PokerStars has only been in operation within the state of New Jersey for a few months now but in that time has been able to secure a spot as a top operator. Players recognized the PokerStars brand and took part in tournament gaming as well as cash game options. PokerStars is known for offering some of the best online tournament events in the industry and would soon bring a new series of the state. Just after the GSSS V of Borgata/Party Poker ended with less than stellar results, the PokerStars New Jersey Championship of Online Poker took place, seeing high numbers of competitors and an increased overall prize money guarantee.
The NJCOOP was so successful that the $1.2 million in guaranteed prize money was increased by over $200,000 and no technical issues were seen. As far as the GSSS V was concerned, the series was hit with major technical difficulties, so much so, that the Main Event and other tournaments had to be cancelled.
The NJCOOP had a total of 43 events that were able to meet the guarantee or came so close it doesn’t count to even consider the lesser amount. Only a select few events had overlays and none were over 5% short of the guarantee. Both the Sunday Special SE and the High Roller event on the schedule were able to surpass the prize pool, each offering $100,000 but hitting just over $104,000 for the Sunday Special and just over $109,000 for the High Roller event.
The main event was just one buy-in short of reaching the $200,000 guarantee and was reportedly the most successful event of the series. Overall, the series was a great success, seeing as many as 1,273 unique players taking part and paying $1,405,276 in tournament winnings. An additional $10,000 in tournament dollars were paid to the top 15 players of the NJCOOP.
The NJCOOP was such a success that it far overshadowed the GSSS V. Party and the Borgata were excited to offer up a major tournament series with the GSSS V, the latest installment of the Garden State Super Series V. The series boasted total guaranteed prizes of $1.1 million, which PokerStars tried to beat with their guaranteed $1.2 million.
Both online operators were competing with their series events which overlapped within a time frame of just a few days. PokerStars was much more successful as their events went off without a hitch and the overall prizes awarded far surpassed the original guarantee. With the GSSS V, the series was plagued with issues based on internal geolocation service.
Players were impacted by the geolocation issues which caused disconnects. However, GeoComply USA, responded to what was being called a geolocation issue by stating this was not the case. It is believed that the problems were actually created by a hardware failure within Borgata/Party. This would not the first time this has happened and could have been due to the number of players being at a higher volume.
Players also felt shortchanged due to the fact that several events were eventually cancelled. Any players who took part in an event that had stopped during game play were compensated with a chopped pot but many felt the amounts were lower than what they should have been. While players feel the network was fair, others do not.
So for this round of competing online poker tournament series, the win goes to PokerStars. The top online poker brand was able to deliver a successful tournament series that far surpassed expectations. Players were happy to take part in the various events and earn a nice payday in the process!