In a stunning display of competitive scheduling, PokerStars has announced it is moving its cornerstone Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) from its cozy late-spring slot directly into the chilly winds of early March. The 2026 series is now slated to run from March 1-25. This isn't just a schedule change; it's a strategic declaration of war in the ongoing battle for online poker supremacy.
For years, SCOOP was the undisputed herald of summer, a beloved warm-up that transitioned the global grinder class perfectly into the rigors of the live World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Mixed-game specialists, in particular, relied on SCOOP to sharpen their tools in niche formats rarely found elsewhere. Now, the traditional May mega-grind is dead, long live the March marathon!
The Strategic Rationale: Dodging the Conflict
PokerStars claims this move gives players a "fresh start" in 2026. We're not buying it. This is pure, unadulterated competitive positioning.
The real driver behind the shift is the increasingly aggressive calendar conflict with rival GGPoker. Historically, GGPoker's massive World Festival has been scheduled to coincide exactly with SCOOP, maximizing player fatigue and minimizing Stars' market share. By leaping forward to March, PokerStars is forcing GGPoker to either:
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Follow Suit: Move their World Festival to March, creating an immediate, hyper-competitive clash at the start of the year.
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Maintain Status Quo: Keep their Festival in May, thus gifting PokerStars a clean two-month run of guaranteed online revenue before the competition even starts.
Adding further complexity, the new SCOOP dates fall right before WSOP Europe, which GGPoker is also hosting. If GGPoker follows Stars to March, players will face a brutal, non-stop sequence: SCOOP, World Festival, and then a live WSOP Europe event. This lack of downtime is a significant deterrent for high-volume professionals who need breaks to perform optimally. The ball, and the scheduling headache, is now firmly in GGPoker’s court.
Moreover, the new dates conveniently avoid any overlap with announced stops on the European Poker Tour (EPT) schedule, ensuring key staff and high-rolling ambassadors aren't stretched between live and online commitments.
The True Value of SCOOP
For those new to the ecosystem, the significance of SCOOP extends beyond its enormous prize pools. Since 2009, it has differentiated itself with a key structural feature: the three-tiered buy-in structure—Low, Medium, and High—for every single event.
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Bankroll Accessibility: This structure provides genuine opportunity for players of all levels to compete for significant titles and life-changing money.
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Format Breadth: The series is a sanctuary for poker’s more complex variants. The 2025 iteration included buy-ins up to $15,000 and formats as delightfully obscure as No-Limit Five-Card Draw. It is the premier stage for specialists and a true test of a player’s all-around skills, unlike the incessant No-Limit Hold'em focus of many competitors.
Past winners like Viktor Blom, Talal Shakerchi, and Charlie Carrel have cemented the series' pedigree, with Main Event first-place prizes regularly soaring past the $1 million mark.
An American Oversight
While the international market receives this competitive, refreshed schedule, US players are left watching from the sidelines. PokerStars' ongoing commitment to the global COOPs stands in glaring, unfortunate contrast to its handling of the US market, where the company has controversially pulled the plug on its domestic COOPs. American players can only dream of March Razz tournaments, a policy decision that remains a perplexing source of frustration for the US poker community.