There’s a trip to the award-winning Irish Poker Open to be won in our Pick 3 for SCOOP 2026 contest, in partnership with PokerStars, and entry is completely free to all PokerOrg members — all over the world!
(Not a member yet? It’s free to join, registration takes just seconds and only requires an email address — just hit the ‘Register’ button at the top of this page).
To play, simply pick a team of 3 players from our lists of elite online tournament crushers, which includes former winners and legends of the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) at PokerStars.
Every win and in-the-money finish your players collect during the global SCOOP series — which runs March 1-25 — will count towards your team's score.
From the first tournament on the schedule through to the very end, we’ll collate all results and automatically update your team’s score. Check your progress daily throughout the series for the ultimate SCOOP sweat and a freeroll you can’t miss.
We’ll also be dishing out some opportunities for free SCOOP tickets for those who are eligible to play on PokerStars, but don’t worry if that’s not you: The contest is open to players worldwide, including the USA.
Can you pick the best combination of players? A free poker trip to Dublin worth $5,000 awaits the winner.
The Irish Open is considered a highlight of the global poker calendar.How to play Pick 3 for SCOOP 2026
Whether or not you’re playing SCOOP this year, you can still be a champion.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Pick a team of 3 players to play for you at SCOOP 2026
- You MUST pick 1 player from the ‘Big Hitters’ list and 2 from ‘The Field’
- Enter your team name and answer the tiebreaker question
- Submit your PokerStars username for free seat raffles (optional — eligible PokerStars players only)
- You can edit and resubmit your team any time before the deadline
- Points are awarded based on the overall SCOOP leaderboard
- Every SCOOP tournament counts, across all three tiers (Low, Medium and High)
- The team with the most points at the end wins a $5K package for the Irish Poker Open (running March 26 to April 6, 2026)
- Teams finishing 2-10 on the leaderboard will win $109 PokerStars tourney tickets (or merch if not eligible to play at PokerStars)
In the event that more than one team finishes in a prize-winning spot, we’ll use the answer to the following tiebreaker question to decide who finishes on top:
‘How many entries will the 3 SCOOP NLH Main Events get (Low, Medium and High) combined?’
Pick your team before the deadline, 8am ET on March 1, to get started! Check the Terms & Conditions here.
Win a bonus $5K Irish Poker Open package!
What's better than a chance to win a $5K Irish Open package?
That's right: there's another chance to win a package in a special freeroll at PokerStars. If you're eligible to play at PokerStars you'll receive your freeroll ticket when you submit your Pick 3 team with your PokerStars username. The top prize is another $5K Irish Poker Open package. The freeroll runs on March 21 at 1pm ET.
Eligible Pick 3 players who provide their PokerStars username will also be added to a prize draw awarding 50 x $5.50 satellite tickets to play for a SCOOP Main Event seat.
Each of the PokerOrg Pick 3 — SCOOP Main Event Satellites will have 5 x $109 seats added, and prize draws will take place weekly from February 28. Prize winners will be contacted by email and tickets credited automatically.
What is the Irish Open?
The annual Irish Open is famously the longest-running no-limit hold'em tournament outside of Las Vegas.
This year marks the 46th edition of the series, and it's still going from strength to strength. The 2025 Main Event drew the largest field in its history, as 4,562 players competed for a prizepool of €4,447,950. The winner, Simon Wilson, claimed €600,000.
But it's not just the big-field tournaments and a schedule of 86 different events that makes the Irish Open a favorite among so many players around the world. The series in Dublin has an atmosphere all of its own, and is known for providing just as much entertainment off the felt as on it.
It's a 'bucket-list' moment for many players, and this year you can be a part of it, for free. So go pick your team!
Come and get some.What is SCOOP?
SCOOP stands for the Spring Championship of Online Poker, one of the largest online tournament series in the world.
The series has been running annually at PokerStars since all the way back in 2009, offering tournaments in a huge range of different formats and variants, each available at several buy-in levels.
This means that whatever game you play, and whatever your bankroll, you’re sure to find a tournament that’s right up your alley. Win it and you’ll be joining an elite list of prestigious SCOOP winners including Benny Glaser, Niklas Astedt, Patrick Leonard and Adrian Mateos.
Overall, the 2026 SCOOP features 136 different events, each at a choice of stakes, and more than $45 million in total guaranteed prize money.
Three no-limit hold’em (NLH) Main Events will take place from March 22:
- A $109 Main Event with $1.5M GTD
- A $1,050 Main Event with $2M GTD
- A $5,200 Main Event with $2M GTD
Three pot-limit Omaha (PLO) Main Events will also run from March 23:
- A $109 Main Event with $100K GTD
- A $1,050 Main Event with $200K GTD
- A $5,200 Main Event with $250K GTD
Check the full SCOOP schedule for details of every event, with buy-ins starting at just $5.50 and going all the way up to $15K.
Need a PokerStars account? Click here to sign up now.
PokerOrg member Chris Jones won a trip to WSOP Paradise 2025 in our Pick 3 for Paradise contest — read about his experience below.
Additional images courtesy of Danny Maxwell/Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.
