The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars is one of the biggest online tournament series in the world — assuming your part of the world is able to play with PokerStars global player base.
The US is one notable exception, but if you’re able to log in to PokerStars and play this week there are plenty of great opportunities to compete for big money and a prestigious SCOOP title, with tons of different variants, formats and buy-ins to choose from.
The series runs through to June 2; here are the events that are catching our eye this week, May 19-25.
The Main Events
One of the biggest draws of SCOOP is the range of buy-in levels, with almost all events available at Low, Medium and High stakes.
Whichever bracket you and your bankroll fall into, there’s a Main Event with a big guaranteed prizepool to play for. And not only that, they’re available in both no-limit hold’em (NLH) and pot-limit Omaha (PLO) versions.
May 25 marks the start of all the SCOOP Main Events, but all will run for multiple days.
The NLH Main Events (Event 82) will all run as four-day events, with the Low ($109) featuring a $2M GTD prizepool and the Medium ($1,050) and High ($5,200) each having $3M GTD prizepools. All start at 12:30pm ET.
The PLO Main Events (Event 85) will run as three-day events. Buy-ins are the same as the NLH versions, with guaranteed prizepools of $200K (Low), $400K (Medium) and $500K (High) up for grabs. Action in all three starts from 3:05pm ET.
The week’s highlights for Low buy-ins
PLO fans on a budget can still play for big prizes this week, as well as the unpredictable thrills of a mystery bounty. Event 55-L on May 20 is a $22 PLO progressive KO tourney with $25K GTD, while Event 61-L the following day is a $5.50 mystery bounty with $12.5K GTD.
If you prefer two cards to four, check out Event 76-L on May 24, a shorthanded 4-Max NLH tournament with a big $60K guarantee for a buy-in of just $11. Then there’s a $35K guaranteed prizepool for a buy-in of just $5.50 in Event 81-L on May 25, an 8-Max PKO.
Not everyone is set in their no-limit ways, of course, and if you’re a player who enjoys fixed limit hold’em you should check out Event 68-L on May 22. There’s a $22 buy-in and $10K guaranteed.
Our pick of the week’s Medium buy-ins events
One thing we love about SCOOP is the ability to play bigger field events in some of the less popular poker variants. If that chimes with you we can recommend Event 63-M on May 21, a $109 tournament for razz lovers with $20K GTD.
All-rounders can look to Event 77-M on May 22, a $55 8-game mix that will test your skills in multiple variants, and will award at least $20K in prize money.
Of course, there’s always plenty of options for NLH players, and our pick of the bunch this week includes Event 56-M on May 20, which has a huge $250K guarantee for its $109 entry fee.
May 22 has a couple of great-looking tourneys, too, including some fast-playing turbo events. Event 71-M is a $109 turbo with $175K GTD, and Event 73-M is an even faster hyper-turbo — also with mystery bounties — with an $80K GTD prizepool for a buy-in of $33.
High highlights in SCOOP this week
Bigger buy-ins, bigger prizes, and May 22’s Event 69-H has half a million dollars guaranteed for its sizable $10,300 buy-in. It’s a progressive KO, too, so you could make some serious cash even before the bubble bursts.
Event 65-H on May 21 is adding some spice, with mystery bounties, a turbo structure and 7-Max tables all adding to the variety. The buy-in is $530 and the guarantee is $100K. Another $530 tournament is Event 87-H on May 25, which is a hyper-turbo 6-Max mystery bounty with $150K GTD.
If you’re looking to warm up your PLO muscles ahead of the Main Event, you may want to circle Event 75-H in your diary. This $1,050 PLO tourney has a $75K guarantee and runs on May 24, the day before the Mains kick off.
Finally, we love 2-7 triple draw, and if you do too be sure to check out Event 57-H on May 20, which has a $40K guarantee for a buy-in of $1,050.
Check the full SCOOP schedule now; you can find and register for each individual event in the tournament lobby under ‘SCOOP 2025’. Head to PokerStars for more.
