How many pros will the WCOOP $100k event get?
Will we see more or less pros than last year's $51,000 event in the first ever six-figure online poker tournament?
This week it was confirmed that the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was set to have its first six-figure buy-in event, very much mirroring the Super High Roller events we see at the EPT.
Last year the festival had a $51,000 event which attracted 46 entries. The guarantee was only $1 million, which it more than smashed, but many including myself, expected it to attract even more.
So with that in mind, how many players could we expect in a $100k event?
$50k is the same as $100k
Although it is double the buy-in, which usually thins a poker field, don’t be surprised if we get a similar number for the $100k as we did the $50k. The reason for this is that once you get to a certain level, the pros simply play as high as the buy-in dictates.
We see this a lot with live Super High Rollers, the $100k events get similar fields to the $50k and $250k events in the same festival. No professional player is bankrolled for any of these events but many of them can sell action for them, so the difference between a $50k and a $100k event for most professionals is merely a matter of finding more backers.
We might even see an increase in the number of runners. In part due to the fact that the $50k event last year smashed its guarantee suggesting this year’s one will also attract plenty of players. Also there might be some high rollers and cash game players who were not interested in a $50k event but cannot resist a six-figure event.
A lull in the cash games
Speaking of which the biggest online games in recent years, the nosebleed cash games, have really dried up this year. At the time of writing we still have not seen a recorded million dollar winner or loser in 2016. The nosebleed community migrate to where the action is and right now that is Super High Roller tournaments, not cash games.
I suspect the only reason we are seeing a six-figure buy-in online tournament is so PokerStars can smash another landmark by hosting the first ever six-figure buy-in tournament. The $50k WCOOP was a good way of testing the waters for that last year. I doubt that the high rollers were begging for a $100k event but now that it’s here it will be hard to ignore.
My instinct is that we will see slightly less runners this year than last, I’d set the line at 40. But I would not be surprised if this event actually attracts more runners than the $50k, especially if there is a good guarantee and some sort of satellites available for it.
Where do you set the line for the $100k WCOOP event? Let us know in the comments.
