It was exactly 10 years ago that PokerStars brought the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) tournament to the world stage. At the time, it was solely there to cater to those who weren’t able to patiently wait for the WCOOP tournament. However, with demand comes great popularity, and the SCOOP events were a hit, continuing on every year since then. For the 10th anniversary of it, PokerStars is having a real celebration, providing a SCOOP tournament with a record $65 million in prize guarantees. Furthermore, there will be at least one tournament on every day featuring a prize pool of $1 million as a minimum.
The SCOOP series will run between May 6 and May 21, providing events with low buy-ins, through to medium and high level. The buy-ins for these range from between £2.20 up to $25,000. In total, participants will have the ability to enter into 61 different events during the SCOOP, with 2018’s offering looking to very much outdo last year’s record-breaking action. The tournament in 2017 saw a total of $93 million being handed out in prizes across 57 events, which went far and beyond the $55 million guarantee that it had.
The Director of Poker Innovation and Operations at PokerStars, Severin Rasset explained that it is somewhat of an honour to be able to celebrate 10 years of the SCOOP tournament. He credited the loyalty of the site’s players, who have enabled the platform to create something “really unique”. He went on to state that there will be something for every player in 2018’s SCOOP before saying that it is up to the gamers themselves to transform the tournament into lifelong memories as well as potentially life-changing money wins.
Winnings and Other Series Highlights
As well as having a $65 million guarantee, the SCOOP tournament will also provide five Platinum Passes worth $30,000. These provide access to the 2019 Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC). The winners of the three Main Events – for high, medium and low levels – will receive one each, while the person who finishes at the top of the overall tournament leader board will get the fourth. The last one will be handed to the player who wins the All-In Shootout Challenge.
There’s so much going on in the 2018 SCOOP that it won’t be lacking in entertainment. The series includes additional highlights to watch out for, including the Phase Tournament. Phase one takes place throughout the series, while Phase 2 will be in-play during Sunday, 20 May. It comes with a buy-in price of $2.20 for a $150,000 guarantee, while the $22 buy-in has its own guarantee of $1 million. Finally, the higher $215 buy-in comes with a $1.5 million guarantee.
Of course, there are the Main Events for the three tiers of playing levels to experience, while the Event 14 High Rollers will begin on Wednesday, 9 May. This has been seen in previous years of the SCOOP series, with a maximum guarantee of $2.5 million available to win.
Prior to the SCOOP kick off on 5 May, there will be a hyper-turbo freeroll taking place. This will provide $50,000 in SCOOP tournament tickets, which are available to anyone who has participated in any SCOOP events in previous years.
