PokerStars’ SCOOP Series to Guarantee Record-Breaking $100 Million

March 31st, 2021 | by Kaycee James

PokerStars is heading into uncharted water this April thanks to an unprecedented $100 million guaranteed Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP).

PokerStars has upped the ante by guaranteeing $100 million for this year’s Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). (Image: PokerStars)

The online operator is no stranger to paying out nine-figure sums. However, this is the first time it has guaranteed that much prize money up front.

We knew this year’s SCOOP was going to be big. Ahead of the recent anniversary Sunday Million, a press release indicated as much. However, we didn’t know it would be $100 million.

PokerStars’ SCOOP Success Leads to $100 Million Guarantee

The decision to offer a nine-figure guarantee for the first time comes off the back of a successful series in 2020.

Although COVID-19 restrictions resulted in a rise in traffic for every major online poker site, PokerStars’ SCOOP has been growing in popularity ever since its first outing in 2009.

Last year’s guarantee was set at $85 million but that figure was beaten with ease. Following the conclusion of the last event, SCOOP 2020 had paid out $135 million in prize money.

Buoyed by that success, PokerStars is guaranteeing $100 million across 102 SCOOP events this year.

The festival will run from April 4 to April 28 and, as ever, there will be three MTTs for each event: Low, Medium, and High. That means there will be 306 tournaments in total.

Tournaments will cost as little as $2.20 and PokerStars will be offering satellites before and during the series.

The main day of action for most players will be April 25. There will six main events and more than $15 million in guaranteed prize money that day:

$5,000,000 guaranteed – $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max Main Event High

$5,000,000 guaranteed – $1,050 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max Main Event Medium

$3,000,000 guaranteed – $109 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max Main Event Low

$1,250,000 guaranteed – $10,300 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Main Event Large

$750,000 guaranteed – $1,050 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Main Event Medium

$350,000 guaranteed – $109 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Max Main Event Low

SCOOP 2021 looks set to be the biggest ever, but PokerStars faces stiff competition from its main rivals.

$250 Million in Guarantees this April

Partypoker is hosting another Powerfest in April, while GGPoker has created its own Spring Festival.

As well as announcing its latest innovation at the same time as PokerStars, GGPoker is going one step further. In fact, it’s going 50 million steps further by offering a $150 million guarantee.

That’s the largest guarantee in online poker history and a huge statement of intent from GGPoker. The battlelines have been drawn and the only way is up from here on out.

PokerStars and GGPoker have upped the ante and that’s going to raise the bar for good. There will be more than $250 million in guaranteed prize money but there could be even more next year.

Indeed, if the top operators are going to continue fighting for supremacy, it will lead to more value. That, in the end, is great news for poker players.