This year the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is being held from April 30 until May 23. This is the longest the series has ever run. The extra week allows time for the "phase tournaments" which are the "opening act".
PokerStars guarantees a minimum of $55 million in prize pool money to be awarded over the SCOOP season which is $15 million more than in 2016.
Tournament buy-ins are $11,$109,and $1050. Players can enter multiple times and each buy-in level will have a large prize pool. Each event has 3 buy-in costs (low, medium and high) which allows for a large range of participants. There are three high roller tournaments with buy-ins from $1050 to $25,000 (events 15,26 and 40). The most expensive buy-in, at $25,000 is Event #15 on May 10 and the least expensive event will cost $5.50 to enter.
The Main Event will begin on May 21 with buy-ins for $109,$1050 or $10,300 depending the the level you choose to play.
Two interesting games this year will be "Win the Button" where the winner who wins the hand gets the button on the next hand and the Progressive 100% Knockout where all of the buy-in is used as bounty and the only way to win is to eliminate other players.
Jude 'j.thaddeus' Ainsworth was the first high level Main Event winner back in 2009. Who will have that honor in 2017?
