PokerStars Summer Series Aims To Be A Summer Saver

It was a slow June for online poker in New Jersey. PokerStars NJ hopes its new $300,000 Summer Series heats things up for July though.

The online poker tournament series offers $300,000 in guarantees. The action got underway on July 23 and continues through July 30.

Main Event on Sunday, July 30

Of the $300,000 in guarantees up for grabs, $75,000 is going to the series’ Main Event. That tournament runs on Sunday, July 30 beginning at 5 p.m. ET.

The tournament is a $400 buy-in event. While steeper than your average online MTT in New Jersey, the high buy-in for the series was a $1,000 High Roller event. That tournament boasted a $35,000 guarantee.

Here is a look at the remaining events for the PokerStars NJ Summer Series:

7	NL Hold’em Deep Hyper-Turbo	$200	July 28	21:00	$10,000
8	NL Hold’em Deepstack	$150	July 29	17:00	$20,000
9	NL Hold’em Bubble Rush	$100	July 29	20:00	$7,500
10	NL Hold’em, Progressive KO, 6 Max	$200	July 30	14:00	$25,000
11	NL Hold’em Main Event	$400	July 30	17:00	$75,000
12	PL 5-Card Omaha 6-Max	$100	July 30	20:00	$10,000

Spin and Go your way into the Main Event

If $400 is a little steep for your bankroll, there is a very cheap way to win your way into the Main Event. PokerStars is running $2.50 Spin & Go tournaments with $400 Main Event seats as prizes.

Granted, these Spin & Gos have more in common with gambling than poker. With that in mind, the chances of getting lucky and winning a seat are about 1 in 500.

In addition to the Spin & Go promotion, the site is currently offering a nice bonus for first depositors. Anyone who makes a first-time deposit of $20 or more automatically gets $30 in their PokerStars NJ account if they use the code ‘FREE30.’

$5,000 freeroll more incentive to play series

If you have not played an event in the Summer Series yet, hurry up and get in on the action. As a thank you to players, PokerStars NJ is hosting a $5,000 freeroll on July 31. The only criteria to play is taking part in one of the 12 Summer Series events.

That tournament begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.

PokerStars NJSCOOP saved May for NJ online poker

It is no wonder PokerStars is offering another tournament series. The NJ Spring Championship of Online Poker (NJSCOOP) was a life saver for online poker in May. Last month, New Jersey online poker sites had the worst month ever. In May, the sites collectively topped $2 million, thanks largely in part to SCOOP traffic.

It is worth noting that Summer Series does not come with the same lofty expectations of SCOOP. First off, it is a much smaller series in terms of events offered and guarantees than SCOOP was.

Additionally, the core of the New Jersey poker economy was out of state for a bulk of July. One notable example? Scott Blumstein, who took down the WSOP Main Event for over $8.1 million.

With that key group of full-time players out of town for the early part of July, it is unlikely even the Summer Series can turn this into a record-setting month when it comes to online poker revenue.