As the skies get bluer and the days get warmer, there always seems to be a certain buzz that emanates from all over. It’s not just the weather that creates this; it’s the little things, too. Less celebrated aspects like the longer days, the safer driving conditions and the start of baseball and cricket seasons continually contribute pleasant surprises to the overall nicety of spring.
And of course, online poker does its part, too, especially with the Spring Championship of Poker. Get excited because PokerStars has released the schedule for the 2012 edition of the SCOOP, and there are 38 events to be played over 15 days. They’ll be kicking off on Sunday, May 6th with two sets of No Limit Hold’em events, one 6-max and one 9-handed.
Each of the events will simultaneously launch a low, mid and high buy-in tournament, making for 114 tournaments in all. The low buy-in goes as low as $5.50, and most of the events are in the neighborhood of $27. The mid buy-in is 10x’s the low for each event and the high is 100x’s the low buy-in, going as high as $21,000. That’s already a massive range of buy-ins to choose from, but then of course there will be plenty of satellites. Though the satellite schedule hasn’t been released yet, there will be six different “steps,” so players with any kind of bankroll should be able to access just about any game, including, of course, the Main Event.
Throughout the series, there will be at least 6 SCOOP tournaments per day offering a wide array of games and styles. Of course No Limit Hold’em dominates the slate, but there are Fixed Limit Hold’em games as well and 7 Omaha events (including 5 Pot Limit Omaha events), 4 Stud, 5 Mixed Games, 2 Draw and a Badugi event. There are also an innumerable amount of variants of each of the games, including Short-Handed, Rebuys and Add-ons, Turbos and Knockouts.
This will be the 4th annual rendition of the SCOOP. The first year’s Main Event was won by Jude “j.thaddeus” Ainsworth, who has since become a member of Team PokerStars Pro and one of the premiere tournament poker players in the world. The following year crowned more of an unknown, turning career breakeven player toetagU (Ryan Fair) into a millionaire with a $1.16 million score. The 2011 SCOOP brought the trophy back to the pros, though, as Finnish player Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro won the high buy-in Main Event. Other notable tournament winners have included Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (who was just the fourth player in poker history to have a WSOP bracelet and both an EPT and WPT title) and 2-time bracelet holder and 2-time WPT winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.
This will be the second SCOOP without American players. This has obviously changed the market, most especially hurting the turnout for high buy-in tournaments. (Attendance for the high buy-in Main Event was down almost 40% last year from 2010, but PokerStars has adjusted by lowering the buy-in for that event to $7,500). But Black Friday has had an even bigger effect on the competition, and it’s been for the better. In 2009, for example, the US won the most tournaments with 34 scores, more than every other country combined (second to the US was Germany, who only won 5 tournaments!). Without US players there is a massive opening in the winner’s circle that non-American players will gladly fill.
Following is the schedule that PokerStars released earlier this week. There will eventually be guarantees associated with most of the tournaments, but they will not be announced until the events are posted in the PS Lobby. These events are not necessarily set in stone, as they are still taking feedback on the schedule, which you can send to [email protected].
Sunday, May 6th
11:00 ET – Event 01-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 01-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 01-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
14:30 ET – Event 02-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em
14:30 ET – Event 02-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em
14:30 ET – Event 02-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em
Monday, May 7th
11:00 ET – Event 03-L: $5.50 NL Hold’em (6-Max, Rebuys)
11:00 ET – Event 03-M: $55 NL Hold’em (6-Max, Rebuys)
11:00 ET – Event 03-H: $530 NL Hold’em (6-Max, Rebuys)
14:00 ET – Event 04-L: $7.50 (1) FL Badugi
14:00 ET – Event 04-M: $82 (3) FL Badugi
14:00 ET – Event 04-H: $700 (5) FL Badugi
17:00 ET – Event 05-L: $11 NL Hold’em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 05-M: $109 NL Hold’em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 05-H: $1,050 NL Hold’em (Rebuys, 2x-Turbo)
Tuesday, May 8th
11:00 ET – Event 06-L: $11 NL Draw
11:00 ET – Event 06-M: $109 NL Draw
11:00 ET – Event 06-H: $1,050 NL Draw
14:00 ET – Event 07-L: $7.50 (1) NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
14:00 ET – Event 07-M: $82 (3) NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
14:00 ET – Event 07-H: $700 (5) NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
17:00 ET – Event 08-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 08-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 08-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, Turbo)
Wednesday, May 9th
11:00 ET – Event 09-L: $27 (2) Mixed Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 09-M: $215 (4) Mixed Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 09-H: $2,100 (6) Mixed Hold’em (6-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 10-L: $27 (2) Stud
14:00 ET – Event 10-M: $215 (4) Stud
