It's nearly that time of year again; yes, the PokerStars SCOOP is fast approaching. This will be its third year, and judging by the previous two years, it's most definitely something worth getting excited about.

What distinguishes SCOOP from any other online poker series is its appeal to every poker enthusiast no matter how big or small their roll is; it really is a series designed with the players in mind.

SCOOP kicked off in 2009, with 22 scheduled events that gave a combined prize pool of $40 million. But here is where it differs from anything else previously on offer: each event consisted of three tournaments, a low, medium and high buy-in, making 66 tournaments in all.

As with all major tournaments on PokerStars, there is large starting stack and great structure as well as numerous satellites running for each event. It was one of these satellites from which I won my seat into the main event high buy- in. I secured my $10,000 seat about 20 minutes before the tournament started. I was fortunate enough to go on and win the main event, picking up the $963,000 for 1st place and the much-coveted SCOOP watch that goes with winning any SCOOP tournament.

With the 2009 SCOOP being such a success, the 2010 SCOOP was eagerly anticipated and it didn't disappoint. The number of events was increased to 38 and incorporated all the various forms of poker. This time the prize pool topped a staggering $63 million. The main event high buy-in was a strongly-fought contest from which 'toetagU' emerged victorious with title and the $1.16 million that went with it.

This year's SCOOP will be huge again. The schedule was released this week, so you can start planning your own assault on a title right now, all from the comfort of your own home.

In my opinion the best online poker series is just around the corner. But then again I might be a little biased as I was fortunate enough to take down the main event of the inaugural SCOOP!