The Showdown: Lost in translation?

Adam Hampton playing at the 2024 WSOP
Adam Hampton
Posted on: May 27, 2025 10:19 PDT

Accidentally sharing plans with a journalist in a social media group is sooo two months ago, but wouldn’t you know it, lightning can strike twice.

At least, that’s what seems to have happened as a bunch of the biggest players in PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) let our own Sarah Herring into their WhatsApp group.

And as a former winner of the Global Poker Award for Journalist of the Year, Sarah knows when a story’s too good to pass up. That’s why she’s back for another SCOOP-flavored Showdown, bringing you the inside story on one of the biggest online poker series of this — or any other — year.

Watch the video above now to get the skinny.

‘The first corn is always from the d**k’

No, that’s not a typo. Or an insult.

We think.

It’s actually a message from the above WhatsApp group that — we hope — is a victim of some unreliable online translation.

Watch now to find out:

  • What the heck that message could mean
  • Why Ben ‘Spraggy’ Spragg is still top of the SCOOP leaderboard (and who’s doing all the heavy lifting)
  • Who might just be missing for the rest of SCOOP 2025
  • The celebs lining up to tease — sorry, ‘encourage’ — Spraggy on his quest for a first SCOOP title
  • Which team captains are adding to their SCOOP trophy cabinets this week
  • How even the biggest poker streamers aren’t immune to the YouTube ban hammer

Most of the SCOOP Main Events are still running, and there’s the rest of the week to go to pick up some hardware.

We’ll be bringing you more as it happens, but don’t forget you can (location permitting) still sign up and play this thing yourself.

Head to PokerStars now to get involved, and you just might see yourself in the next episode of Sarah’s SCOOP Showdown.