Have you drafted your Pick 3 SCOOP team yet? All you need to do is pick three players for the 2026 SCOOP festival, and you could win a $5K Irish Open package! Hurry – the deadline is March 1 at 8am ET.
Beyond the 'Big Hitters' there are 75 more players you can draft for your team in this year's SCOOP Pick 3 game. But who are they? And who would make the best picks?
Like every fantasy game, there are dark horses lurking across the field. It's just a matter of finding them and adding them to your selection.
Here are five players who could help win you the $5K Irish Open package.
Thiago Grigoletti is the very definition of a SCOOP dark horse.1. Grigoletti can shine again
Since its inception in 2009, SCOOP has been contested across three buy-in levels, a format that proved so popular that its ancestor WCOOP adopted it later in 2018. While the biggest prize pools, and therefore most of the coverage, tend to be attracted to the 'High' buy-in tournaments, the true grinders are often battling it out in the 'Low' and 'Medium' events.
It's also where many of those crucial leaderboard points get awarded, and the Player of the Series spoils are decided. Which means it’s also where Pick 3 managers should focus.
Although Brazil's Thiago 'tgrigoletti' Grigoletti won his only SCOOP title in a high buy-in tournament, he doesn't feature among the top 300 points winners in the top bracket since 2024. However, he ranks fourth in medium events over the same period and 10th in low events. The only other players to appear in both top 10s are the big hitters 'FAL1st' and 'king153246'.
Grigoletti, who has earned the 11th most COOP leaderboard points of all players in 2025, is therefore the kind of in-form talent you should be eyeing for your team.
Gerard Rubiralta has been a high flyer in recent SCOOP leaderboards.
2. Be suspicious of 'SuspiciousCat'
The success of the COOP leaderboards was part of the reason PokerStars introduced a similar contest in its live events, with the Live League adding another dimension to EPT and PokerStars Open events in 2025 and 2026.
Spanish grinder Gerard Rubiralta was among the players who excelled in the Live League, eventually taking the top prize in the medium tier. This is relevant because Rubiralta has been named by Spanish media as the man behind the 'SuspiciousCat' moniker on PokerStars, a player with two SCOOP and one WCOOP titles to their name, and a high flyer in recent leaderboards.
Based in Andorra to play online, Rubiralta/'SuspiciousCat' has demonstrated clear talents to take on and succeed in long races. He could be a top dark-horse selection in the Pick 3 contest.
Ben Miller playing at the Grosvenor Goliath tournament, where he finished 4th in 2024. 3. It's (Ben) Miller time
While it's not always easy to predict who will be the next big poker star, it is often possible to look back at the resume of a player who suddenly emerges from the pack and realize you should have seen them coming. There's often a typical pattern of results before a player strikes it big: numerous scores in smaller events, starting locally and then expanding, representing a gradual climb through the ranks.
The young British talent Ben Miller, who plays on PokerStars as 'benmiller500', ticks all these boxes, and more. Miller has been making ripples on the UK live circuit for a couple of years, but he's also been crushing the COOPs.
He won his first SCOOP and WCOOP titles in 2025, and amassed more leaderboard points in the calendar year than Niklas 'Lena900' Astedt, Simon 'C. Darwin2' Mattsson and Benny 'RunGodlike' Glaser over the same period.
No one should be surprised to see a true breakout performance from Miller this time around.
Andreas Berggren has the experience to win you the all-important SCOOP points in 2026.4. Veteran 'mrAndreeew' still has it
There's no doubting the pedigree of Swedish players in COOP events, but while the aforementioned Astedt and Mattsson tend to hog most of the headlines, they arguably wouldn't be where they are without the exploits of Andreas 'mrAndreeew' Berggren.
Berggren is a former online No. 1, who won his first of five SCOOP titles in 2014, three years before Astedt. Like both his countrymen, Berggren still puts in the volume and will sometimes dabble away from just hold'em. He still consistently appears on the COOP leaderboards as a result.
Berggren is 40 now and has been a poker pro for almost all of his adult life. The importance of experience can never be overstated in marathons such as SCOOP.
Ivan Zhechev can win you points across the entire SCOOP 2026 schedule.5. Versatile 'xidix' offers threat across the board
It's been said before, but it's worth saying again: good fantasy league players need to play a lot and play all the games. Bulgaria's 'xidix', identified by the former online poker bible Pocket Fives as Ivan Zhechev, will do precisely that for managers prepared to pick him.
'xidix' has four COOP titles, split evenly between WCOOP and SCOOP, but it's worth noting the disciplines. In SCOOP, he's won a 'low' buy-in HORSE event (read: big field, multiple variants) and a 'high' buy-in Stud event (small, tough field of masters). In WCOOP, he's triumphed in a $109 PLO tournament with 662 runners and a $22 Badugi event.
It's far from straightforward to win tournaments at low, medium, and high levels, not to mention in so many variants. But 'xidix' has done it... and can do it again.
Draft your 2026 SCOOP Pick 3 team and you could win a 2026 $5K Irish Open package.
