If PokerStars executives had any anxiety about turnout for the inaugural New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker, they can rest easy now. Over the first week and a half of play, Garden State poker players turned out in droves for the series, covering 37 out of 44 total guarantees. That’s good news for everybody with the Main Event set for Sunday.

While some of New Jersey’s best have dominated the first week and a half of play, a former WSOP Main Event champ stole the show on Thursday night. Chris Moneymaker won the High editon of the Pot Limit Omaha event. Moneymaker, playing under the screenname ‘Money800NJ‘ beat out 45 other players to win $5,397 in the $150 buy-in event.

NJSCOOP features low and high buy-in editions of its events, excluding the middle tier offered in PokerStars’ main SCOOP series.

The tournament’s first day of action included three No Limit Hold‘em tournaments along with a Pot Limit Omaha event. A player, fittingly named ‘1stp1ace’, took the top spot in the first high event of the series, banking a prize of $1,015. In Event #2, a $100,000 gauranteed NLHE tournament, ‘Richardv1109’ bested ‘9islive’ for a $22,327 payday. In the $20,000 guaranteed companion event, ‘maddoggrik’ found his way to the top, taking home a $4,382 score in the process.

Later in the day at the $40,000 guaranteed event, ‘TeethofBags’ came out on top, adding $8,945 to his bankroll. Sunday’s NLHE $30 buy-in event was the first tournament to miss its guarantee. ‘JohnnyMania’ took the top spot in that contest, beating out ‘Pokersanz715’ for a $2,902 payday.

Monday’s first two events of the day also failed to meet their guarantees. The final two No Limit Hold‘em tournaments, however, easily surpassed their target prize pools, with ‘HowieWelper’ outlasting 95 opponents in the high event to win the $6,886 first-place prize.

Both of Tuesday’s events covered, with the Eight Game low tournament doubling the $5,000 guarantee. Wednesday featured just one event, a No Limit Hold‘em Four Max contest. The high tournament went to Scooby-D0O for $10,175, with ‘#3lynvhmob’ taking the low for $1,708.

Thursday’s biggest payday went to ‘0ceans07’, who banked $6,672 for winning the $25,000 guaranteed NLHE event. PokerStars changed the pace a bit that day by offering two Limit Stud tournaments, both of which covered.

On the docket for the following day were two NLHE/PLO tournaments, with $15,000 guaranteed for the high, and $5,000 reserved for the low. In the high event, Scooby-D0O claimed his second title of the series along with a $1,966 prize.

‘ForTheThr1ll’ took home the biggest payday on Saturday when he defeated ‘Stever625’ to pocket $4,338. Neither guarantees on Sunday were met, although the day’s low tournament attracted a respectable 505 runners.

158 players turned out for the Event #15 $25,000 guaranteed NLHE rebuy tournament. Player ‘MrKK1985’ banked the top payout of the day, taking home $8,334 for his victory over the unfortunately named player ‘NewJerseySux.’ NJ grinder ‘DerekSutton0’ found his way to the top of the day’s second NLHE event, taking the first-place prize of $4,427.

Tuesday’s Pot Limit Omaha tournaments both doubled their guarantees, with ‘pwrdysteam’ winning the high and ‘muirheadt’ taking the low. Later in the day, the $1,000 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed High Roller event played out and saw ‘SGTPowell’ besting ‘solidluck’ to take the title and a $27,743 payday.

The event’s low buy-in equivalent attracted a large crowd of 487 runners, who created a $44,700 prize pool. When all was said and done, ‘SneakyPete85’ came out on top for a $7,528 score, with Scooby-D0O once again cashing, this time for $6,599.

On Wednesday, 281 players turned out for the $20,000 guaranteed Zoom event, with ‘0verbot : )’ triumphing over the competition for a $5,235 score.

The action continued Thursdya with a pair of 1R1A Pot Limit Omaha tournaments. ‘Money800NJ’ took the high edition for $5,397, with ‘DellaBarca7’ locking up the low for $1,139. Later, 239 runners generated a $22,000 prize pool during the day’s $100 NLHE event. ‘J3Bl@ckP0pe’ claimed victory and took home the $4,486 first-place prize.

The Main Event

Only a few tournaments remain before NJSCOOP’s dual Main Events kick off on Sunday. The Main Event tournaments will be played out over two days and boast unlimited re-entries during an extended registration period.
The High event features a $200,000 guarantee with a $500 buy-in. Four places will be paid, with first receiving at least $90,000, second taking $60,000 and third banking $30,000.

The Low tournament sports a $30,000 guarantee along with a more affordable $50 buy-in. First place will go home with $30,000.