14:00 ET – Event 10-H: $2,100 (6) Stud
Thursday, May 10th
11:00 ET – Event 11-L: $27 (2) PL Omaha (Heads-Up)
11:00 ET – Event 11-M: $215 (4) PL Omaha (Heads-Up)
11:00 ET – Event 11-H: $2,100 (6) PL Omaha (Heads-Up)
14:00 ET – Event 12-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (Knockout)
14:00 ET – Event 12-M: $265 NL Hold’em (Knockout)
14:00 ET – Event 12-H: $2,600 NL Hold’em (Knockout)
Friday, May 11th
11:00 ET – Event 13-L: $7.50 (1) NL Hold’em (Ante Up)
11:00 ET – Event 13-M: $82 (3) NL Hold’em (Ante Up)
11:00 ET – Event 13-H: $700 (5) NL Hold’em (Ante Up)
14:00 ET – Event 14-L: $55 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 14-M: $530 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 14-H: $5,200 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
17:00 ET – Event 15-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (2x Chance, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 15-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (2x Chance, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 15-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (2x Chance, Turbo)
Saturday, May 12th
11:00 ET – Event 16-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (10-Max, Shootout)
11:00 ET – Event 16-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (10-Max, Shootout)
11:00 ET – Event 16-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (10-Max, Shootout)
14:00 ET – Event 17-L: $11 PL Omaha (6-Max, Rebuys)
14:00 ET – Event 17-M: $109 PL Omaha (6-Max, Rebuys)
14:00 ET – Event 17-H: $1,050 PL Omaha (6-Max, Rebuys)
17:00 ET – Event 18-L: $27 (2) Triple Stud
17:00 ET – Event 18-M: $215 (4) Triple Stud
17:00 ET – Event 18-H: $2,100 (6) Triple Stud
Sunday, May 13th
11:00 ET – Event 19-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em
11:00 ET – Event 19-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em
11:00 ET – Event 19-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em
14:30 ET – Event 20-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em
14:30 ET – Event 20-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em
14:30 ET – Event 20-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em
Monday, May 14th
11:00 ET – Event 21-L: $11 Mixed NLHE/PLO
11:00 ET – Event 21-M: $109 Mixed NLHE/PLO
11:00 ET – Event 21-H: $1,050 Mixed NLHE/PLO
14:00 ET – Event 22-L: $55 NL Hold’em (4-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 22-M: $530 NL Hold’em (4-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 22-H: $5,200 NL Hold’em (4-Max)
17:00 ET – Event 23-L: $11 PL Omaha (1R1A, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 23-M: $109 PL Omaha (1R1A, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 23-H: $1,050 PL Omaha (1R1A, Turbo)
Tuesday, May 15th
11:00 ET – Event 24-L: $11 Triple Draw 2-7
11:00 ET – Event 24-M: $109 Triple Draw 2-7
11:00 ET – Event 24-H: $1,050 Triple Draw 2-7
14:00 ET – Event 25-L: $27 (2) Stud Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 25-M: $215 (4) Stud Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 25-H: $2,100 (6) Stud Hi/Lo
17:00 ET – Event 26-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, 6-Max, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 26-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, 6-Max, Turbo)
17:00 ET – Event 26-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (SuperKnockout, 6-Max, Turbo)
Wednesday, May 16th
11:00 ET – Event 27-L: $27 (2) Razz
11:00 ET – Event 27-M: $215 (4) Razz
11:00 ET – Event 27-H: $2,100 (6) Razz
14:00 ET – Event 28-L: $11 NL Hold’em (Big Antes, Rebuys)
14:00 ET – Event 28-M: $109 NL Hold’em (Big Antes, Rebuys)
14:00 ET – Event 28-H: $1,050 NL Hold’em (Big Antes, Rebuys)
Thursday, May 17th
11:00 ET – Event 29-L: $27 (2) 8-Game
11:00 ET – Event 29-M: $215 (4) 8-Game
11:00 ET – Event 29-H: $2,100 (6) 8-Game
14:00 ET – Event 30-L: $7.50 (1) PL Omaha Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 30-M: $82 (3) PL Omaha Hi/Lo
14:00 ET – Event 30-H: $700 (5) PL Omaha Hi/Lo
Friday, May 18th
11:00 ET – Event 31-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (1R1A)
11:00 ET – Event 31-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (1R1A)
11:00 ET – Event 31-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (1R1A)
14:00 ET – Event 32-L: $55 FL Hold’em (6-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 32-M: $530 FL Hold’em (6-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 32-H: $5,200 FL Hold’em (6-Max)
17:00 ET – Event 33-L: $27 (2) NL Omaha Hi/Lo (10-Minute Levels)
17:00 ET – Event 33-M: $215 (4) NL Omaha Hi/Lo (10-Minute Levels)
17:00 ET – Event 33-H: $2,100 (6) NL Omaha Hi/Lo (10-Minute Levels)
Saturday, May 19th
11:00 ET – Event 34-L: $55 PL Omaha (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 34-M: $530 PL Omaha (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 34-H: $5,200 PL Omaha (6-Max)
14:00 ET – Event 35-L: $27 (2) HORSE
14:00 ET – Event 35-M: $215 (4) HORSE
14:00 ET – Event 35-H: $2,100 (6) HORSE
Sunday, May 20th
11:00 ET – Event 36-L: $27 (2) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 36-M: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
11:00 ET – Event 36-H: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (6-Max)
12:30 ET – Event 37-L: $215 (4) NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
12:30 ET – Event 37-M: $2,100 (6) NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
12:30 ET – Event 37-H: $21,000 NL Hold’em (Heads-Up)
14:30 ET – Event 38-L: $82 (3) Main Event – L
14:30 ET – Event 38-M: $700 (5) Main Event – M
14:30 ET – Event 38-H: $7,500 Main Event – H