PokerStars SCOOP Series Passes $1.5 Billion Milestone in Total Prizes
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PokerStars’ Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) has officially surpassed $1.5 billion in total prizes awarded to players since its debut in 2009, confirming its place as one of the richest and most enduring online poker series in history.
The ever-popular SCOOP series has been a mainstay of the early-year poker calendar for decades, with the 2026 edition, offering $45 million in guarantees across 136 events, underway now and running until March 25th.
The 10-figure landmark was fittingly passed in a Sunday Million event, one of PokerStars' flagship tournaments, with player "nomalice" taking down Event 40-M: $109 NLHE [Progressive KO Sunday Million] ahead of a field of 8,017 to win $85,597 and move SCOOP beyond the $1.5 billion threshold.
The festival has consistently drawn huge fields of online grinders over its 17-year history, with tiered low, medium, and high buy-ins, as well as the chance to satellite into major events for as little as $0.55 a major attraction.
PokerStars SCOOP's $1.5bn Milestone in Numbers
The scale of SCOOP’s growth over the past 17 years is best illustrated by the numbers. Since the first edition in 2009, the series has produced thousands of tournaments, attracted hundreds of millions of entries, and awarded some of the largest prize pools in online tournament poker.
Here’s a look at some of the key figures behind SCOOP’s $1.5 billion milestone:
- Total Prize Money Awarded: $1,500,000,000+
- Total Entries Across All SCOOP Events: 144,715,424
- Total Prize Pools Awarded (Pre-2026): $1,485,704,101
- Total First-Place Prizes Paid: $227,004,607
- Total Events Held: 1,231
- Total Tournaments Played: 3,680
Who Are SCOOP's Top Players?
Since 2009, a handful of names have repeatedly returned to the winner's circle of SCOOP tournaments, including some of the game's biggest names of the last 20 years.
Sweden’s Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson is the greatest player in SCOOP history, having earned 14 titles, closely followed by Andre "Premove" Skvortsov who won two SCOOP title on Thursday to take his total to 13, and 8-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and 12-time SCOOP winner Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser.
Glaser, who added yet another title last week in Event 12-H: $320 Fenomeno HR Turbo is also the most decorated player in PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) history, holding a record 16 titles.
Other notable multiple-time champions to break the double-digit barrier include players like Patrick “pads1161” Leonard and Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, who are all regular winners at the spring festival.
"An Incredible Moment for Online Poker"
Reacting to passing the $1.5 billion milestone, Steve Clarricoats, Associate Director of Poker Operations at PokerStars, described it as "an incredible moment for online poker."
He added, "It’s a powerful reminder of the scale, history, and prestige of this series. But the true value of SCOOP isn’t just measured in dollars, it’s measured in players earning their greatness and winning a SCOOP title. Winning a SCOOP title remains one of the biggest ambitions in online poker and we’re excited to see which players join the history books this year."
"Winning a SCOOP title remains one of the biggest ambitions in online poker."
The 2026 SCOOP rolls on right now, with 136 events across 400 tournaments and more than $45 million in guaranteed prize pools running until March 25th. Buy-ins run from $5.50 to $15,000, with the flagship Main Events on March 22 and 23 offering $5.5 million in No Limit Hold'em guarantees and $550,000 for Pot Limit Omaha.
You can follow all the biggest stories and winners from the 2026 SCOOP on PokerNews here.
