PokerStars Announces First MICOOP for Michiganders

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on November 8th, 2022

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Remember that feeling when PokerStars finally returned to your state with online poker? Michiganders do. And the numbers show how they feel about it. It took long enough to get there. Some members of the Michigan legislature advocated for state-regulated online poker for years, most notably State Representative Brandt Iden and State Senator Curtis Hertel in the past two years. They pushed legalized online gaming – including poker – over the finish line in late 2019. They then amended that law one year later to ensure that online poker operators could engage in interstate compacts for shared liquidity. By the time the calendar flipped to 2021, operators and their partner casinos were launching online sports betting and casino sites. And less than one month into the year, PokerStars stepped up with a prepared lineup of products.. PokerStars launched online poker in Michigan on January 29. More than 800 players were on the site by the next afternoon, and that number nearly doubled by the evening hours. https://twitter.com/Play_Michigan/status/1355711749836705794?s=20 Exactly one week from launch, on Friday, February 5, there were nearly 1,100 players at the virtual tables. Play Michigan checked the numbers on PokerStars’ sister sites in the US market at the same time and found 983 on PokerStars Pennsylvania and 334 on PokerStars New Jersey.

COOP Comes to Michigan

PokerStars’ signature series is the COOP. It started as the annual WCOOP, the World Championship of Online Poker. Its popularity prompted a spinoff in the SCOOP, a series with more buy-in levels for Spring. As PokerStars reentered the US market via New Jersey, the operator offered an NJCOOP. And most recently, players in Pennsylvania found the PACOOP. Now, just weeks after the Michigan launch, PokerStars and FOX Bet announced MICOOP, the Michigan Championship of Online Poker. The inaugural MICOOP will guarantee more than $1M over the course of 60 tournaments. They will run from February 20 through March 8 with buy-ins starting at just $10 and maxing out at $500 for the high-roller action. Of course, satellites start at just $2. FOX Bet CEO Kip Levin noted the importance of showing Michiganders what PokerStars can offer. “As the sole online and mobile poker product in Michigan, our commitment and investment in PokerStars is vital as we aim to bring all aspects of a great customer experience to the poker community.”

Inaugural MICOOP Schedule

The full MICOOP schedule is on the PokerStars MI website, complete with starting times and guarantees for each of the 60 events. Here, we’ll just give you a taste of the first weekend and last weekend of action. The first of them offers 10 tournaments.

--Event 1: $100 NLHE MICOOP Kickoff ($30K GTD) --Event 2: $20 NLHE Rebuy ($10K GTD) --Event 3: $50 NLHE 8-Max ($20K GTD) --Event 4: $100 NLHE 8-Max Deepstacks ($25K GTD) --Event 5: $50 NLHE PKO Sunday Warm-Up ($10K GTD) --Event 6: $200 NLHE Sunday Special ($40K GTD) --Event 7: $25 NLHE Sunday Special Mini ($12.5K GTD) --Event 8: $100 PLO 8-Max ($10K GTD) --Event 9: $75 NLHE Second Chance ($7.5K GTD) --Event 10: $50 NLHE 8-Max Hyper-Turbo Sunday Supersonic ($5K GTD)

The last weekend of action actually carries on through Monday, March 8. The Main Events are highlighted below:

--Event 50: $50 8-Game ($3K GTD) --Event 51: $50 NLHE 6-Max Turbo Zoom ($15K GTD) --Event 52: $50 NLHE Turbo Saturday Speedway ($5K GTD) --Event 53: $50 NLHE 8-Max Marathon ($10K GTD) --Event 54: $100 NLHE PKO ($30K GTD) --Event 55: $300 NLHE Main Event ($125K GTD) --Event 56: $50 NLHE Mini Main Event ($35K GTD) --Event 57: $200 NLHE 6-Max Turbo ($20K GTD) --Event 58: $100 NLHE Hyper-Turbo Sunday Supersonic ($10K GTD) --Event 59: $100 NLHE Nightly Stars ($30K GTD) --Event 60: $20 NLHE Heads-Up PKO Turbo Zoom ($10K GTD)

As always, there will be satellites available to give all players the chance at winning MICOOP seats at a discount. In addition, all players who deposit at least $30 using MICOOP as the code will win a ticket to the Main Event Depositor Freeroll on March 7. The top 35 finishers in that tournament will win Main Event seats. And during MICOOP, Second Chance Freeroll tournaments will give players who didn’t cash in their events a chance to play a freeroll. There will be one running every day of the series. https://twitter.com/PokerStarsUSA/status/1359254867152416769?s=20