Southern Europe Championship of Online Poker Pays Out More than €12.3M
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The first ever Southern Europe Championship of Online Poker (SECOOP) wrapped up on PokerStars on Nov. 12 and more than €12.3 million ($14 million) in prize money was distributed over 149 events. The €10 million series guarantee was thus surpassed by more than €2.3 million.
More than 38,000 players in the recently joined European shared liquidity network took part in the series, consisting of a mix of players from across Spain, France, and Portugal. The lofty €1 million guarantee in the €250 ($284) Main Event was also exceeded by €212,487 ($242,060) after drawing 5,215 entries.
‘Befuddeld’ of France was the last player standing in that one, collecting the €172,451 ($196,444) top prize as the first SECOOP Main Event champion. According to PokerStars, France was the most represented country in the event followed by Spain and then Portugual.
Other SECOOP Highlights
Apart from surpassing the series guarantee, other shining moments from the series included the largest €50 Warm Up and €10 Classico events so far in the PokerStars Southern European network, reaching prize pools of €237,375 ($270,402) and €149,382 ($170,166) respectively.
French player ‘dav561’ won the Warm Up for €32,126 ($36,595) and Spain’s ‘tecnicu’ collected €16,124 ($18,367) for emerging victorious in the Classico. Another player who had a strong series was France’s ‘bzh3135’, who turned €40 in buy-ins into €11,591 ($13,203) by winning not one, but two Midnight Express tournaments (Events #20 and #29).
“We’ve hosted a variety of new series and it is amazing to see the support from our players."
The SECOOP is only the latest series offered by PokerStars in the shared European network, following on from France Espania Hold'em (FRESH) series, France and Spain SCOOP, TRIO series, and Galactic Series. In total, over €50 million in prize pools has been handed out by PokerStars since the launch of shared liquidity.
“Our COOP series is one of our most loved and renowned events, and we’re proud that players in Southern Europe had the chance to get involved,” said Severin Rasset, Director of Poker Innovation and Operations at The Stars Group. “We’ve hosted a variety of new series and it is amazing to see the support from our players. I want to thank everyone that has played in a shared liquidity offering for helping to create such a success.”
ICOOP Runs in Italy
While Italy has not yet joined the shared European liquidity party, players there weren’t completely left out. The 10th running of the Italian Championship of Online Poker (ICOOP) took place during SECOOP and offered its biggest series guarantee yet in Italy.
The €4 million guarantee was crushed with prize pools totaling €4,942,126 ($5,629,714) across 68 events. ‘SmartTrave’ was one of the big winners of the series, taking down the Main Event for €56,000.
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