By all measures, the 2020 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) was the biggest ever. It was, of course, owing in a large part to the last-minute schedule extension, but the series was already well set to eclipse all pre-series guarantees.

Here’s a full breakdown of all the numbers behind this year’s SCOOP, from the multi-day monsters to the exclusive small-field high rollers; from the spectacular satellite spin-ups to the brilliant bounty paydays.

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SCOOP OVERVIEW

33 days of play
SCOOP 2020 ran from April 30 until the final hand was dealt in the small hours of the morning of Tuesday, June 2. That’s 33 full days of play.

124 events
371 tournaments
There were low, medium and high buy-in tournaments in every SCOOP event, with the exception of Event 121, which did not have a low buy-in tournament. (This was so that the series could finish in time.)

Lowest buy-in: $2.20
Four tournaments cost only $2.20 to enter:
01-L: $2.20 NLHE, Phase Event
12-L: $2.20+R NLHE, Turbo
93-L: $2.20+R NLHE 8-Max, Turbo, Rebuy
114-L: $2.20 NLHE Heads-Up, Turbo, Progressive Total KO, Zoom

Highest buy-in: $25,000
Event 52-H was a $25K Super High Roller and attracted 89 entries

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ENTRIES AND RE-ENTRIES

There were 2,787,301 entries to SCOOP tournaments this time, including 486,301 re-entries. That means there were 2,279,306 unique entries. The average field size was 7,513.

Five biggest fields:

143,726 entries – 01-L: $2.20 NLHE, Phase Event
70,507 – 01-M: $22 NLHE, Phase Event
29,598 – 41-L: $5.50 NLHE, PKO
33,005 – 10-L: $11 NLHE, PKO
29,369 – 70-L: $5.50 NLHE, PKO

Five smallest fields:

49 entries – 106-H: $1,050 PL 5-Card Draw
60 – 82-H: $1,050 FL Badugi
78 – 11-H: $1,050 NL 5-Card Draw, PKO
79 – 25-H: $2,100 FL 2-7 Triple Draw
84 – 51-H: $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw

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PRIZE POOLS

The total prize pools across all of SCOOP was $185,112,333.

Of that, $25,246,380 went to tournament winners.

The median prize pool was $498,955 and the median first prize was $68,050.

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MORE ABOUT SCOOP 2020
OFFICIAL SITE & SCHEDULE | RESULTS
LEADER BOARDS | ALL BLOG REPORTS

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Five biggest prize pools:

$6,475,000 – 74-M $1,050 NLHE, Main Event
$6,090,000 – 74-H: $10,300 NLHE, Main Event
$4,623,800 – 74-L: $109 NLHE, Main Event
$3,080,900 – 121-M: $109 NLHE 8-Max, PKO, Sunday Million SE
$2,449,500 – 96-M: $530 NLHE 8-Max, 2nd Chance Main Event

Five smallest prize pools:

$16,493 – 82-L: $11 FL Badugi
$16,670 – 106-L: $11 PL 5-Card Draw
$20,061 – 88-L: $5.50 Fusion 6-Max
$20,418 – 92-L: $5.50 HORSE
$22,854 – 100-L: $5.50 5-Card NLO8 6-Max, Turbo

Five biggest first prizes:

$920,595.81 – “Alexgirs” (74-H: $10,300 NLHE, Main Event, after deal)
$920,066.91 – “HayashiJoão” (74-M: $1,050 NLHE, Main Event)
$521,597.77 – Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer (52-H: $25,000 NLHE, Super High Roller)
$416,741.68 – Pascal “Pass_72” Lefrancois (96-H: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max, 2nd Chance Main Event)
$371,750.73 – “auercan” (74-L: $109 NLHE, Main Event)

Five smallest first prizes:

$995.60 – “Andrej82” (114-L: $2.20 NLHE Heads-Up, Turbo, Progressive Total KO, Zoom)
$2,490.92 – “shuriken555” (88-L: $5.50 Fusion 6-Max, after deal)
$2,521.54 – Tobias “Senkel92” Leknes (106-L: $11 PL 5-Card Draw)
$2,887.55 – “282828drakon” (82-L: $11 FL Badugi)
$3,045.88 – “jimbomber” (117-L: $5.50 8-Game)

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BOUNTY: THE TASTE OF PARADISE

Of SCOOP’s 371 tournaments this year, 119 were played with bounties — meaning players were rewarded for knocking out someone else. Typically, half of the total prize pool goes into the bounty pot, with the rest being awarded according to a regular payout structure. (The exceptions are the “Total” bounty tournaments, of which there were six during this SCOOP. In these tournaments, all the money goes into the bounty pot.)

