The world’s leading online poker room, PokerStars, has unveiled the full schedule for its iconic high buy-in tournament series, the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP).
Spanning 21 days between September 5 and 25, this year’s WCOOP boasts guarantees totaling $75 million—the largest in the history of WCOOP and $5 million up on last year’s edition which had $70 million in total prize money.
As seen last year, WCOOP will once again follow the same model of its compatriot SCOOP (the Spring Championship of Online Poker), which is based on a three-tier buy-in system. As a result, WCOOP 2019 will feature a total of 219 tournaments spread across 73 events with each of them featuring a low, medium and high buy-in version.
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The exception is the Main Event which will remain the same as last year—a Low $55 buy-in guaranteeing $1.25 million and High $5200 buy-in, boasting a guarantee of massive $10 million.
Buy-ins for the rest of the schedule range from $2.20 to a $25,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em High Roller. The $25k buy-in is scheduled to run on September 11 with a total guarantee of $2 million.
New WCOOP Events in 2019
For the first time, WCOOP will include a charity event in the form of a Mini Sunday Million Edition boasting $400,000 prize money for a buy-in of $55. What makes the event special is that the operator has pledged to donate its $5 fee from each player’s entry to Right to Play —a global organization created to protect and empower children to overcome poverty using sport and play.
For the first time, the 2019 WCOOP schedule is comprised of three Pot Limit Omaha Main Events with buy-ins of $109, $1050 and $10,3000. They are scheduled to run on the same day as the NLHE Main Events with total guarantees of nearly $2 million.
Four UFC branded events are also part of the schedule with each of them giving away an exclusive package for two to UFC 244 in New York to the winner of those tournaments.
Also, included in the schedule are 6+ Hold’em events, an action-packed Hold’em game also known as Short Deck. They are available in three different buy-in levels: an $11 buy-in with $25,000 guarantee, a $109 buy-in giving away $50,000 and a $1050 High Roller boasting $100,000 in guaranteed prize money.
Other standouts include three phase events with buy-ins of $2, $22 and $215 guaranteeing $250,000, $1 million, and $2 million respectively. These phase events which feature two phases: Phase 1s are already running and are scheduled through September 22, with the final day (Phase 2) taking place later on September 22.
The schedule offers a wide variety of game formats from No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha to the more exotic games such as 2-7 Lowball, Badugi, Razz, Stud Hi and various mixed game formats as well. The series also embraces variety by implementing several different structures such as knockouts, rebuys, freezeouts, heads-up and 4-max tournaments.
Satellites and qualifiers are already underway including three WCOOP special Spin & Gos with buy-ins of $2, $25, and $75—each giving away tickets and seats to WCOOP events along with cash prizes. PokerStars is also running daily satellites to the $5200 Main Event with added seats.
Player of the Series Leaderboard
PokerStars is again running their “*Player of the Series*” competition leaderboard giving away $50,000 in total prizes to the top 3 most consistent players across the festival. The leaderboard is divided into four tiers: Low, Medium, High and an Overall leaderboard.
The winner of the overall leaderboard not only takes the trophy but is also awarded a $20,000 cash prize.
