Tag: WCOOP

PokerStars recently announced a sequel to the popular World Championship of Online Poker, which was cut short in September. The site released more details and a complete schedule for the series on Thursday.

WCOOP 2022: Take 2 runs Nov. 5-9 with 66 events and total guaranteed prize pools of almost $28 million. The re-run includes all canceled events from Sept. 25. That includes the Main Events for No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha. Those and the women’s events get underway on Nov. 6.

“We know that WCOOP is a long-awaited calendar staple for our community and due to the cancellations, we want to ensure we give our players the WCOOP experience they had hoped for but make it even bigger and better,” Stars director of online poker experience Chris Straghalis said in a news release.

“We have added millions in value through an excellent schedule of satellites giving players of all levels the chance to compete for a prestigious WCOOP title and have also increased the NLHE Main Event guarantees to give even more of a strong reason for players to get involved.”

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Highlights from PokerStars’ WCOOP: Take 2

The series sequel comes after the first WCOOP saw hacking attempts. The site’s security team prevented DDoS attack attempts to breach the site’s, Stars noted, but several events were canceled.

That included the NLHE Main Events. Those tournaments now receive boosts totaling $2.5 million in guaranteed prize money. Here’s a look at those events and what players can expect:

• $109 NLHE Main Event Low – $3 million guaranteed, an increase of $500,000
• $1,050 NLHE Main Event Medium – $5 million guaranteed, an increase of $1 million
• $10,300 NLHE Main Event High – $7 million guaranteed, an increase of $1 million

Even more coming to series

PokerStars has also added $1.5 million in added value satellites as part of the series. Numerous free and low buy-in satellites are already underway.

The WCOOP: Take 2 schedule also includes a variety of new events with buy-ins from just $5.50. Here’s a look at the complete schedule.

PokerStars WCOOP 2022: Take 2

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One of the biggest and longest-running online poker series returns in September. PokerStars announced on Monday that the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is back for a 21st year and runs Sept. 4-28.

The series is one of the most anticipated on the tournament calendar and now adds to an already-packed online poker schedule in August and September.

Players will find $85 million in guaranteed prize pools across 104 events. That again includes Low, Medium, and High buy-in levels ranging from $5.50 to $25,000. PokerStars has also added “World Championship” events to this year’s series as well, ramping up the series’ prestige even more.

“WCOOP has long been the pinnacle of online tournament series and with the addition of World Championship events we are looking to elevate the prestige of winning a WCOOP title event further,” PokerStars director of online poker experience Chris Straghalis said in a news release.

“Not only are we offering a wide variety of buy-ins to provide a way for virtually anyone who desires to participate in a WCOOP event, we also offer the most formats and variants in online poker with a choice of mixed games that are unique to PokerStars.”

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PokerStars adding more to WCOOP

Players jumping in the WCOOP action will find a wide range of events and tournament styles. Some No Limit Hold’em options include: progressive knockout (PKO), heads-up, and six-max. Other tournament options include HORSE, Badugi, Pot Limit Omaha, eight-game mix, and more.

This year, players will also find 12 World Championship events competitors to become world champions of a specific poker discipline. 

That includes a $10,300 World Championship NLHE Main Event with a $6 million guarantee. In total, Stars is offering six Main Events on Sept. 25 with over $14 million guaranteed including two World Championship events in NLHE and PLO. Here’s a look at all the major events just on Sept. 25 alone.

• 92-L: $109 NLHE Main Event – $2.5 million guaranteed
• 92-M: $1,050 NLHE Main Event, $4 million guaranteed
• 92-H: $10,300 World Championship of NLHE – $6 million guaranteed
• 94-L: $109 PLO Main Event – $250,000 guaranteed
• 94-M: $1,050 PLO Main Event, $600,000 guaranteed
• WCOOP 94-H: $10,300 World Championship of PLO – $1 million guaranteed

Players looking to win a World Championship will also find several other poker variants including: NLHE PKO, HORSE, PLO Hi/Lo, Badugi, Razz, and several others.

Even more planned for WCOOP

Following on from this year’s SCOOP, the WCOOP also sees the first official WCOOP women’s event. That tournament is set for Sept. 25 with a combined guaranteed prize pool of $38,000 across the three buy-in levels.

A World Championship women’s event is also planned for Sept. 18 with a $530 buy-in and $65,000 guarantee.

Stars is once again offering WCOOP leaderboards throughout the series. Players can battle for the Player of the Series title in Low, Medium, High, and Overall leaderboards. The standings come with an extra $100,000 in cash prizes for winners.

All WCOOP winners will receive a trophy, including larger versions for Main Event and leaderboard winners. Also new for 2022, a special trophy is planned for World Championship winners.

Satellites and freerolls a big part of the series

There are plenty of ways players can win their way into WCOOP. Fast Track satellites award tournament seats every day from Aug. 15 – Sept. 25. These include Main Event seats worth $10,300 and players can win a seat starting at just $0.50. The satellites offer a total of $100,000 in added value.

Special WCOOP Spin & Go’s will also award Main Event entries, other tournament tickets, and cash prizes. Those buy-ins start at just $0.50.

Stars is also hosting a Champions Freeroll on Sept. 4 for last year’s WCOOP champions with a chance to win a $10,300 NLHE Main Event seat. The freeroll offers $50,000 in tournament seats up for grabs. Here’s a look at the entire WCOOP schedule.

2022 PokerStars WCOOP

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The 20th edition of PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) concluded Wednesday and produced the biggest version ever. The festival awarded $126.5 million in prize money, crushing the original $100 million guarantee.

Over more than three weeks, the series attracted 1.4 million entries across the 102-event schedule. The six Main Events awarded a total of $18.4 million.

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Brazilians score big in WCOOP

Players from Brazil have run hot recently in major online poker tournaments. That included the WCOOP with players from the country securing the most wins in the series with 57.

Brazil’s Yuri “theNERDguy” Dzivielevski also scored three WCOOP wins. He also became the first ever to win three titles in back-to-back WCOOPs.

Dzivielevski accomplished the feat in 2020 and 2021, and recently spoke with PokerScout about signing as a member of Team partypoker. He spoke about his preparation to remain the world’s No. 1-ranked online poker player.

“I make sure I have some kind of interaction with poker every day, whether playing or studying,” he says. ”I try to play two to three times a week and study on the other days. I don’t have an exact number of hours that I devote to studying, but I study on demand.”

Those efforts certainly paid off. Along with the prize money, every WCOOP champion receives a newly designed trophy. 

PokerStars ambassadors grab WCOOP titles on same day

Several other players stood out in the series as well, including some members of the PokerStars ambassador ranks. Ben “Spraggy” Spragg and Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot both won the second WCOOP titles of their careers on the same day.

Talbot took down the $5,200 Midweek Freeze (Event 75-H) for $108,729. Spragg won the $1,050 Turbo PKO Freezeout (Event 83-H) for $67,968. The accomplishment produced plenty of excitement from Spragg.

📢 Sound on

“Oh my god I'm a champion.”

An emotional @spraggy seals #WCOOP title number two. 👇 pic.twitter.com/nxKEes1odP

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) September 10, 2021

Some other highlights from the series also included a trifecta of titles for the United Kingdom’s Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi. This player and Dzivielevski were the only two to accomplish the feat.

The Player of the Series also went to Shakerchi. He won the High leaderboard for $15,000. The Medium leaderboard winner went to “FONBET_RULIT” for $10,000 with the Low leaderboard going to “ekvilibryst” for $5,000.

In total, 13 players managed to secure two WCOOP titles. More than $1 million in value was added by PokerStars through giveaways and qualifiers.

COOP action continues in US, Southern Europe

Plenty of action remains for US-based PokerStars players. Championship of Online Poker series are currently underway for players in:

• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Michigan

The three series run concurrently through Sept. 27 featuring a total guaranteed prize pool of $4.5 million across the three state championships.

In Southern Europe, the Galactic Series is also taking place in France, Spain, and Portugal until Sept. 26. The series offers 303 events and more than €10 million guaranteed.

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Less than two weeks remain until the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) kicks off at PokerStars. The site released the official schedule for the series on Monday with 102 events set for Aug. 22 to Sept. 15.

PokerStars is celebrating the 20th edition of the series this year with more than $100 million guaranteed, the largest ever. WCOOP also promises $1 million up for grabs in promotional giveaways to add to the series.

“WCOOP is part of the PokerStars legacy,” PokerStars managing director of poker Severin Rasset said in a news release. “It’s where our community can battle to be a part of history and become a world champion in poker.

“This is the 20th edition of WCOOP and this year we’ve got our biggest WCOOP guarantee to date at $100 million, unique trophies for the champions, and so many different ways for players to qualify, including our Road to WCOOP promotion and 50/50 WCOOP Series up and running right now.”

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PokerStars WCOOP highlights

This year marks WCOOP payouts reaching $1 billion since its inception. The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) also reached that earlier this year.

When WCOOP cranks up, players will find Low, Medium, and High buy-in levels, ranging from $5.50 to $25,000. Several tournament types are also planned for players of all skills, levels, and bankrolls.

Players will also find six main events on Sept. 12 with over $16 million guaranteed. Those events include:

• 91-L: $55 NLHE – $1.5 million guaranteed
• 91-M: $530 NLHE – $2.5 million guaranteed
• 91-H: $5,200 NLHE – $10 million guaranteed
• 92-L: $109 Pot Limit Omaha 6-Max – $275,000 guaranteed
• 92-M: $1,050 PLO 6-Max – $750,000 guaranteed
• 92-H: $10,300 PLO 6-Max – $1 million guaranteed

Added value for series

This year’s WCOOP features the introduction of newly-designed winners’ trophies. Two types of trophies will be up for grabs.

The first style is awarded to Main Event winners and the overall Player of the Series. The second goes to High, Medium, and Low event winners and each of those Player of the Series champions.

PokerStars has also added $1 million in value through other promotions including:

• WCOOP leaderboards – Players can battle it out on the Low, Medium, High, and Overall leaderboards. Stars has put up $100,000 in cash prizes for winners.
• WCOOP Fast Track – WCOOP seats will be awarded every day through Sept. 12. These include Main Event seats worth $5,200 and players can win a seat from just $1. Satellite events add another $100,000 in value to the mix.
• WCOOP Ticket Machine – This promotion awards $750,000 from Aug. 23 to Sept. 13 including at least two main event seats each day. Players must take part in a WCOOP event to be entered into a daily drawing for a chance to win.
• Invitational Freeroll – All 2020 WCOOP champions are invited to play in an exclusive invitational freeroll on Sept. 22. The tournament awards 10 Main Event High tickets.
• Spin & Go’s – These WCOOP special events start at just $4 and award WCOOP Main Event entries, tickets, and cash prizes.
• Limited edition WCOOP merchandise – The first 1,000 players who qualify for the WCOOP Main Event Low win limited edition merchandise. This promotion is only open to .EU players.

The Road to WCOOP promotion is awarding $1 million worth of series tickets until Aug. 21. The 50/50 WCOOP Series also runs through Aug. 15 with $7.5 million in guaranteed prize money. All event winners earn a $5,200 Main Event entry. Here’s a look at the complete schedule.

2021 PokerStars WCOOP

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The massive payouts in international tournament series continued over the last month and that certainly included PokerStars. The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) came to a close last week with all three Main Event winners crowned and $100 million awarded to players.

That total exceeded the original $80 million guarantee with 1,148,057 entries across the 75-event schedule.

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WCOOP main events pay out big cash 

The series featured three main events and tournaments for all levels of bankroll. Portuguese player Andre “PTFisherman23” Marques took down the $5,200 High Main Event for more than $1.1 million.

The title came after the final three players cut a deal. Marques, who has $144,000 in live tournament winnings, topped a 1,977-entry field.

It marked the 14th consecutive year the High Main Event winner has earned a seven-figure prize. The runner-up and third-place winners also all took home more than $1 million.

In the $530 Medium Main Event, “1mSoWeeeaK” started as final table chip leader and went on to win the title. The Thai player topped a field of 7,105 entries for $504,584.

Russia’s “Y.Zakharov” took runner-up for $359,680 while Germany’s “$harkFlo” finished third for $256,392. All top-five finishers collected six-figure prizes as well.

In the $55 Low Main Event, “klimono” capitalized on entering the final table as chip leader as well. This Polish player went on to take the championship for $186,841 in under 90 minutes.

The champion eliminated seven of eight final table opponents single-handedly. “klimono” accumulated almost 90% of all chips before heads-up play against Belgium’s “Tangawi26,” which lasted only one hand.

“Tangawi26” added $132,092 for runner-up and the United Kingdom’s “ID IMPOSS” for $93,403. The event attracted a massive field of 38,660 and $1.9 million prize pool.

A look at some other PokerStars winners

The WCOOP title came with some unique twists this year. PokerStars offered 15 champions exclusive “2021 Slam Packages” to any player winning a “Sunday Slam” WCOOP tournament.

The packages give these winners Main Event High entries into 2021 WCOOP, SCOOP, and Stadium Series. The packages were a nice added bonus for players.

In the battle for WCOOP Player of the Series, “Zapahzamazki” earned the top spot. On the country leaderboard, Brazil won with 35 event titles.

PokerStars ambassador Ben “Spraggy” Spragg also picked up his first ever WCOOP title. On the opening night of the series, he won Event 5-L for $4,349 over 12,192 other entries.

The series is part of a massive September for PokerStars. The company has more than $200 million in guarantees spread across its platforms throughout the month.

Another upcoming PokerStars series hasn’t been announced yet. But with online poker surging during the Coronavirus pandemic, there’s a good shot more is right around the corner.

For more about PokerStars including exclusive PokerScout bonuses, click here.