On occasion, players make more money from bounties than from the actual prize pool, and it’s well worth taking the flips when there’s a chance you could pick up a hefty prize. Here’s a look at some of the biggest bounty payouts from SCOOP.

Biggest bounties (gross)

62-H: $5,200 NLHE, PKO, High Roller
Winner: prebz
Bounties: $174,921.87
Regular prize: $101,026.11

33-H: $10,300 NLHE, PKO, High Roller
Winner: tinnoemulder
Bounties: $165,000.00
Regular prize: $113,785.25

121-H: $1,050 NLHE 8-Max, PKO
Winner: b@d0s
Bounties: $117,025.03
Regular prize: $153,478.18

43-H: $2,100 NLHE, PKO, Sunday Warm-Up SE
Winner: Pimmss
Bounties: $101,398.42
Regular prize: $88,844.76

33-M: $1,050 NLHE, PKO, Thursday Thrill
Winner: Naza114
Bounties: $97,222.58
Regular prize: $89,119.47

Biggest bounties (compared with “regular” prize)

67-L: $11 PLO, 6-Max, PKO
Winner: BigBluffByTJ
Bounty payout: $6,426.97
Regular payout: $3,598.07
Bounty boost: 179%

45-H: $2,100 NLO8, 6-Max, PKO
Winner: Darth Vder58
Bounty payout: $47,515.62
Regular payout: $26,729.51
Bounty boost: 178%

62-H: $5,200 NLHE, PKO, High Roller
Winner: Preben “prebz” Stokkan
Bounty payout: $174,921.87
Regular payout: $101,026.11
Bounty boost: 173%

11-H: $1,050 NL 5-Card Draw, PKO
Winner: Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn
Bounty payout: $14,468.75
Regular payout: $9,197.64
Bounty boost: 157%

109-H: $2,100 NLHE 8-Max, PKO, Thursday Thrill SE
Winner: ArielBahia
Bounty payout: $93,570.32
Regular payout: $62,126.78
Bounty boost: 150%

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PERSONAL BESTS

A look at some of the dominant individual performances across this SCOOP series:

CASH MACHINES

Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira won the SCOOP Player of the Series leader board, having led the contest from the very earliest stages all the way to its conclusion. And yet Ferreira did not win a SCOOP tournament this year, instead reaping the rewards from an amazing show of stamina and consistency.

Ferreira stumped up 595 entries throughout the series (including re-entries, of course) and made the money 115 times. That went a long way to explaining his dominance in the leader board race. It’s interesting, however, that Ferreira was not actually the player who made the money most. That accolade went to Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak, whose late charge almost toppled Ferreira from the top of the leader board.

Maslak won two events in the last week of competition, and had Ferreira peering over his shoulder until the very death.

Here’s the top five in-the-money finishers from SCOOP 2020:

118 – Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak (557 entries; cashed for $310,220.41)
115 – Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira (595; $585,983.05)
99 – Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi (618; $519,276.25)
97 – Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (606; $258,584.90)
94 – “Körrinho” (484; $376,654.86)

BOUNTY HUNTERS

Our data analysts also kept a tally on the number of knockouts each of our tournament players were responsible for. This table also featured our favourite Netherlands-based Portuguese player, who demonstrated once again why he is so feared. Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira knocked out 214 players through the course of this SCOOP, more than anybody else.

KO counts:

214 – Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira (595 entries; cashed for $585,983.05)
188 – Sintoras (348; $177,934.22)
186 – Muka82 (462; $158,810.20)
185 – Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (606; $258,584.90)
170 – Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi (618; $519,276.25)

MULTIPLE WINNERS

It’s tough to win a SCOOP tournament. It’s tougher to win two. To do even more than that is only something that a handful of players have ever achieved over their careers, let alone during a single series. Despite the difficulty, there were 17 players who won two titles this time around, as well as the brilliant Mike “SirWatts” Watson, who won three, and the superhuman Connor “blanconegro” Drinan, who set a new mark when he won FIVE events, including the $10,300 PLO Main Event.

