The full schedule is yet to come, but PokerStars has announced that the inaugural North American Championship of Online Poker (NACOOP) is set for September 15 – October 2. NACOOP will span more than 70 events and offer over $7 million in guaranteed prize pools.
While it is the very first NACOOP, it is not exactly a brand new tournament series. PokerStars previously offered USCOOP, the US Championship of Online Poker, but it is now adding its site in Ontario to the mix, so it was time to change the name to take into account the expanded geography.
It is also a little different than WCOOP or SCOOP that Stars players in the rest of the world are able to enjoy in that not all of the players who will participate in NACOOP will be in the same player pool. Michigan and New Jersey share player liquidity, but Pennsylvania and Ontario do not, so there are actually three sets of tournaments, though it sounds like the schedules will mirror in each other. It’s “North America” by name and spirit, but not completely by actual table composition.
In fact, it’s kind of funny – despite calling the whole thing the “first edition of the NACOOP,” PokerStars also refers to Michigan/New Jersey as USCOOP, Pennsylvania’s set of events as PACOOP, and Ontario’s as ONCOOP. So yeah, take your pick at whatever the heck you want to call them.
That said, it should be a fun time, and as one of the many people in the United States who lives in a state in which there is no regulated, legal online poker, PokerStars or otherwise, I am plenty jealous.
We’ll just straight-up quote PokerStars on what it considers the highlights of NACOOP:
$300 Main Event
$2,500 Super High Roller Championship
20 Trophy Events
$10k Leaderboards in each liquidity
Multiple Games Formats – (No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, Mixed Games, and More)
The tournaments in the Michigan/New Jersey portion of NACOOP will have $3 million in guaranteed prize pools. PACOOP will have $2.5 million in guarantees, and ONCOOP players will enjoy $1.5 million (CAD$2 million) in guarantees.
Buy-ins range from $10 to over $2,500 (PokerStars says “$2,500+”, whatever that means). It’s PokerStars, so there will naturally be loads of satellites and I would not be surprised if there were Spin & Go promos, as well.
