The first day of the PokerStars PA soft launch seems to have exceeded expectations of many and could be a sign of big things to come for online tournament grinders in the Keystone State. The opening day of play included just 12 multi-table tournaments, but the numbers show that Pennsylvania online poker players are thirsty for online poker.

Players looking to get a glimpse of what the normal daily schedule will look like shouldn’t read too much into the Day 1 schedule though. Of the 12 tournaments on the schedule on Monday, buy-ins ranged from $3 to $20.

There were just three tournaments with guaranteed prize pools on Day 1 and none of them were ever in any danger of an overlay. The Hot $10 Turbo at 4 PM had a $500 guarantee and ended up with 148 runners and a $1,346.80 total prize pool. Both of the $20 tournaments on the schedule had a $1,000 guarantee. The Hot $20 Turbo, which came at 6:30 PM, had 147 entries for a $2,675.40 prize pool. The star of the night however was the $20 Moonlight Express – Early Edition. The 173 entries made it quite easily the largest field of the night and created a $3,252.40 prize pool.

Given the eight-hour time limit on Day 1, PokerStars included four “time tournies” on the schedule. Rather than playing down to a winner, these events each ran for just 45 minutes with players still alive after that time being awarded their share of the prize pool based on their chip stack. Running at 6:30, 7:30, and 8:30 PM, the $3 buy-in events drew 53, 59, and 106 runners. The final tournament of the night was the $10 buy-in Time Tourney and had just 109 players all trying to pick up a score before the closed sign came on.

Not all of the events were No Limit Hold’em. There were two Pot Limit Omaha events, one with a $5 buy-in and another with a $10 buy-in. Fans of the Great Game will be saddened to learn these two events were the smallest of the night and represented two of the three that had fewer than 100 players. The $5 buy-in event had 46 runners and 45 showed up for the $10 buy-in event two hours later.

Tuesday’s MTT schedule should look very similar to Monday’s, though given the relative size of the prize pools, PokerStars management may decide to increase the guarantees.

PokerStars PA Soft Launch Day 1 MTT Field and Prize Pool Sizes