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 Each industry has a brand which all other brands are measured against. Universal Studios will always be
measured against Disney. Wendy’s will always be compared with McDonald’s. RC Cola critics will always relate the brand to Coke. In the online poker world,
PokerStars is that brand. The site’s featured event every year
is the World Championship of Online Poker, WCOOP for short. Each year, thousands of online poker hopefuls flock to Stars to participate in the WCOOP. They consist
of novice poker players and experienced professionals alike. It all started on July 20, 2002, a date that would change the online poker world forever.
Nine events comprised the first WCOOP. The very first event: a $109 Limit Hold’em tournament that drew 565 players. PokerStars member fingaz took home
$15,537 and the rest, as they say, is history. Though it was the largest online poker prize ever at the time, the $1,000 Main Event was a relatively
small affair by today’s standards. Swedish player MultiMarine took down the $65,450 prize.
As poker began to grow in popularity in the United States and around the world, so did the appeal of the WCOOP. Let’s not forget that it wasn’t until
the summer of 2003 that Tennessee native Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event and set the industry ablaze. The Main Event of the
2003 WCOOP was a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em affair with 891 participants, once again the largest prize pool ever in an online poker event at the time.
The $222,750 grand prize went to DeOhGee when his K-J suited paired the flop.
In 2005, Joe Hachem won the WSOP Main Event and immediately became the third face to win poker’s biggest live tournament to sign with PokerStars.
Moneymaker, Hachem, and 2004 Main Event victor Greg Raymer all would turn their star power into revenue for PokerStars. The marketing campaign put
forth was aggressive, comprising major television advertising campaigns and visibility at live tournaments. On the virtual felts at Stars, a buzz
was in the air. The very first tournament in the 2005 WCOOP,
a $324 No Limit Texas Holdem event, drew a staggering 3,062 entrants. Snow Leopard battled his way through this enormous field and took home $306,200
for his efforts. Six out of the next seven events would draw four figure fields, manifesting the poker boom. Three players chopped the Main Event cash,
earning half a million dollars each.
PokerStars devotes much energy into putting on the WCOOP year after year. After all, when you’re the best in the business, it’s hard to devise ways
to outdo yourself once every 365 days. The visibility that comes from winning events in the WCOOP is extremely high.
The WCOOP has been broadcast on an online radio feed, yet another advance in the way poker is brought to homes around the world. Rather than curl
up in front of the television and watch Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein duke it out, you can crank up your computer speakers and listen to Daniel
Negreanu and Chris Moneymaker toil on the virtual felts of PokerStars.
Entering the WCOOP is simple. Besides just paying the entry fee, you can win your way into one of its tournaments either through an extensive
satellite system or through use of Frequent Player Points, or FPPs as they are commonly known. Up for grabs in every WCOOP is a shiny gold championship
bracelet similar to the ones worn by World Series of Poker winners. If you get knocked out of an event, on the day of several of the WCOOP tournaments
there are smaller buy-in but still large field "Second Chance" tournaments.
From the beaches of the Bahamas, to
the south Pacific, to the
cliffs of Monaco, eyes look towards PokerStars every
year to give each and every person the largest online poker series available today. Visit PokerStars for the current schedule.
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