From zero to SCOOP with PokerStars School

It’s one of the best times of the year at PokerStars: SCOOP is right around the corner.

With more than $115 million in guaranteed prize money, including a $1 million guaranteed event every day of the schedule and $11.5 million guaranteed across three Main Events, SCOOP 2019 is the biggest tournament series in PokerStars history. The only real problem is figuring out how to maximize your ability to take the biggest share of that money for yourself.

That’s where PokerStars School comes in. From free SCOOP satellite tickets and guides to help you plan your SCOOP schedule, to strategy tips to help you adjust to the deep structures better than your opponents, PokerStars School is full of promotions and good advice to take you from zero to SCOOP in no time flat.

Free SCOOP tickets to win in PokerStars School satellites

Get ready to win your share of $115 million in guaranteed prize money

PokerStars School is running four satellites over the next two weeks that will award a total of 90 free SCOOP tickets between them. All you need to enter is a School SCOOP EN Ticket, and there are plenty of ways to get one.

Click through to the PokerStars School SCOOP page and click on the button to get one free School Pass ticket. If you also make your first real-money deposit on PokerStars you’ll receive three more School SCOOP tickets, plus five School EN tickets and 10 Masters League EN tickets. For another free School SCOOP ticket, you can leave a comment at the bottom of the page telling what SCOOP tournament you’d like to play and why.

Once you have your tickets in hand, use them to play in these freerolls with SCOOP tickets for the top finishers:

SCOOP Planning, Bankroll, and Mindset

Being prepared means bigger stacks when the big money is on the line

With dozens of events being contested over two weeks in May, SCOOP presents the average player with a raft of challenges when it comes to planning, bankroll management, and maintaining a winning mindset. Thinking carefully about your own strengths and bankroll considerations before you ever register for a single SCOOP event can make a massive difference in your results.

The best way to tackle these challenges is to make like a Boy Scout and be prepared. And the best way to be prepared is to look over Pete Clarke’s checklist. By training yourself to think in a long-term, disciplined manner before the start of a slower SCOOP event, you’ll find an edge over those who are still in turbo mode.

Gearing up for SCOOP

SCOOP tournaments aren’t like the tournaments you play the rest of the year. They take multiple days to play out, the fields are large, and the stacks remain deep much longer than most players are used to. Preparing for these variations can be the difference between a decent cash and a deep run with potentially life-changing money up for grabs.

Good thing, then, that Pete Clarke is full of great advice on how to make the most of SCOOP’s unique nature. He tells you about the importance of scoping out the table before taking risks, gathering reads on your opponents, and three-betting aggressively with a chip advantage — among other topics — in Gearing Up For SCOOP: General Tournament Strategy.

How the pros prepare for SCOOP

One of the best ways to learn the game of poker is to watch the members of Team PokerStars play live on Twitch. It stands to reason, then, that one of the best ways to learn about preparing for a massive tournament series like SCOOP is to see how the pros get ready. Lucky for you that PokerStars School caught up with four members of Team Pro — Fintan “Easywithaces” Hand, Felix “Xflixx” Schneiders, Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, and Lex “L. Veldhuis” Veldhuis — to see how they get ready for SCOOP.

Felix, Fintan, Spraggy, and Lex

This piece has everything from what events they’re planning to play and how they structure their schedules during the series, to their expectations heading into the two-week grind and what advice they have for PokerStars School members playing SCOOP for the first time. It’s the kind of perspective you can only get from players who have done it all before.

Check it all out in How Pros Prepare For SCOOP.

10 SCOOP Tournaments you should play

Be sure to choose the best tourneys for your skill set & bankroll

Now that you’ve checked out all the advice on offer and prepared yourself mentally for the unique challenges of SCOOP, it’s time to plan out which events you’re going to play.

From the perspective of players with modest bankrolls, one of the best things about SCOOP is how many affordable and high-value events there are on the schedule. This year a number of tournaments with buy-ins as low as $5.50 and $11 offer the chance to claim a share of prize pools worth anywhere between $100,000 and $150,000. This is the kind of value you just don’t find every day of the week and it’s a big part of what makes SCOOP so special.

Check out 10 SCOOP Tournaments You Should Play for the rundown on some of the best value on this year’s schedule.

Other new PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Article: 5 Poker Players Types Who Under-Achieve – for upping your mental game with the big money on the line
• Strategy: 5 Tips for Mastering Pot Control – for those sticky situations against tricky opponents
• Video: Heads-Up Strategy: An Introduction – for when there’s only one opponent between you and the title
• Winners Wall: Nick Binks a Big Spin! – for perspective on how big wins come along
• Question of the Week: What are your top 3 tips for winning big poker tournaments? – for the community perspective on what it takes to win a huge tourney

Open a PokerStars account today and start learning from PokerStars School. Click here to get started, and then click here to register for PokerStars School.