Posted on by Arthur Crowson

Perfect Online Storm? SCOOP, POWERFEST Offer $100m+ in GTDs in May

Online poker players who can’t get enough tournament action are going to love the month of May with two massive online series set to go off at nearly the same time.

PokerStars‘ iconic Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is set to run May 6-21, 2018, with a total of 183 tournaments and $65 million in guaranteed prize money. It’s the 10th anniversary of SCOOP and PokerStars is planning to throw in some extras for this year’s series.

Meanwhile, partypoker’s POWERFEST will run May 6-20, 2018, with 366 different events and over $40 million in prize pool guarantees.

Between SCOOP and POWERFEST poker players will be able to choose between 549 different tournaments b$100m+ in prize pools during the month of May.

SCOOP offers $1m-GTD tournament every day

Players who live for big prize pool tournaments will want to pay special attention to the SCOOP schedule.

This year PokerStars spring series will be running at least one tournament with a $1 million-GTD prize pool every single day of the series.

As usual, all 61 events will each offer three different buy-ins at low, medium and high for a tournament of 366 different events.

Thanks to the different buy-in levels the 2018 SCOOP will offer something for everyone with buy-ins ranging from just $2.20 to a whopping $25,000 for the super high roller event.

Mix game players will be happy to note that there’s plenty of non-Hold’em action on the docket with everything from Triple Draw to Badugi on display.

Players will want to pay special attention to the following highlight tournaments:

  • The 2018 SCOOP will culminate with three different Main Events on May 20 with buy-ins set at $109, $1,050 and $10,300 with a combined $10.5 million in guaranteed prize pools.
  • PokerStars will also offer a special Phase event throughout the series where Phase 2 plays out on May 20. Buy-ins for Phase 1 will be a reasonable $2.20, $22 and $215 for low, medium and high tournaments respectively. Despite the small buy-in there will be over $2.5 million in guaranteed prize money.
  • May 9 is the day set aside for high rollers with $215, $2,100 and $25,000 buy-in tournaments. With over $4.5 million in guarantees, this could be a make-or-break day for hardcore grinders.
  • Five different $25,000 Platinum Passes will be awarded over the course of the series. Winners receive a package to the first-ever PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship next spring.

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partypoker set for biggest POWERFEST

partypoker has been expanding its flagship POWERFEST online series for years but the upcoming edition represents the poker site’s biggest ever with 366 different tournaments.

The series offers a variety of buy-in levels thanks to its micro, low, mid and high format. Buy-ins start at $1.10 and move up to $215 but that’s not including the super high roller events that reach into the stratosphere with a $25,000 buy-in tournament.

Some of the best online poker players in the world have competed in the $25,000 buy-in tournament including Sam Trickett, Viktor Blom, and Ben Tollerene so this year’s tournament is sure to be a highlight-reel worthy event.

This edition of POWERFEST also offers a slightly more balanced scheduled with slightly less reliance on standard No-Limit Hold’em thanks to an increase of PLO and 6-Max tournaments.

Here’s a look at some of the eye-popping numbers for this edition of POWERFEST:

  • 366 events with a total of $40 million in guaranteed prize money
  • 58 high roller tournaments
  • 17 championship events
  • 13 events offering guaranteed prize pools of over $1 million
  • 3 main events on May 20 with combined guaranteed prize pools of over $3 million
  • 1 super high roller with a $25,000 buy-in on May 17

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POWERFEST vs. SCOOP

Online poker players have some big decisions to make this May with two of the biggest online series in recent memory taking place at essentially the same time.

Of course, most players won’t actually have to choose thanks to the magic of multi-tabling.

If — for some reason — players are looking to play just one series than small-stakes players will likely want to take a closer look at POWERFEST as the series offers a massive amount of small buy-in tournaments.

Players looking for bigger buy-in tournaments will likely want to check out SCOOP thanks to its plethora of high roller events.

In addition, players looking to play non-Hold’em events will also want to log onto PokerStars for SCOOP with PLO, Omaha-8, Badugi, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, and more on the schedule.

Meanwhile, players at POWERFEST will likely have slightly better odds at avoiding the more serious grinders considering the cache that comes with winning a COOP title.