PokerStars New Jersey Announces NJSCOOP 2016, Set to Begin on May 15
PokerStars New Jersey announced the schedule for its first-ever online poker championship in the licensed gaming market. The name of the event is the New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker, or NJSCOOP.
NJSCOOP is going to follow the format of the SCOOP series held each spring by PokerStars for international players. NJSCOOP will be a series of online events which will culminate in the NJSCOOP Main Event, a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool with a $500 buy-in.
Two Main Events on May 29
Earlier in the day, a cheaper version of the main event will launch. The low-roller event is going to have a $30 buy-in and a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Both versions of the Main Event are expected to last two days. The bulk of action is set for Sunday, May 29th. The second day of the events is going to be on Monday the 30th, but at a time of the day when most participants should be off work.
NJSCOOP Begins on May 15
The tournament series begins on May 15 and is set to run through the end of the NJSCOOP Main Event. In the 2+ weeks of online card playing, a total of 54 events are scheduled. Most events are going to involve Texas Hold’em, but other events are planned for player favorites like Omaha Hold’em, Seven-Card Stud, and H.O.R.S.E. Pot-Limit Omaha and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo get multiple events apiece, while Stud does, as well. 8-Game is included, while the fast-folding Zoom also made the schedule.
Like all PokerStars online tournaments, a NJSCOOP Leaderboard is planned. This tracks the results of players throughout the full list of 54 events with a point system to rank which have done the best. A total of $10,000 in guaranteed leaderboard prizes are offered, while the leaderboard winner will receive $2,000, a trophy, and a ticket to a live PokerStars event.
Chris Moneymaker on NJSCOOP
Chris Moneymaker, who helped start the Poker Boom when he won the WSOP Main Event in 2003, said the NJSCOOP is likely to become a player favorite. Moneymaker, who won the 2003 WSOP Main Event as a PokerStars satellite event entrant and has been a member of Team PokerStars ever since, said, “The global PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is one of the must-play poker events of the year.”
Moneymaker added that he would play the New Jersey version of the event. He’ll also live-stream his playing sessions on Twitch.
Jason Somerville on the Event
Jason Somerville, another Team PokerStars Pro, praised the SCOOP series and said New Jersey gamblers should enjoy the fun. Somerville said, “Only on PokerStars can you find such a variety of tournament formats with huge prize money on the line along with buy-ins for players of all types.”
In a bit of wishful thinking that other US states will pass online gambling legislation, Jason Somerville added, “I look forward to the day where more of my fellow Americans can compete for SCOOP gold.”
PokerStars’ Bid for Market Leadership
NJSCOOP is a clear signal that PokerStars wants to dominate the New Jersey online poker market. Until now, the PartyPoker/Borgata poker site has held the biggest online card tournaments. The most recent Garden State Super Series had a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool for the main event, while it paid $1 million in a total prize amounts for the full slate of events.
Since its launch in early March, PokerStars has been the number one poker site in the New Jersey market. Before PokerStars’ long-awaited entry into the license US market, the Borgata-PartyPoker partnership had been the standard for New Jersey online poker.
