The 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker Starts Today
The tenth annual PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) begins today. We take a look at what you can expect and look back at the history of the online festival.
PokerStars
Bonus: 100% up to $600
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Bonus Code: STARS600
This year's festival features 65 events between September 2-23, with buy-ins between $215 and $10,300.
$30,000,000 is guaranteed, including the $5,200 main event on September 23 which boasts a $5,000,000 guarantee.
Satellites are running around the clock for each and every event, and the only place you can play in the WCOOP is PokerStars.
View the complete WCOOP Schedule
The history of the WCOOP
When PokerStars first launched their World Championship of Online Poker in 2002, the series consisted of just nine events and a total prize pool of less than $750,000.
Last year, the ninth WCOOP raised a total prize pool of over $63 million, with the winner of the Main Event taking home more than $1.26 million after a five-handed deal. With the original prize structure, the top four players would have each taken home more than the total prize pool of the first WCOOP.
The growth of the WCOOP
When the World Championship of Online Poker was conceived, PokerStars was by no means the dominant online poker presence that it is now. One of numerous fledgling sites, PokerStars' first WCOOP shows the growth of the company and online poker as a whole - just nine events and a total prize pool of less half the present-day Sunday Million.
| PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker 2002 - 2011 | ||||
| Year | Events | Main Event Participants | Main Event First Prize | Total Series Prize Pool |
| 2002 | 9 | 238 ($1,050 buy-in) | $65,450 | $730,000 |
| 2003 | 11 | 891 ($1,050 buy-in) | $222,750 | $2,700,000 |
| 2004 | 12 | 843 ($2,600 buy-in) | $424,945 | $6,000,000 |
| 2005 | 15 | 1,494 ($2,600 buy-in) | $577,342 | $12,000,000 |
| 2006 | 18 | 2,510 ($2,600 buy-in) | $670,194 | $18,674,300 |
| 2007 | 23 | 2,998 ($2,600 buy-in) | $1,378,330 | $24,218,600 |
| 2008 | 33 | 2,185 ($5,200 buy-in) | $1,265,432 | $39,958,000 |
| 2009 | 45 | 2,144 ($5,200 buy-in) | $1,715,200 | $51,652,800 |
| 2010 | 62 | 2,443 ($5,200 buy-in) | $2,278,098* | $63,157,150 |
| 2011 | 62 | 1,627 ($5,200 buy-in) | $1,260,019 | $47,120,800 |
| * Largest first prize in online poker history | ||||
WCOOP Reload Bonus of 20% Up To $100
If you deposit between August 28 (00:01 ET) and September 4 at (23:59 ET) and use the bonus code "WCOOP", you receive a pending bonus of 20% your deposit value. To receive the maximum bonus of $100 you need to deposit $500.
In order to clear the bonus you need to earn VIP Player Points (VPPs). For every 100 VPPs you earn, $5 of your bonus gets released. You will have 45 days to earn as much of your bonus as you can.
Example: On September 1 you deposit $200 using the code "WCOOP". This means you get a pending bonus of $40 (20% of $200). You then have until October 15 to earn the 800 VPPs (100 VPPs x 8 $5 increments) required to release the bonus of $40.
This bonus is intended for existing PokerStars players who have already beEN given their first deposit bonus. If you are new to PokerStars, please create a new account first to get a 100% up to $600 bonus instead.
