The Poker Stars Spring Championship of Online Poker starts this week, and by its final event, a $2.5 million main event on May 22, the site will have doled out $25 million in cash prizes.

U.S. players may have been ejected from the field, but that hasn't stopped the Poker Stars Spring Championship of Online Poker from getting in full swing this week. A yearly tournament series made up of 38 events in each of three different stakes levels (for a total of 114 tournaments in all) the 2011 SCOOP promises a guaranteed total prize pool of $25 million.

This year's SCOOP had to cut down on expectations, what with the events of Black Friday taking U.S. players out of the running, and lowered the total guaranteed prize pool. Even then, they may end up paying overlays on prize pools that come up short. Still, the finale of the PokerStars 2011 SCOOP, the $10,300 main event, taking place May 22, boasts a $2.5 million prize pool, with a first prize of $500,000.

The mid-stakes main event costs $1,050 to buy-in and promises $1.5 million guaranteed. The low-stakes main event costs $109 to buy-in and promises $750K guaranteed.

Poker Stars will also keep a leaderboard tracking the performance of all the players across the entire series, with the top three placeholders in each of the three stakes ranges winning prizes.

Many Team PokerStars pros will still be in attendance, of course; just not the ones from the U.S. All events have been rescheduled by 3 hours to make it easier for players in Europe and the U.K. to attend.