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Poker Stars’ SCOOP Series Under Way

Series Guarantees Prize Pool of at Least $45 Million

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The SCOOP.The SCOOP is back.

Last year, no one really knew what to expect when PokerStars launched its inaugural Spring Championship of Online Poker. But the results were staggering — people came, and they came in droves.

Over 22 events and 66 tournaments, the site received nearly 200,000 individual entries. More than $38 million was distributed, including an astounding 22 six-figure scores for various players. This year, it’s going to be even bigger.

“The series itself is much bigger than it was last year, with 38 events (114 tournaments) in 2010 versus 22 events (66 tournaments) in 2009,” said Bryan Slick, the tournaments team leader for PokerStars.

The 2010 SCOOP series runs May 2-17, and boasts a guaranteed prize pool of $45 million.

Unlike PokerStars’ flagship series, the World Championship of Online Poker, SCOOP was created for the full spectrum of players. For each event-type, three different tournaments are offered simultaneously at unique price points, allowing massive fields for all kinds of players.

For as little as $5.50 (low level of the May 3 six-max rebuy event) and for as much as $25,500 (high level of May 15 two-day heads-up tournament), you can buy into the event and level of your choice for a chance to become a SCOOP champion.

“Watching people live out their dreams as the spotlight falls on them at a championship final table is really exciting, and we’re going to watch a lot of lives change,” said Slick.

The PokerStars tournaments team leader says the biggest changes from last year’s SCOOP are the bigger guarantees, new synchronized breaks (they debuted on the site just after the 2009 series), a new knockout-style event (on May 6), and the debut of the PokerStars’ popular ante style-tournament to the 2010 series (where the blinds stay the same, but the antes raise throughout the event).

Take a look at PokerStars’ 2010 SCOOP schedule.

Players will also eye the main event as an opportunity to earn their riches. Last year, the three different main events (priced at $109, $1,050, and $10,300) produced first-place prizes of $151,204, $502,086, and $963,338, respectively (after deal-making).

This year, those numbers could expand even more.

“The main event is generating the most buzz, especially the guaranteed first-place prize of $1 million [in the high-stakes level],” said Slick. That main event has a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million, while the low and medium main events have guaranteed prize pools of $1 million and $3 million, respectively.

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