PokerStars Launches 25th WCOOP Series
The anniversary run spans 350 tournaments, nearly $40 million in guarantees and the first edition under the PokerStars Network.
PokerStars launched the 25th World Championship of Online Poker on Sept. 6, and the anniversary series runs through Sept. 30. The schedule covers 350 tournaments across 121 numbered events, with total guarantees near $40 million and a trophy for every winner.
As reported in August, PokerStars had already published the full slate for the series, including the 350-tournament format and the nearly $40 million guarantee pool. Pokerfuse says this is the first WCOOP played since the launch of the PokerStars Network, after Betfair Poker UK moved onto PokerStars software and joined the same player pool as PokerStars dot-com.
Buy-ins start at $5.50 and rise to a $25,000 Super High Roller. Most events are split into Low, Medium, and High tiers, and the schedule stretches across at least 18 poker variants, with recurring PokerStars brands such as Thursday Thrill, Super Tuesday, Sunday Warm-Up, Sunday Kickoff, Saturday KO, and Wednesday Surprise.
The centerpiece is six Main Events with more than $6.5 million in combined guarantees. PokerStars has split them across two days, with No-Limit Hold’em on Sept. 27 and Pot-Limit Omaha on Sept. 28. The $10,300 NLHE High event is billed as the World Championship of NLHE and the flagship of the whole schedule.
The $5 million Sunday Million 20th Anniversary event also opened on Sept. 6 and is included in the total guarantee figure. TightPoker also noted that as WCOOP got underway, Espen Jorstad picked up his third career WCOOP title. Steve Clarricoats, PokerStars’ associate director of online scheduling, said a WCOOP victory is “a piece of poker history” and that winners join an exclusive group of players who have conquered one of the toughest online tournament series in the world.
