Sunday, March 1 saw the first events take place in the Spring Championship of Online Poker.
And while not every player across the world is able to participate directly in PokerStars’ spring fling — this edition is for the site’s global shared liquidity — there’s a closely related contest that’s open to all: our own Pick 3 for SCOOP 2026 competition.
We asked you to pick a team of three players to compete on your behalf across all SCOOP events. The trio that collects the best results and most leaderboard points winning you a free trip to the Irish Poker Open worth $5,000.
The first SCOOP 2026 events at PokerStars are now done and dusted, which means two things: the deadline to enter the Pick 3 contest has now passed, and we can start to bring you the news on who’s flying highest and earning the most points for your team!
Big names deliver from the start
Ahead of the start of the series we rounded up the most drafted players, and three of the top four names in our ‘Big Hitters’ category have immediately leapt to the top of the chart.
‘FAL1st’, ‘king153246’ and Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt were ranked 2, 3 and 4 in our list of most drafted heavyweight contenders, in that order, and have immediately proved their worth by taking the top three spots on the Pick 3 leaderboard. Again, in that order.
You guys have clearly been doing your homework when picking your teams.
Niklas 'Lena900' Astedt.It’s extremely early days — there are more than 3 weeks to go — but there will be a ton of teams for whom a look at the top 10 will make for happy reading.
Players not quite in the top 10 but who have started to amass points include the #1 drafted player from ‘The Field’, Ben ‘benmiller500’ Miller (23rd, 20 points), the #1 drafted player from the ‘Big Hitters’, Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard (34th, 5pts) and the all-time leader in SCOOP tournament wins, Simon ‘C. Darwin2’ Mattsson (43rd, 5pts).
Pick 3 for SCOOP 2026: Top 5 teams (March 2)
Unsurprisingly, picking ‘FAL1st’ is one thing the top 5 on the teams leaderboard have in common.
The addition of ‘mc1dot’ (4th, 40pts) and Andreas ‘mrAndreeew’ Berggren (12th, 25pts) has put Team Renatos out in front for the early lead.
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Renatos | 190 |
| 2 | Team Pint of Guinness please | 185 |
| 3 | Team YOYOMEN26 | 180 |
| 4 | Team EZ Clap | 170 |
| 4= | Team Hoof Hearted | 170 |
Pick 3 for SCOOP 2026: Top 10 players (March 2)
Alongside the big names listed above, the early running has seen plenty of other major players make a splash, including the likes of Benny ‘RunGodlike’ Glaser (6th, 30 points), Blaz ‘Scarmak3r’ Zerjav (9th, 30 points) and Renan ‘Internett93o’ Bruschi (17th, 20 points).
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FAL1st | 125 |
| 2 | king153246 | 80 |
| 3 | Lena900 | 45 |
| 4 | mc1dot | 40 |
| 5 | luisdono | 40 |
| 6 | RunGodlike | 30 |
| 7 | AndMarch | 30 |
| 8 | AmateurGOAT | 30 |
| 9 | Scarmak3r | 30 |
The deadline for Pick 3 may have passed, but SCOOP events run until March 25 with over $45 million in guaranteed prizes.
You can win a seat in the $109 Main Event for just $5.50 in our PokerOrg Pick 3 satellites, each with 5x added seats. Search 'PokerOrg' in the PokerStars tournament lobby to take a shot.
