Pokerstars WCOOP

There are a multitude of online poker events hosted by the top poker sites, but there are none that truly compare to that of the PokerStars WCOOP, otherwise known as the World Championship of Online Poker. PokerStars hosts this incredible series of events each year, and each year the event gets bigger, better and more lucrative.

In its inaugural 2002 season, the WCOOP seemed impressive enough, featuring 9 events with overall prize pools totaling more than $730,000. However, when you compare that to the latest 2009 WCOOP, held last summer, there isn’t much to compare. In fact, the 2009 WCOOP is closely comparable to the World Series of Poker itself.

With each new PokerStars WCOOP, the events list grows, and the prize pools rise to new, unimagined heights. In 2003, 11 events paid more than $2.7 million. The 2004 WCOOP grew once more to 12 events with $6 million guaranteed. 2005’s WCOOP doubled the prizes to $12 million over 15 events. Players in the 2006 WCOOP were awarded more than $18 million over 18 events.

In 2007, the PokerStars WCOOP reached all new heights by guaranteeing $20 million over 23 events, 5 more than the previous year. Then in 2008, the online poker series made history by paying out $39,958,000 across 33 events; 10 more than the 2007 WCOOP.

The PokerStars 2009 WCOOP was, once more, a milestone in the online poker industry, rivaling even the World Series of Poker 45 exceptional events that paid out – drum roll please? – $51,652,800 in overall prize pools!

The PokerStars WCOOP is by far the world’s largest online poker tournament series. The latest installment attracted players from 140 countries, registering 112,739 participants in all, with 43,973 unique competitors.

The 2009 PokerStars WCOOP Main Event was the most impressive in the history of the series, carrying a guaranteed prize pool of $10 million. The buy-in stood at $5,000+$200, paid by 2,144 entrants (including those who won the buy-in through satellites and qualifiers). That boosted the guaranteed prize to even higher to $10,720,000.

In the end, 306 players shared in the excessive prize pool, but none more so than Russian native Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, whose skilled efforts awarded him an awesome $1,715,200 for the WCOOP title victory. Even the runner-up, “Udon Wannit”, walked away with $1,286,400 – almost the exact same prize guaranteed to the 9th place finisher in this November’s final table of the 2009 WSOP.

Buy-ins for the various WCOOP events range from $100 up to $5,000 for the Main Event. While most can afford to enter the standard events, the WCOOP Main Event carries a hefty price tag for many online poker players. But no matter what event you wish to participate in, PokerStars always hosts hundreds of satellites and qualifiers, via MTT and SNG Steps tournaments, giving players the chance to participate in the WCOOP for as little as a few dollars.

There’s simply no telling what Poker Stars has in store for its online poker players next summer when the 8th annual World Championship of Online Poker rolls around once more. If the online poker tournament series continue to grow in the same fashion as history has revealed, there will surely be even more events with at least $60 million doled out among the top finishers.

Considering the incredible rate of active player traffic, and steady growth thereof – PokerStars is the world’s number one online poker room after all – we can only imagine how soon the PokerStars WCOOP will deliver its first $100 million in series prize pools.