$80 Million Reasons to Love PokerStars WCOOP 2023 Series
The full schedule for this year’s PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) has been announced. Featuring $80 million in tournament guarantees, the 2023 WCOOP series will run from September 10th until October 4th. Buy-ins range between $5.50 and $25,000.
Portuguese professional poker player Luís Faria won last year’s WCOOP claiming a $1.3 million prize. ©PokerStars
Satellites for WCOOP events are already underway – entry for these starts at just $0.55. Main Event seats can also be won via special edition Spin & Go’s ($0.75, $4 and $20 entry). Fast-track satellites into any of three Main Events begin from just $2.20, meaning the WCOOP is open to players with wide-ranging bankrolls.
2,105 Champions Come of Age
The WCOOP was established 21 years ago, and according to PokerStars, it “remains the online tournament series that still gets the pulse racing faster than any other. Ask online players for their ambitions, and a WCOOP title is still at the top,” the online site’s blog declares.
Few could have predicted when PokerStars players first contested WCOOP in 2002 that it would still capture the imagination more than two decades later. During those first 21 years, players accounted for more than 7.8 million entries as 2,105 champions from more than 70 countries were crowned. In prize money terms, previous WCOOP events have added up to more than $1.2 billion.
What Is on Offer in WCOOP 2023?
The entire WCOOP 2023 series features 340 events played over 25 days. There are 12 World Championship events for disciplines such as HORSE, 2-7 Triple Draw, Razz and 8-Game, in addition to the more traditional No Limit Hold’em and Omaha.
Furthermore, three Main Events come with a combined $12.5 million in guarantees. The $109 WCOOP Main Event is underwritten for $2.5 million. At least $4 million will be distributed between the $1,050 WCOOP Main Event winners. The centrepiece $10,300 WCOOP Main Event boasts a $6 million guarantee.
Four 2023 WCOOP leaderboards are offering a combined $100,000 in prizes. The person crowned the ‘WCOOP Player of the Series’ will benefit to the tune of $25,000. Individual winners of the Low, Medium and High leaderboards will claim $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000 respectively.
Brazil Led the Way in 2022 WCOOP
With 367 tournaments, 2022’s WCOOP was a slightly longer affair. It generated prize pools of $108,569,090 and Brazil, producing 70 tournament winners, was the most prosperous nation. The UK (42 event winners), Austria (28), Sweden (21), Germany (18), Ukraine (16), Canada (15) and Norway (14) followed.
No Brazilian players reached the $10,300 WCOOP Main Event final table. It fell to the Portuguese professional poker player Luís Faria (using the alias ‘luis_faria’), who collected $1.3 million for his victory over 759 rival entries.
$7 Million on the Line in NACOOP
Strict regulation means American-based players are prevented from playing the WCOOP. However, PokerStars has announced outline details of its inaugural North America Championship of Online Poker (NACOOP), which will run from September 15th until October 2nd.
A 70-plus NACOOP tournament schedule will allow players from Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Canada’s Ontario province to compete for a slice of $7 million in guaranteed prize pools.
With Michigan and New Jersey players in a shared player liquidity pool, they will play for $3 million in guaranteed prizes. Pennsylvania’s players can take a shot at an allocated $2.5 million offering, while PokerStars players from Ontario will be assured of prize pools totalling at least $1.5 million.
A full schedule of events has yet to be announced. But NACOOP highlights will include a $300 main event, a $2,500 super high roller championship, 20 trophy events, $10k leaderboards and multiple game formats.
