PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Starts Next Week
$30 Million in Combined Prize Pools is Guaranteed
The Olympics is the world’s stage for the ultimate display of athletic talent, and the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) could be considered the equivalent for online poker players. While the Chinese gymnasts flipped on the floor exercise to claim victory, poker players may have to coin-flip for theirs. The 2008 WCOOP is where poker players can showcase their talents on a global stage, all while competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars and online poker’s most prestigious titles. Promising to turn out the biggest prize pools online poker has ever seen, the WCOOP is just around the corner, beginning next week.
The series starts Friday, Sept. 5 with the first of 33 events. The kick-off tournament is a $215 buy-in six-handed no-limit hold’em event that begins at 1:30 p.m. ET. It features a staggering $1 million-guaranteed prize pool. There are seven events with guarantees of $1 million or more this year, and the combined guaranteed prize pool money over the entire series is $30 million, twice that of last year’s WCOOP. Ten new events are being introduced this year, including a high-roller no-limit hold’em event tournament with a buy-in of $10,300 and a $25,500 buy-in high-roller heads-up tournament.
The main event is a $5,200 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament and is slated for Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The two-day event has a $10 million-guaranteed prize pool. Last year, the WCOOP hosted “only” 23 events. The main event guaranteed a “mere” $5 million. Slightly fewer than 3,000 entrants took part in the 2007 championship tournament, which lasted almost 24 hours. The winner was TheV0id, who was later disqualified after investigation proved that the player used multiple accounts during the tournament. All players who cashed moved up one money spot, and second-place finisher ka$ino ultimately nabbed the first-place money of nearly $1.4 million. Team PokerStars pro Vanessa “LadyMaverick” Rousso was bumped into a second-place finish, earning her more than $700,000 for her biggest poker cash to date, online or otherwise.
The following is the full WCOOP schedule:
| Date/Time (ET) | Buy-In* |
Event | Guarantee |
| Fri, Sept. 5, 14:30 | $215 | No-limit hold'em (six-max) | $1 million |
| Fri, Sept. 5, 16:30 | $215 | Pot-limit five-card draw | $100,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 6, 14:30 | $215 | Limit hold'em | $300,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 6, 16:30 | $215 | Deuce-to-seven triple-draw | $100,000 |
| Sun, Sept. 7, 14:30 | $10,300 | High-roller no-limit hold'em | $2 million |
| Sun, Sept. 7, 16:30 | $530 | No-limit hold'em** | $3 million |
| Mon, Sept. 8, 14:30 | $215 | Pot-limit Omaha (six-max) | $300,000 |
| Mon, Sept. 8, 16:30 | $320 | Eight-game mixed event | $200,000 |
| Tue, Sept. 9, 14:30 | $215 | No-limit hold'em | $400,000 |
| Tue, Sept. 9, 16:30 | $215 | Razz | $100,000 |
| Wed, Sept. 10, 14:30 | $320 | Pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better | $300,000 |
| Wed, Sept. 10, 16:30 | $320 | Mixed hold'em (six-max) | $300,000 |
| Thu, Sept. 11, 14:30 | $215 | No-limit hold'em | $1 million |
| Thu, Sept. 11, 16:30 | $320 | Seven-card stud | $100,000 |
| Fri, Sept. 12, 14:30 | $320 | No-limt hold'em (heads up) | $500,000 |
| Fri, Sept. 12, 16:30 | $215 | Pot-limit Omaha (one rebuy, one add-on) | $300,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 13, 14:30 | $530 | Pot-limit hold'em (six-max) | $400,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 13, 16:30 | $215 | H.O.R.S.E. | $300,000 |
| Sun, Sept. 14, 14:30 | $25,000 | High-roller heads-up no-limit hold'em | $1.6 million |
| Sun, Sept. 14, 16:30 | $1,050 | No-limit hold'em** | $3 million |
| Mon, Sept.15, 14:30 | $530 | Seven-card stud eight-or-better | $200,000 |
| Mon, Sept. 15, 16:30 | $530 | Mixed Omaha eight-or-better | $200,000 |
| Tue, Sept. 16, 14:30 | $530 | No-limit hold'em (one rebuy, one add-on) | $500,000 |
| Tue, Sept. 16, 16:30 | $530 | Deuce-to-seven single-draw | $200,000 |
| Wed, Sept. 17, 14:30 | $320 | Pot-limit Omaha with rebuys | $500,000 |
| Wed, Sept. 17, 16:30 | $320 | No-limit hold'em (six-max) | $500,000 |
| Thu, Sept. 18, 14:30 | $530 | No-limit hold'em triple shootout | $300,000 |
| Thu, Sept. 18, 16:30 | $530 | Limit Omaha eight-or-better | $400,000 |
| Fri, Sept. 19, 14:30 | $530 | No-limt hold'em with rebuys (six-max) | $400,000 |
| Fri, Sept. 19, 16:30 | $1,050 | Pot-limit Omaha | $500,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 20, 14:30 | $1,050 | Limit hold'em (six-max) | $500,000 |
| Sat, Sept. 20, 16:30 | $10,300 | H.O.R.S.E. | $500,000 |
| Sun, Sept. 21, 16:30 | $5,300 | No-limt hold'em main event** | $10 million |
PokerStars is currently running satellites, and players can take advantage of a PokerStars deposit bonus from Card Player to get started.
* Buy-ins include entry fees
** Two-day event
