2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker Produces Record-Setting Prize Pools
The 2016 Spring Championship of Online Poker wrapped up at the beginning of this week on PokerStars, the world's largest online poker site. The series turned out to be a huge success, highlighted by the three main events drawing over 30,000 combined entries that generated more than $15 million in prize money.
All told, nearly $91 million was awarded across the 168 events held in 2016, setting a new record by nearly $10 million. The previous record for total prize money awarded by SCOOP was in 2014 when a little over $81 million was awarded across that year's 135 events.
The biggest event of them all was the $10,000 High Main Event, which attracted 824 entries and generated an $8 million prize pool. Winning that event for a $1.468 million was Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi. He defeated a final table that included Sean "Nolez7" Winter and Scott "gunning4you" Seiver, and you can read the recap of the event by clicking here.
The other two main events, the $1,000 Medium Main Event and the $100 Low Main Event, attracted 5,026 and 24,591 entries, respectively. A four-way chop in the $1,000 Medium Main Event led to Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano taking top honors and a $578.621 first-place prize. In the $100 Low Main Event, "mmleandro" took first place and $196,059 following a three-way deal.
According to data provided by PokerStars, all three of the main events surpassed previous records, both in participation and prize pools. And this was all done without the inclusion of the large US market being included in PokerStars' global player pool.
"This record-breaking prize pool is testament to the enduring popularity of online poker," said Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ Director of Corporate Communications. "It's also a result of the talented people and hard work exhibited by everyone at PokerStars, from the poker room tournaments team who put the schedule together, to the customer support teams helping our players get the most out of their experience."
The largest participating country was Russia with the country's number of entrants coming in at 61,154. The second highest of the series came from German, with a little over 6,000.
NJSCOOP Feeding the Garden State
In New Jersey, where PokerStars recently launched its ring-fenced client in March, the PokerStars New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker (NJSCOOP) has been running since May 15. This series consists of 27 events broken down into two buy-in levels for 54 total events running through May 29 and boasts total guarantees over $1 million.
The highlight of NJSCOOP thus far has been Event #19-High: $1,000 NL Hold'em High Roller [6-Max]. This event came with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, but surpassed that with an impressive $114,000 prize pool. According to PocketFives.com, "SGTPowell" won the event for $29,640 after topping a field of 120 entries.
The 2016 NJSCOOP Main Event will be played on Sunday, May 29 at 6 p.m. ET. The high buy-in version will have a $500 price tag and a $200,000 guarantee. The low buy-in version will have a $50 price point and a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool.
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