PokerStars has unveiled the full schedule for the 25th edition of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), with the series set to run from September 6 through September 30.
This year’s WCOOP features 121 numbered events and 350 individual tournaments, with most events offering Low, Medium and High buy-in tiers. The schedule covers a wide range of poker formats and stakes, from $5.50 events through to a $25,000 Super High Roller.
It is also the first WCOOP since the launch of the PokerStars Network, with Betfair Poker UK having moved to PokerStars software and now sharing the same player pool as PokerStars dot-com.
Every tournament winner will receive a trophy, meaning 350 players will be crowned WCOOP champions during the series. The operator used the same approach during this year’s SCOOP, with a trophy awarded to the winner of every tournament.
“A WCOOP victory is a piece of poker history. Every champion joins an exclusive group of players who have conquered one of the toughest online tournament series in the world,” said Steve Clarricoats, PokerStars Associate Director of Online Scheduling. “For professional players, it can represent one of the most important titles of their careers and for recreational players, it’s an achievement they have dreamed of.”
Highlights of WCOOP 2026
The WCOOP schedule features six Main Events, split between three No-Limit Hold’em tournaments and three Pot-Limit Omaha events.
The NLHE Main Events carry buy-ins of $109, $1,050 and $10,300, with combined guarantees of $5.75 million. The $109 Low Main Event guarantees $1.25 million, while the $1,050 Medium Main Event carries a $2 million guarantee.
The $10,300 High Main Event, the World Championship of NLHE, has a $2.5 million guarantee. That figure is down from the $5 million guarantee the event carried in previous years, but it remains one of the biggest individual guarantees on the schedule.
The PLO Main Events use the same three buy-in levels, with guarantees of $100,000, $250,000 and $400,000 respectively.
- $109 NLHE Main Event L – $1.25M Gtd – September 27
- $1,050 NLHE Main Event M – $2M Gtd – September 27
- $10,300 NLHE Main Event H/NLHE Championship – $2.5M Gtd – September 27
- $109 PLO Main Event L – $100,000 Gtd – September 28
- $1,050 PLO Main Event M, $250,000 Gtd – September 28
- $10,300 PLO Main Event H/PLO Championship – $400,000 Gtd – September 28
Eight additional Championship events are spread across the schedule, covering disciplines including HORSE, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, PLO8 and 8-Game. Most carry a $1,050 or higher buy-in, while the Women’s World Championship has a $215 buy-in.
The schedule also includes a number of familiar PokerStars tournament brands. The Thursday Thrill, Super Tuesday, Sunday Warm-Up, Sunday Kickoff, Saturday KO and Wednesday Surprise all return, while Mystery Bounty, Progressive KO and other formats appear throughout the series.
Buy-ins range from $5.50 to $25,000, giving players a wide range of entry points. PRO counted at least 18 poker variants in the schedule, including NLHE, PLO, PLO8, NLO8, HORSE, Razz, Badugi, Stud, 8-Game and both forms of 2-7 Lowball draw.
As tallied by Poker Industry PRO, the WCOOP 2026 schedule carries around $40 million in total guarantees, including the $5 million Sunday Million Anniversary event.
- $5,200 NLHE 6-Max Championship – $400,000 Gtd – September 6
- $1,050 HORSE Championship – $50,000 Gtd – September 7
- $1,050 Razz Championship – $40,000 Gtd – September 10
- $1,050 NLHE PKO Championship – $500,000 Gtd – September 13
- $1,050 Triple Draw Championship – $40,000 Gtd – September 15
- $1,050 PLO8 Championship – $100,000 Gtd – September 17
- $215 Women’s NLHE Championship – $10K Gtd – September 20
- $2,100 8-Game Championship – $80,000 Gtd – September 24
Sunday Million Anniversary Joins WCOOP
The summer-long Sunday Million 20th Anniversary is also incorporated into the WCOOP schedule, with its $5 million guarantee making it the largest-guaranteed tournament in the series. The $109 phased tournament has been running since June 28, with daily Phase 1 heats continuing through September 6 before all remaining players regroup for Phase 2 on September 6–7.
It will be the only Sunday Million tournament on this year’s WCOOP schedule. Previous editions have featured regular Sunday Million events at several buy-in levels, including $109, $215 and $530, but there are none listed separately this year.
That also means the $5 million Anniversary event is not really an additional tournament being launched with WCOOP, it’s an existing summer-long event whose final phase coincides with the start of WCOOP.
WCOOP Promotions Return — Over $600,000 in Prizes
PokerStars will run its WCOOP leaderboards alongside the tournament schedule, with $100,000 in prize money available across the competitions.
There will be three tiered leaderboards, covering the Low, Medium and High buy-in levels, as well as an overall Player of the Series leaderboard. Each leaderboard winner will receive a trophy.
The WCOOP Lucky Dip will once again give players the opportunity to win WCOOP tournament tickets, with $500,000 worth of tickets available through the promotion.
Power Path satellites will return as another route into WCOOP events. On September 6, a $55 Power Path Express will award more than $175,000 in WCOOP Gold, Silver and Bronze Pass packages, along with Main Event tickets. The daily Stars Spinner is also awarding tickets to the Power Path Express through September 5.
Special WCOOP editions of Spin & Go tournaments are also running, with buy-ins of $0.75, $4 and $20, awarding Main Event tickets as the top prize, including the $10,300 edition.
The 2025 WCOOP generated nearly $74 million in prize money from 763,364 entries across 378 tournaments after starting with $65 million in guarantees.
This year’s series is slightly smaller at 350 tournaments, but the format remains familiar, combining the established WCOOP tournament brands with Championship events, major Sunday tournaments and a broad selection of poker variants.
The 25th WCOOP begins September 6 and runs through September 30.
