The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was established by PokerStars back in 2002. WCOOP has since become the name to beat in glittering online poker tournaments.
MultiMarine
was the 1st winner of the WCOOP. This Swedish player won $65,000 + in the Main Event. Since 2003 however, the prize money has grown significantly.
DeOhGee
won $222,000 in the 2003 WCOOP. In 2004 Ragde won $435,000 and the following year 2005, Panella86 scooped up $577,000.
By the time 2006 rolled in, J.C. Tran racked up a whopping $600,000. In 2007 Ka$ino claimed the first million-dollar pot – to the tune of $1.4 million. This eclipsed the prize payday for 1st place for the 2008 WCOOP event.
2010 WCOOP Qualifiers
Multiple players raised issue with the WCOOP that the tournament buy-ins were prohibitive. This had the effect of restricting casual players from participating in the events. PokerStars addressed this by offering scores of satellites every year for each of the WCOOP events.
Players can easily qualify for major WCOOP events from as little as $1. It’s also possible to use PokerStars Frequent Player Points to qualify for seats. WCOOP satellites allow casual players an opportunity to change their lives.
Universally Popular Tournament
Owing to the large number of pro poker players and Team PokerStars Pros competing in the WSOP, this tourney gained tremendous respect. By 2008, Chris Moneymaker landed up in 2 final tables. First up was the High-Roller NL Hold’em Event and also the Pot Limit Omaha Event.
PokerStars pros adorned the playing field at the WCOOP. Vanessa Rousso made it to the Pot Limit Omaha final table. Top names include Andre Akkari & Gavin Griffin. French poker ace – ElkY – cruised thru the contest and racked up an impressive $400k in combined winnings. In terms of mega-pots won, it was Liberace from the UK who scooped the big prize - $1.3 million in winnings. Another big winner was US poker star – ‘thedonator’ who enjoyed 10 paying wins.
