PokerStars will be bringing back the USCOOP in September, but as part of a larger, two-country series called NACOOP, the North American Championship of Online Poker. Stars released the first details on the series today, which will run alongside the venerable WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) offered for more than two decades on its global dot-com platform.
The new NACOOP is derived from the series being available in some jurisdictions in two North Americn countries, the US and Canada. Overall, $7 million in prize money will be guaranteed through what is really three separate "COOP" series gathered under the NACOOP banner.
Last year's USCOOP title isn't really gone; it's now being used to designate the joint Michigan-New Jersey series running as part of NACOOP. Another series, called PACOOP (Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker), is available only to PokerStars' standalone Pennsylvania market. Those two US-based series will be joined by the new ONCOOP (Ontario Championship of Online Poker), for players in Canada's most-populous province.
The three NACOOP component series all begin on September 15 and run through October 2, 2023. Though the complete schedules are yet to be released, PokerStars has revealed that more than 70 events will be available. Each of the three NACOOP series' Main Event winners will also receive a 24k-gold-plated trophy honoring the occasion.
The $7 million in overall NACOOP prize-pool guarantees breaks down as follows: The combined Michigan-New Jersey player pool is guaranteed at least $3 million in prize money, Pennsylvania is guaranteed $2.5 million, and Ontario is guaranteed US $1.5 million (or roughly CA $2 million).
NACOOP direct-event buy-ins begin at $10 and range all the way to more than $2,500 for each series' top high-roller offering. Satellites and other play-in avenues are also available, beginning at just $1.
PokerStars has outlined the NACOOP festival's highlights, which include:
- $300 Main Event
- $2,500 Suoer High Roller Championship
- 20 trophy events
- $10,000 leaderboard races in each liquidity (USCOOP, PACOOP, or ONCOOP)
- Multiple games / formats - (no-limit hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, mixed games, and more.
The complete schedules for the NACOOP offerings will be made available soon via the PokerStars Blog.
Featured image source: PokerStars US
