Qualify For The Big Prize Pools In This Years Pokerstars SCOOP
Pokerstars ‘Spring Championship Of Online Poker’ (SCOOP) has claimed the 2nd spot overall for online poker events – behind the other big Pokerstars offering the World Championship. The next SCOOP is scheduled to start in May - this is the 6th time the championship has been run and the guaranteed prize pools are a staggering $40,000,000!
What makes the SCOOP different from the many other online poker events is that there are 3 buy-in levels for each and every tournament in the schedule. These are low (from $5 through $200), mid ($100 through $1000) and high (from $1000 up). This allows players of all bankroll levels to get involved – and with 1000's of satellite qualifiers available to the events, smaller stakes players will have a legitimate shot at some really huge prize pools too.
Here I’ll outline the highlights and link to the full schedule, then cover the different satellite qualifiers available including my picks for the best value for SNG Planet readers. The 2014 SCOOP sees some brand new events, including Progressive Super Knockout tournaments and 4 max in addition to Zoom Tournaments and plenty of rebuy / re-entry events.There are some cool variations in addition to NL holdem this year, with 8-game, 2-7 and Razz as well as several PLO events. Usually there is a reload bonus to go with this event, no news just yet - I recommend players not yet at Stars grab their welcome bonus (since the reload will be on top!)
Pokerstars SCOOP – Overview Of The Event + Link To Full Schedule
Here are the high level facts and figures about the 2014 Spring Championship that are already confirmed:
- Runs From May 4th Through To May 18th 2013
- 45 Events Total, Each With 3 Different Buy-In Levels
- $40 Million in Guaranteed prize money, last year there was $30 million guaranteed, and this was beaten - with an amazing $65 million paid out
- Smallest Buy-In = $5, Biggest = $25,500 (For the high-roller heads-up games)
- Leaderboard Contest + Overall Hall Of Fame
- All Players Get The Chance To Win Seats Via Satellite Qualifiers... 1000's and 1000's of satellite qualifiers!
For the schedule for this years event is available on the PokerStars website under SCOOOP 'Live Tournaments' (seems an odd choice of catergory for an online event, but hey).
Leader Boards
There are leaderboards for the best finishers in all 3 of the tiers.
Winners get a prize package to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, which will take place in early January in the Bahamas, this includes travel, expenses and entry to the $10k buy-in event. You could also win a special trophy. There are some great prizes for other finishers too - see the PokerStars website for more n this.
Pokerstars SCOOP – Satellite Qualifiers
With so many satellites to choose from and buy-ins starting at just 25c (or 50 FPPs) there will be a lot of players qualifying for seats in this years event. This guide takes you through the types of SCOOP satellites currently available – what usually happens with Stars events is that there are more and more satellites available up close to the events (including in the hours before), so I’ll update this area of the page as and when new ones get announced. What is distinctive in the 2014 SCOOP satellites listing is the huge amount of qualifiers which guarantee at least one seat - if this does not ensure busy fields then I do not know what will!
One more thing to note – you will find the satellites listed in a distinctive bright orange in the Pokerstars software!
SCOOP Satellites #1 – Steps SNGs: There are two ways of using the Steps SNGs to grab your SCOOP tickets. Firstly, if you win your way to Step 4 you can use the $215 value to enter any tournament of your choice. This is ideal for many of the ‘mid’ buy-in championship events. Second, there are specials within the Steps – for example Step 4 SNGs awarding entry into the high buy-in for event 3 and Step 6 awarding entry into the high buy in main event.
SCOOP Satellites #2 – Double Shootouts: Essentially 2 consecutive SNG tournaments, where the winners go forward to a ‘final table’ and play for seats and runner-up cash prizes. These can be 6 or 9 person and turbo or standard speed – you can even find 3 round ‘triple shootouts’. With buy-ins starting at the $2 range these will be popular ways to win SCOOP seats, especially since many guarantee a number of seats.
SCOOP Satellites #3 – Hyper Turbo Qualifiers: Players start with just 500 chips in these fast and furious events, with blinds increasing every 3 minutes. Size of the fields are often fixed in single or multi-table format. Again there are a huge range of buy-ins. These are crazy games, yet hugely popular – you’ll need to have a good grasp of push / fold ranges and nerves of steel! 2x Turbo and 3x Turbo tournaments should also be in this category. While you could go on a tear and win a seat in one of these games with a couple of buy-ins, this is unlikely - I recommend you budget 5+ buy-ins for this type of event.
SCOOP Satellites #4 – Multi-Table Tournament Qualifiers: This can be broken down into several online poker tournament formats including rebuys, turbo and 2x turbo (longer rebuy period) as well as those with fixed buy-ins. Many of these tournaments will guarantee numbers of seats, which ensures that they are busy. These are a natural choice for casual players and the standard of play is often poor, especially at the bubble. Certainly +ev for thinking players if you can navigate the minefield. Where the satellites are marked as 'Round 1' you can use these to win a seat in a bigger satellite (though watch out for qualifiers into rebuys, it can be frustrating when you win a seat in a big satellite and then can not afford the rebuy or add-on).
SCOOP Satellites #5 – Super-Satellites: In the days running up to the events, we can expect to see ‘supersatellites’ guaranteeing anything from 10 to 200 seats (and maybe more). These have their own qualifiers in all of the formats mentioned and are one of my personal favorites. Again the key is that you will find a lot of ‘dead money’ in the field – making them profitable for experienced entrants and soft enough to attract recreational players too.
So many to choose from – for me the Multi-Table tournaments which run either on the day or in the days preceding the events are the real soft spot.
One final note on the qualifiers. These are very easy games compared to the equivalent buy-in tournaments, and are a great way to add 'Tournament Dollars' to your poker bankroll. All you need to do is win a seat in an SCOOP event, then unregister. What happens is that the buy-in appears in your player balance as T$ - these can be used to enter any tournament of Sit N Go (you can break up the balance any way you like). If you use them to enter more satellites you could really get on a roll. Imagine how great it would be if your normal tournament entries for the next few months were already paid for...
Tip For Claiming Up To 3 Welcome Bonuses:
Get over to Pokerstars.com now, and start qualifying for the Spring Championship. New players can claim up to 3 welcome bonuses to a total of $600 over their first 90 days... All you need to do is choose 'Affiliate Marketing Code' from the drop down list of 'Where Did You Hear About Us?' - a new box will then appear and you pop Affiliate Marketing Code = PSPxxxx in, you can then deposit with bonus code STARS600 - don't miss out on these bonuses or the biggest online poker event of 2013 so far - the awesome Pokerstars SCOOP!