Poker pros like Liv Boeree are looking forward to the 2016 PokerStars SCOOP (photo: PokerStars)

Just a few days from now, the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker will kick off. There are 55 events that have a total guaranteed prize pool of more than $40 million.

Amateurs and pros alike have had May 8, the first day of the 2016 SCOOP, circled on their calendars for weeks. And plenty more have May 22, the starting date of the Main Event, highlighted multiple times.

“I’m looking forward to SCOOP very much,” PokerStars pro Liv Boeree said. “I’m going to be playing a few events from home in London. You’ll definitely see me in the big guaranteed No Limit Hold’em events.”

Boeree, who is doubling as the manager of the London Royals Global Poker League team, won a WCOOP Second Chance event in 2011. Online, she took down the Sunday Warm-Up on PokerStars in 2011. And live, she won the EPT San Remo Main Event one year before that.

“SCOOP is by far the biggest online festival of the year for me,” PokerStars pro Jake Cody said. “I’m planning on playing three or four times a week, mainly the bigger No Limit Hold’em events with a few rest days in between. It’s great preparation for the WSOP too.”

The Brit won a $2,100 No Limit Hold’em SCOOP event in May 2011 for $234,000. He’s also a live Triple Crown winner, having won events at the WSOP, WPT, and EPT.

Then there’s Lex Veldhuis, who final tabled the WSOP’s 40th Anniversary tournament in 2009.

“This year, I’ll mostly be playing the SCOOP tournaments that start at 4:00 pm CET. I stream during the afternoons, so that works best for me,” said Veldhuis. “The timing is perfect because I have just gotten back into tournaments. I’ve been surprised at how much better my timing and patience have gotten. I can’t wait to see how I fare during a bigger tournament series like SCOOP now.”

Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier will also throw his proverbial hat into the ring during the 2016 SCOOP. He finished second in a $1,050 Pot Limit Five Card Omaha Hi-Lo event during the 2014 SCOOP and won a $25,000 Heads-Up event in 2011. He also owns a pair of WCOOP bracelets.

‘ElkY’ is hunting for his second SCOOP title

“SCOOPs have always been a tournament series I really look forward to because of the number of events, structure, and three different buy-in limits,” Grospellier said. “And nowadays, with Twitch, it gets even more exciting, as I will be broadcasting all my play on my channel. I plan on playing a really big schedule from my place in Prague, where I recently have moved.”

Randy ‘Nanonoko’ Lew, multi-tabler extraordinaire and Team PokerStars Online stalwart, said the series holds a special place in his heart.

“This is the series that holds my largest online cash to date of $368,445. I can’t wait to play it and try to outdo that performance,” said Lew, who will be live-streaming much of his SCOOP on Twitch. “My plan is to play as many events as possible in order to give myself the chance to do that and I’ll be playing from London.”

Finally, there’s Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz. While not a PokerStars pro, Holz has owned COOP series over the years. His crowing achievement: taking down the 2014 WCOOP Main Event for a stellar $1.3 million.

Holz is busy making preparations ahead of SCOOP’s shotgun start. The German is headed to Costa Rica to bunk with other top tournament players in a mountainside house.

“There will be six of us,” Holz said. “It’ll be me and the best German players around. It’s going to be great.”

SCOOP runs May 8 to 22 on PokerStars.