Despite the skill involved in the game, poker is a game of variance and randomness at the granular level, but players usually expect that variance to come on the felt from the cards that are dealt. For the final weekend of PokerStars' recent World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), that variance actually came from off the felt.
Players in PokerStars’ WCOOP festival went into the last couple of days of play prepared for all sorts of surprises on the felt, but technical problems dealt a bad beat to participants and the operator, forcing a cancellation of the grand finale of the series. That put the kibosh on the Main Events and a range of other events.
There were already almost $80 million in prizes handed out through the series before it all came crashing down on the final weekend. PokerStars was not about to admit defeat, however, and has now rescheduled the interrupted weekend, adding some extra action for the WCOOP Take 2 starting on Nov 5.
There are five fresh days of action planned through Nov 9 and, like the original running, Take 2 will be divided into three buy-in levels. The second act of the 2022 WCOOP has nearly $28 million guaranteed across the five days, and with $80,000,000 already paid, this will bring the total payouts for this year’s WCOOP to around $110 million.
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WCOOP Take 2 Guarantees $27,918,500
The original running of the 2022 WCOOP was humming along nicely until the final weekend. Before the big crash, there were over 300 tournaments already in the books with nearly one million entries spread across. These resulted in $79,501,449 in total prizes, including more than $13 million to winners.
In a nod to the rapid growth of south American poker, Brazil crushed the opening round of WCOOP this year with 60 titles during the first portion of the series. That was more than double the 32 titles for the second-place UK and nearly 3 times the 23 titles for third-place Austria.
More than 40 countries were represented with at least one WCOOP title during the opening phase and no doubt players will be looking to increase their respective numbers as the series picks up again on Nov 5. Among the tournaments on the Take 2 docket, there will be juiced-up reruns of the Main Events.
All three versions of the NLHE Main Events have increased guarantees for the redux series. In total, there are $2.5 million in extra guarantees for the Take 2 Mains, with the two biggest games getting an additional million dollars each, while the low end of the Main Event trio has $500k added to the guarantee.
There is more than just Main Event NLHE action planned for WCOOP Take 2. The PLO Main Events have also been rescheduled for Nov 6 with a total of $1.85 million guaranteed across the three games. Additionally, women are back on the revised schedule with women’s-only games featuring buy-ins of $5.50, $22, and $109, and almost $40k guaranteed across the three events.
Fans of mixed-game action will have a chance to try their hand at 8-game, HORSE, NLO8, and 5-card PLO on the new schedule. There will also be a full slate of big Sunday games with the WCOOP branding on Nov 6, as well as WCOOP Super Tuesday action on Nov 8.
There’s still time to get involved. Get the latest PokerStars download and get in on the hot Take 2 action. Full details of the revised schedule can be found on the PokerStars Blog.
WCOOP Take 2 Highlights
- Dates: Saturday, November 5 — Wednesday, November 9, 2022
- Tournaments: 66
- Total Guarantees: $27,918,500
- Buy-In Range: $5.50 – $10,300
- Main Events, starting Nov 6
- WCOOP $109 NLHE Main Event Low — $3m guaranteed — increase of $500,000
- WCOOP $1,050 NLHE Main Event Medium — $5m guaranteed — increase of $1m
- WCOOP $10,300 NLHE Main Event High — World Championship of NLHE — $7m guaranteed — increase of $1m
- WCOOP $109 PLO Main Event Low — $109 PLO, $250K Gtd
- WCOOP $1,050 PLO Main Event Medium — $1,050 PLO, $600K Gtd
- WCOOP $10,300 PLO Main Event High — $10,300 PLO World Championship of PLO, $1M Gtd
- Other Key Games:
- WCOOP Take 2 Kickoff:
- Nov 5
- $5.50/$40k, $55/$175K, and $530/$200K
- Women’s Event
- Nov 6
- $5.50/$3.5k, $22/$10k, and $109/$25k
- WCOOP Take 2 Kickoff:
