The PokerStars WCOOP Is Well Underway

September 17, 2013

27 events found their winners, 39 still to go

The PokerStars WCOOP Is Well UnderwayPokerStars is now running the 12th annual World Championship of Online Poker, with the first 27 tournaments already concluded. It is considered by many as the biggest series ever played as PokerStars puts up $40 million in guaranteed prizes for the events that run across three weeks.

When PokerStars first launched the WCOOP back in 2008, it was meant as an online answer to the World Series of Poker. Although the buy-ins are not as big as the ones found in Las Vegas during the summer, the WCOOP included 356 tournaments in its 11 years history, with over $322 million awarded to 87,000 participants. Now, the 66-event schedule is more than what the WSOP had in Vegas this year and comes incredibly close to the entire circle if we also consider Europe and the new Asia-Pacific stops.  The winner of a WCOOP tournament can claim a prize big enough to rival the winners of the major live tournaments covered by the best casino news. On top of all this, most tournaments can even be played from a mobile device.

Huge guaranteed prize pools

It is no wonder then that the two poker series share more than a handful of players, including some of the biggest names in the industry and known tournament grinders. Since it is the main tournament series held by the biggest online poker room in the world, the place where the WCOOP really leaves the competition in the dust is in the guaranteed prize pools. After starting from an 8-tournament series with less than $100,000 guaranteed for each, the 66 events now available show how much the industry and the poker room have grown over the years. The Main Event has a guaranteed prize pool of $8 million, more than all live tournaments in history, except the recent Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open that had a cool $10 million guarantee and went well beyond it.

[geocode id=2]

As also highlighted by the WSOP this summer, the WCOOP is focused on variety. The increasing number of online players makes it essential to include different types of tournaments and game variations. No-limit hold’em remains the most popular, but the series covers just about every game selection and tournament format available; while the buy-ins range from $109 to $10,300 and plenty of satellites to get in for less. As also mentioned before, most of the events can be played while on the move, thanks to the great mobile app that can be downloaded for free.

Better options, better players

Another thing that can be observed from the long history of the WCOOP, the general skill level of the players has risen significantly over the years; something that can also be noticed from the fact that it is incredibly difficult to win multiple events. The 17 players that returned to the winners list account for just 7.8% of all WCOOP winners. Daniel “djk123” Kelly, a WSOP bracelet winner, has the most WCOOP titles as he won 4 tournaments so far. Pro players such as Jason Mercier, Bertrand Grospellier and Shaun Deeb only have two wins each.

The many online poker rooms available nowadays that offer options for just about every type of player make it very easy to enjoy the game and almost mandatory to constantly get better at it in order to stay afloat. Try amazing 3D poker for the best looking poker on the internet, filled with great graphics, animations and realistic gameplay.

The series will continue every day until September 30th, when the Main Event will crown its winner and award the guaranteed $1.25 million first place prize. However, if history is any indication, the $8 million guarantee will be well in the rearview mirror by the time the registration closes.

Written by Beatrix · Filed Under Poker News | Leave a Comment 

Voice Your Opinion

You must be logged in to post a comment.