The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was established in 2002 and is widely considered one of the largest and most prestigious online poker tournament series.
Established in 2002, with just nine events, the 2021 edition features 306 events spread across Low, Medium and High buy-in levels.
Some of the best poker players in the world have won WCOOP titles, with former WCOOP Main Event winners going on to become some of the biggest names in poker, including J.C. "area23JC" Tran, Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko and Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz.
WCOOP Events
When the WCOOP was launched, there was originally one tier of buy-in. At the very first WCOOP the buy-ins ranges from $109 to $1,050.
By 2016, the largest buy-in event was $102,000 - the very first six-figure online buy-in tournament. The event was won by Benjamin ��bencb789�� Rolle for $1,172,361.
The following year, WCOOP introduced a second tier of buy-ins. While the High events continued to have buy-ins ranging from $1,050 to $10,300, the low tier had buy-ins from $11 to $1,050.
In 2018, the WCOOP expanded to the three tier format it retains to this day: the Low tier ($2.20-$215), Medium ($55-$2,100) and High ( $215-$10,300) tiers.
| Year | # of Events |
|---|
| 2002 | 9 |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2004 | 12 |
| 2005 | 15 |
| 2006 | 18 |
| 2007 | 23 |
| 2008 | 33 |
| 2009 | 45 |
| 2010 | 62 |
| 2011 | 62 |
| 2012 | 65 |
| 2013 | 66 |
| 2014 | 66 |
| 2015 | 70 |
| 2016 | 82 |
| 2017 | 82 |
| 2018 | 62 |
| 2019 | 73 |
| 2020 | 102 |
WCOOP Games
Every year, the WCOOP schedule features hundreds of events for various poker games. Although predominantly No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, the WCOOP schedule often features several mixed games.
| Year | Events Added |
|---|
| 2002 | Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo |
| 2003 | Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo |
| 2006 | Razz, HORSE |
| 2007 | 5-Card Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw |
| 2008 | 8-Game, 2-7 Single Draw |
| 2009 | Badugi |
| 2019 | Short Deck |
WCOOP NLHE Main Event-H Winners (2002-19)
| Year | Buy-in | Player | Country | Prize | Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|
| 2002 | $1,050 | MultiMarine | Sweden | $65,450 | 238 | $238,000 |
| 2003 | $1,050 | Joseph "DeOhGee" Cordi | United States | $222,750 | 891 | $891,000 |
| 2004 | $2,600 | Edgar "Ragde" Skjervold | Norway | $424,945 | 843 | $2,104,500 |
| 2005 | $2,600 | Jordan "Panella86" Berkowitz | United States | $577,342 | 1,494 | $3,735,000 |
| 2006 | $2,600 | J.C. "area23JC" Tran | United States | $670,194 | 2,510 | $6,275,000 |
| 2007 | $2,600 | Kyle "ka$ino1" Schroeder | United States | $1,378,331 | 2,998 | $7,495,000 |
| 2008 | $5,200 | Carter "ckingusc" King | United States | $1,265,432 | 2,185 | $10,925,000 |
| 2009 | $5,200 | Yevgeniy "Jovial Gent" Timoshenko | United States | $1,715,200 | 2,144 | $10,720,000 |
| 2010 | $5,200 | Tyson "POTTERPOKER" Marks | United States | $2,278,098 | 2,443 | $12,215,000 |
| 2011 | $5,200 | Thomas "Kallllle" Pedersen | Denmark | $1,260,019 | 1,627 | $8,135,000 |
| 2012 | $5,200 | Marat "maratik" Sharafutdinov | Russia | $1,000,907 | 1,825 | $9,125,000 |
| 2013 | $5,200 | David "PlayinWasted" Kaufmann | Germany | $1,493,499 | 2,133 | $10,665,000 |
| 2014 | $5,200 | Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz | Austria | $1,300,000* | 2,142 | $10,710,000 |
| 2015 | $5,200 | Kristof "Coenaldinho7" Coenen | Belgium | $1,300,000* | 1,995 | $10,000,000 |
| 2016 | $5,000 | Jonas "llJaYJaYll" Lauck | Germany | $1,517,541 | 2,091 | $10,052,880 |
| 2017 | $5,200 | Steven "SvZff" van Zadelhoff | Netherlands | $1,624,502 | 2,183 | $10,915,000 |
| 2018 | $5,200 | Ezequiel Waigel** | Argentina | $1,529,000 | | 2,044 |
| 2019 | $5,200 | BigBlindBets | United Kingdom | $1,665,962 | 2,236 | $11,180,000 |
| 2020 | $5,200 | Andre "PTFisherman23" Marques | Portugual | $1,147,271* | 1,977 | $10,000,000 |
*denotes deal
**in 2020 it was discovered that original champion "wann2play" had their account frozen, with 2018 WCOOP winnings redistributed. Runner-up Ezequiel Waigel was awarded the win instead.
WCOOP Player of the Series
| Year | Player | Country |
|---|
| 2009 | Dan "djk123" Kelly | United States |
| 2010 | James "Andy McLEOD" Obst | Australia |
| 2011 | Joel Adam "2FLY2TILT" Gordon | Spain |
| 2012 | Mikal "mikal12345" Blomlie | Norway |
| 2013 | Yngve "Skyoen" Steen | Norway |
| 2014 | Alan "Mr Negreanu" Gold | United Kingdom |
| 2015 | Shaun "shaundeeb" Deeb | Mexico |
| 2016 | Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez | Uruguay |
| 2017 | Maksim "ImluckNuts" Pisarenko | Russia |
| 2018 | Denis "aDrENalin710" Strebnkov | Russia |
| 2019 | Jussi "calvin7v" Nevanlinna | Finland |
| 2020 | Rinat "Zapahzamazki" Lyapin | Russia |
