2010 WCOOP Preview: Highlights from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 WCOOP
The PokerStars 2010 World Championship of Online Poker is set to begin on September 5 and we decided to take a look back at the WCOOP from its beginning. After Chris Moneymaker's Main Event win at the 2003 World Series of Poker, the WCOOP's numbers rose in 2003 from 2002. After the ESPN-viewing world was exposed to Moneymaker's success, poker's popularity skyrocketed and that was certainly reflected in the numbers drawn by the WCOOP. Some of today's best-known players began making their marks in online poker between 2004-2006 and it showed in the WCOOP results, especially in 2006 when Tom Dwan and Annette Obrestad earned six-figure pay days.
2004 WCOOP
12 Events
10,085 - total entrants
$6,002,300 - total prize pool
Largest Cash - Edgar "Radge" Skjervold ($424,945.26)
Skjervold's victory in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em championship event did not come easy. He had to get though two future members of Team PokerStars as Anh Van "Vandiesel" Nguyen and William "William" Thorson finished in sixth and ninth place, respectively.
Most Final Tables Made - Naslund (2), kingori (2), and Steve "Rabscuttle" Cowley (2)
Notable Results
Anh Van "Vandiesel" Nguyen: Sixth place out of 843 entrants in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship event for $92,730.
Fabrice "fabsoul" Soulier: First place out of 728 entrants in a $500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for $60,230.
John "jdags21" D'Agostino: Second place out of 454 entrants in a $500 Stud H/L event for $38,590.
William "William" Thorson: Ninth place out of 843 entrants in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em championship event for $32,666.25.
Brett "get crunk" Richey: Fifth place out of 513 entrants in a $500 Omaha H/L event for $14,107.50.
2005 WCOOP
15 Events
19,727 - total entrants
$12,783,900 - total prize pool
Largest Cash - "Panella86" ($577,342)
The $577,342 top prize that "Panella86" earned came after defeating a field that saw Mark "Buster Love" Seif finish in ninth place and none other than PokerNews'Tony G place tenth.
Most Final Tables Made - Dan "Lenny" Heimiller (2) and Daniel "ziggy47" Bokesch (2)
Notable Results
Jeff "jpapola" Papola: Second place out of 635 entrants in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Triple Shootout event for $122,974.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier: Eighth place out of 1,790 entrants in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $37,232.
Antanas "wraptduck" Guoga (Tony G.): Tenth place out of 1,494 entrants in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship event for $29,880
Chris "Money800" Moneymaker: Third place out of 529 entrants in a $500 Stud H/L event for $25,497.80.
Tom "Hold_emNL" Dwan: Eighth place out of 1,185 entrants in a $500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for $13,627.50.
Jennifer "jennicide" Leigh: Ninth place out of 686 entrants in a $1,000 Limit Hold'em event for $10,976.
2006 WCOOP
18 Events
27,399 - total entrants
$18,674,300 - total prize pool
Largest Cash - JC "area23JC" Tran ($670,194)
The cream of the crop certainly rose to the top in the 2006 WCOOP Championship event. Tran topped a final table that included Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad and Nenad "serb2127" Medic, finishing in seventh and ninth place respectively.
Most Final Tables Made - Kyle "kwob20" Bowker (2 wins), Duc Thang "Evelyn" Nguyen (2), "Sassenage" (2), "doidovarrido" (2), and "trollguttn" (2)
Other Notable Results:
Chad "stelladora" Brown: First place out of 175 entrants in a $5,000 HORSE event for $223,125.
Tom "Hold_emNL" Dwan: Second place out of 175 entrants in a $5,000 HORSE event for $152,425.
Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad: Seventh place out of 2,510 entrants in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship event for $163,150.
Nenad "serb2127" Medic: Ninth place out of 2,510 entrants in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Championship event for $79,065.
Eugene "MyRabbiFoo" Katchalov: Fourth place out of 175 entrants in a $5,000 HORSE event for $70,875.
Humberto "Humberto B." Brenes: Second place out of 867 entrants in a $500 Pot-Limit Omaha event for $58,089.
For full details on the 2010 WCOOP schedule, check out our 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Page.
PokerStars have once again announced an exclusive $10,000 Sunday Million Freeroll for Club PokerNews members in October. This is the fourth month in a row our players have benefited from a 10k satellite freeroll to some of the biggest online tournaments in the world.