5 titles – Connor “blanconegro” Drinan
45-M: $215 NLO8, 6-Max, PKO ($28,358.58); 56-H: $1,050 HORSE ($30,232.50); 34-H: $530 PLO8, 8-Max ($34,420.52); 40-H: $5,200 PLO, 6-Max ($152,011.46); 75-H: $10,300 PLO, 6-Max, PLO Main Event ($322,264.28)

3 titles – Mike “SirWatts” Watson
51-H: $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw ($22,050); 113-H: $1,050 6+ Hold’em 6-Max ($29,997.02); 66-H: $2,100 NLHE ($80,642.40)

2 titles

$w4g4l1c10u$, Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford, alligator14, Andrej82, Bomber&Granater, Joao “IneedMassari” Simao, Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn, Konstantin “krakukra” Maslak, Leqenden, mararthur1, monopol, Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer, OK1OK2, Patrick “pads1161” Leonard, Senkel92, WhatIfGod, Ole “wizowizo” Schemion.

SATELLITE WONDERS

A huge part of any major online series features the players who enter the tournaments for a mere can of beans and end up walking away with a factory. The PokerStars data analysts keep track of the players who enter SCOOP events after winning a satellite and give us details of their final results.

This year, the biggest single tournament prize went to a satellite winner. “Alexgirs“, who won the $10,300 High Main Event for $920,595.81 qualified for the tournament via a $530 satellite. Even so, his 1,735.97% ROI was nowhere near the biggest return on investment when we look at some of the other spin-ups.

Here’s a closer look at some of the most brilliant satellite spin-ups:

Top five spin-ups, by ROI:

oppvask (3rd – #36-L: $11 NLHE)
ROI: 15,114.41
Turned $1.10 into $16,626.95

alexandro156 (2nd – #10-L: $11 NLHE PKO)
ROI: 14,904.5
Turned $1.45 into $21,612.99

Gohaku (4th – #69-L: $11 NLHE)
ROI: 12,703.89
Turned $0.55 into $6,987.69

Murashko (2nd – #44-M)
ROI: 9,276.75
Turned $22 into $204,110.39

kjonesgg (1st – #76-L: $11 NLHE)
ROI: 8,532.08
Turned $1.45 into $12,372.96

Five SCOOP winners, in via satellites:

kjonesgg (1st – #76-L: $11 NLHE)
Turned $1.45 into $12,372.96
ROI: 8,532.08

11coconuts (1st – #105-L: $55 NLHE 6-Max)
Turned $7.50 into $37,188.10
ROI: 4,957.41

emifran99 (1st – #26-L: $22 NLHE 6-Max)
Turned $7.50 into $23,656.75
ROI: 3,153.23

admiralph (1st – #23-M: $55 5-Card PLO)
Turned $7.50 into $20,587.01
ROI: 2,743.93

vivaodesemprego (1st – #54-M: $109 NLHE)
Turned $22.00 into $46,691.97
ROI: 2,121.36

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NATIONALITIES

There were winners during this SCOOP series based in 46 countries (if Macau is considered separate from China). The cultural melting pot that is the United Kingdom came out on top, thanks in part to the numerous Spanish, French and German players who live in the country to play online.

Despite that, the UK placed only 17th on the list of countries when we consider number of titles alongside population. It’s the smaller nations who rise to the top in that instance.

Here’s a look at some of those stats:

Top five countries:

UK: 46 wins
Brazil: 45
Russia: 37
Germany: 25
Netherlands: 22

Sorted by population:

Malta: 4 wins (1 per 123,390 residents)
Barbados: 1 (1 per 287,025 residents)
Luxembourg: 2 (1 per 313,054 residents)
Norway: 13 (1 per 413,258 residents)
Ireland: 9 (1 per 546,833)

(Population figures from Wikipedia)

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RANDOM ODD BITS

Some assorted other tidbits from SCOOP 2020:

Chopping: 81 tournaments ended in a deal

“B” is for best: 32 tournaments were won by players whose username starts with the letter “b”

What’s in a name? The word “poker” appeared in only one winner’s username, although there was also one “P0KER”. There were two winners each with the word “lucky”, “bluff” and “fish” in their names, but three winners (“acespice”, “easywithaces”, “MRiverAce”) had the word “ace” in their usernames — four if you include “SpaceyFCB”).

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