PokerStars launched its operations in New Jersey towards the end of March and since then, has gone on to become the number one online poker operator in the garden state. Since the New Jersey market is a relatively small online market, there were concerns if PokerStars would be keen to launch huge online tournaments during its first year of operations.

The online poker giant put all those concerns to rest after announcing its New Jersey Spring Championship of Online Poker (NJSCOOP), which will feature a total of 54 events and have more than $1 million in guaranteed prize money. The format will feature 27 events with a low buy-in and 27 events with a high-buy in to enable as many online poker players in New Jersey to participate in the event.

The classic SCOOP events have always followed a three tier format that had low, medium and high buy-ins since the tournament debuted in 2009. This time around, PokerStars has decided to change up the format for the New Jersey market and the tournament is expected to draw some of the top poker players including poker legend Chris Moneymaker, who is also a Team PokerStars Pro.

In a statement, Moneymaker said “It’s awesome that [SCOOP is] coming to New Jersey so that players in the region can experience the exciting tournament structures and the thrill that comes with chasing a major tournament title and big prize money. I can’t wait to play in the first NJSCOOP and I plan to stream most of my play live on Twitch. I would love to win a title in its debut year.”

The NJSCOOP will start on May 15 and end on May 30. There will be two Main Events that start on May 29, where the first one will have a low buy-in of $50 and a guarantee of $30,000 while the high buy-in is $500 and has a guarantee of $200,000. PokerStars has already started satellite tournaments that have really low buy-ins and winner of these satellite events will get a pass to the NSCOOP.

One of the interesting features of the NJSCOOP is a special leaderboard that will feature a Player of the Series award. Points will be accumulated for both low and high buy-in events and the top 15 players will have a chance to win up to $10,000 in prizes. The winner of the main leaderboard will receive $2,000 and a place in Team USA to take part in the Americas Cup of Poker which takes place between June 24-25 at Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino and Hotel.