Spring ahead
PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is one of the most highly anticipated internet poker festivals every year. Introduced in 2009, it popularized the three-tiered buy-in structure, now a common sight at online poker rooms.
SCOOP is typically in May, its conclusion cozying up to the start of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, but PokerStars has announced that in 2026, SCOOP has been moved up, running March 1 through March 25.
That is about all the information Stars has made public, as the full 2026 SCOOP schedule and prize pools will be released at a later date.
PokerNews did get a little bit more out of the poker site, though the reasons for the change are still vague (and, honestly, unimportant?).
“We regularly review our global events calendar to make sure our major series land at the best possible time for players,” a PokerStars representative said. “We saw an opportunity to bring SCOOP forward and start the year with a stronger, clearer run of events. The new dates simply allow us to optimize timing.”
With the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) traditionally in September, perhaps Stars just wanted to put a little more space between the two. It is also possible that it wanted more space before the WSOP. Who knows. Regardless of the reason, those planning on playing in SCOOP should make note of the schedule change.
King was king, but Mattsson became legend
The 2025 Spring Championship of Online Poker featured 380 total tournaments and over $70.6 million in prize money. Albania’s “king153246” grinded tons of tournaments, winning two, en route to a convincing Player of the Series title. King’s 3,795 points easily cleared the 3,090 of Thailand’s “FAL1st”.
But the start of the 2025 SCOOP was arguably Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson of Sweden, who led the way with five tournament wins. That catapulted him into the all-time SCOOP lead with 14, soaring past Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser, who has 11 (in addition to eight WSOP gold bracelets). Niklas “Lena900” Astedt also won two SCOOP events to tie Glaser for second on the all-time list, with 11 total.
Brazil’s “stek94” won the highlight event of SCOOP, the “high” buy-in $5,200 Main Event. With 455 initial entries and 224 re-entries, the tournament had a $3.395 million prize pool, beating the $3 million guarantee. Stek94 won $505,633 after a deal with fellow Brazilian “Hellzito” at the final table.