournament series awarded about $357,000 total. By comparison, the MICOOP awarded just over $1 million during its final week of events.

Here’s a look at the fields and prize pools for all 68 events of the second running of MICOOP.

September 2021 MICOOP by the numbers

Event Buy-in Guarantee Entries Prize Pool
1: NLHE (MICOOP Warm UP) $10 $10,000 1,225 $11,147.50
2: NLHE (MICOOP Big Warm Up) $100 $20,000 343 $31,487.40
3: NLHE (Turbo, MICOOP Turbo Warm Up) $30 $6,000 321 $8,763.30
4: NLHE/PLO (8-Max, MICOOP Mixed Game Warm Up) $30 $4,000 160 $4,368.00
5: NLHE (8-Max, MICOOP Big Kickoff – Championship Trophy Event) $100 $50,000 578 $53,060.40
6: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, High Roller) $500 $40,000 81 $40,000.00*
7: PL 5-Card Draw $50 $4,000 96 $4,368.00
8: NLHE (MICOOP Marathon) $100 $25,000 279 $25,612.20
9: HORSE (6-Max, HORSE) $100 $6,000 58 $6,000.00*
10: NLHE (Sunday Special) $100 $75,000 777 $75,000.00*
11: PLO (8-Max) $100 $12,000 150 $13,770.00
12: NLHE (6-Max, High Roller) $500 $40,000 104 $48,880.00
13: NLHE (8-Max, Sunday Second Chance) $50 $8,500 258 $11,739.00
14: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Super Sonic) $75 $8,000 130 $8,872.50
15: NLHE (6-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Battle Royale, Turbo Edition) $30 $10,000 413 $11,274.90
16: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Battle Royale) $200 $30,000 219 $40,734.00
17: PLO8 (8-Max) $100 $8,000 155 $14,229.00
18: NLHE (8-Max, Bigstack) $200 $32,500 248 $46,128.00
19: FLHE (6-Max, Limit Hold ’em) $100 $5,000 46 $5,000.00*
20: PLO (6-Max, Progressive KO) $50 $6,500 217 $9,873.50
21: NLHE (6-Max) $30 $12,000 468 $12,776.40
22: NLHE (Single Re-entry) $100 $15,000 277 $25,428.60
23: NLHE (6-Max, Championship Trophy Event) $250 $30,000 198 $46,134.00
24: NLHE (Heads-Up, Turbo, Progressive Total KO, Zoom) $100 $10,000 132 $12,117.60
25: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Deepstack $50 Bounty) $200 $22,500 163 $30,318.00
26: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Progressive KO, Deepstack) $75 $15,000 266 $18,154.50
27: Stud (6-Max) $50 $3,000 66 $3,003.00
28: NLHE (Progressive KO, Nightly Stars SE, PKO Edition) $100 $20,000 292 $26,805.60
29: NLHE (4-Max) $200 $25,000 163 $30,318.00
30: NLHE (Afternoon Deepstack) $30 $8,500 384 $10,483.20
31: Stud Hi/Lo (6-Max) $100 $6,500 65 $6,500.00*
32: NLHE (8-Max, Duel Threat) $50 $15,000 420 $19,110.00
33: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Duel Threat) $50 $15,000 400 $18,200.00
34: PLO (6-Max, PLO High Roller – Championship Trophy Event) $250 $15,000 124 $28,892.00
35: NLHE (6-Max, Turbo, Zoom) $100 $17,500 197 $18,084.60
36: NLHE (Bigstack Marathon) $100 $25,000 310 $28,458.00
37: NLHE (Sunday Special SE) $200 $90,000 453 $90,000.00*
38: NLHE (Mini Sunday Special) $30 $15,000 734 $20,038.20
39: NLHE (High Roller) $500 $40,000 97 $45,590.00
40: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Sunday Second Chance) $100 $12,500 196 $17,992.80
41: NLHE (6-Max, Progressive KO, Nightly Stars SE, Battle Royale Edition) $100 $25,000 254 $25,000.00*
42: NLHE (MICOOP Freezeout) $200 $15,000 114 $21,204.00
43: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Progressive Total KO) $50 $10,000 274 $12,467.00
44: NLHE (Super Tuesday, MICOOP Special Edition) $250 $40,000 209 $48,697.00
45: NLHE (4-Max, Progressive KO) $50 $5,000 236 $10,738.00
46: NLHE (Turbo, Super Tuesday, Late Edition) $75 $12,500 243 $16,584.75
47: NLHE (6-Max, Nightly Stars SE, 6-Max Edition) $100 $25,000 311 $28,549.80
48: NLHE (8-Max, Turbo, Zoom) $50 $10,000 271 $12,330.50
49: NLHE (Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill, MICOOP Special Edition – Championship Trophy Event) $250 $40,000 195 $45,435.00
50: NLO8 (8-Max) $50 $4,000 129 $5,869.50
51: NLHE (Progressive KO, Thursday Thrill, Late Edition) $75 $15,000 287 $19,587.75
52: NLHE (4-Max, Stars SE, 4-Max Edition) $100 $17,500 196 $17,992.80
53: NLHE (6-Max, Turbo, Deepstack) $200 $20,000 119 $22,134.00
54: NLHE (Heads-Up, Progressive Total KO, Zoom) $20 $6,000 433 $7,880.60
55: NLHE (Afternoon Bigstack) $75 $15,000 198 $15,000.00*
56: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Bigstack) $200 $25,000 144 $26,784.00
57: NLHE (8-Max, Progressive KO, Bigstack) $50 $15,000 371 $16,880.50
58: 5-Card PLO (6-Max) $100 $8,500 91 $8,500.00*
59: NLHE (Deepstack, Sunday Marathon SE) $100 $25,000 293 $26,897.40
60: NLHE (Main Event – Championship Trophy Event) $300 $150,000 632 $176,960.00
61: NLHE (Mini Main Event) $50 $30,000 782 $35,581.00
62: NLHE (8-Max, High Roller -Championship Trophy Event) $1,000 $60,000 76 $72,200.00
63: NLHE (6-Max, Hyper-Turbo, Deepstack) $100 $10,000 142 $13,490.00
64: NLHE (8-Max, MICOOP Wrap Up) $100 $30,000 344 $31,579.20
65: NLHE (8-Max, Mini Wrap Up) $10 $4,000 621 $5,651.10
66: NLHE (Phase 2) $50 $40,000 160 $46,637.50
67: 8-Game (Championship Trophy Event) $200 $15,000 83 $15,438.00
68: NLHE (7-Max, Turbo, Last Chance) $150 $15,000 165 $22,720.50
TOTALS 18,636 $1,787,502.10

*Events with overlays: Event No. 6 – $1,930.00; Event No. 9 – $657.60; Event No. 10 – $3,671.40; Event No. 19 – $777.20; Event No. 31 – $533.00; Event No. 37 – $5,742.00; Event No. 41 – $1,682.80; Event No. 55 – $1,486.50; Event No. 58 – $146.20.

Image via Dreamstime.

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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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