PokerStars Announces Details of the 20th WCOOP
Leading online poker site PokerStars has announced details of its forthcoming World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Starting on August 22, it boasts $100 million in tournament guarantees. An additional $100,000 in cash prizes will be distributed between the winners of three Series Leader Boards.
PokerStars 2021 World Championship of Online Poker boasts $100 million in guaranteed prizes. ©PokerStars
The 2021 WCOOP is an anniversary edition and to celebrate the 20th incarnation of the renowned series, PokerStars has given every event in the 102-event, three-tier series an ambitious guarantee. The biggest is an underwritten $10 million for the $5,200 buy-in WCOOP main event. It starts on September 12.
Despite rival online poker sites running valuable tournaments during the same period – namely an international World Series of Poker online event at GGPoker and the World Poker Tour hosted by PartyPoker – the 2021 WCOOP is on course to become one of the richest online poker series in history. It features 85 more tournaments than the corresponding WCOOP in 2020.
WCOOP For All Pockets
Big spenders will obviously contribute heavily to the WCOOP prize pools. For those with deep pockets there is a $25,000 entry Super High Roller which has a $3 million guarantee. Complementing that event are five $10,300 entry ‘high rollers’ and an additional ten $5,200 entry events.
But each and every tournament has three tiers: Low, Medium and High. So, using the $5,200 main event as an example, there is also matching $55 (low) and $530 (medium) main event versions. WCOOP entries start at just $5.50 and there are games for aficionados of numerous poker variants.
The games on offer include Pot Limit Omaha, HORSE (the acronym for the mixed game of Hold’em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight-or-Better Hi-Low Stud), Limit Hold’em, Badugi, Heads-Up Hold’em, Five-Card Omaha and more. Formats include hyper-turbos and progressive knockout freezeouts.
A nice touch by the organizers is the introduction of a trophy for all WCOOP tournament winners. Furthermore, the first 1,000 players who qualify, via satellites or Spin & Go’s, for the ‘low’ WCOOP Main Event will receive exclusive PokerStars merchandise.
Casino and Sports Also Star
Clearly PokerStars, which has been in a battle for supremacy of the internet’s online cash gameplay with GGPoker since June, are clearly still very focused on poker. That’s despite a recent report showing the bulk of PokerStars income now derives from its online casino and sportsbook and not card playing.
Like Paddy Power, Betfair, Sportsbet and a handful of other brands, PokerStars is owned by Flutter Entertainment PLC. The company’s share price spiked last week on the back of pleasing trading figures announced in the company’s interim results presentation.
On Tuesday, during a conference call where he gave Flutter’s stakeholders a trading update, Peter Jackson, Group CEO of Flutter was full on enthusiasm for PokerStars current foothold and his company’s future.
“I think we are doing great things around the live streaming category in poker, where PokerStars branded and sponsored content had around two thirds share of all poker views on Twitch. So that part of the businesses is doing well. And I’m pleased that we’re making some changes to the way in which we look at reward and generosity for those – that part of the business. So, we’re trialing a new reward scheme. “– Peter Jackson, Flutter Entertainment Group CEO Peter Jackson
Rewards for All
PokerStars are currently halfway through a trial which aims to simplify how it rewards its most loyal players. According to the site, 20% of its global player base are currently testing the new scheme.
A simplified version of what has been in place for some considerable time, if implemented all PokerStars players will receive 15% of their rake in rewards. Previously the highest stakes cash tables were excluded from any benefits, this will no longer be the case.
Additional Monthly Poker Challenges will have the potential to boost this 15% base rate up substantially with as much as 65% of rake and fees being returned to individual players.
So, it would appear PokerStars loyal players will soon be better off than ever. It is also very likely the online poker room, which dealt its first real-money hands in December 2001, will create a few new poker millionaires during the coming WCOOP period.
