WCOOP to Host $102,000 Buy-in!

7 years ago
World Cup of Online Poker to Host $102,000 Buy-in!
17:43
09 Aug

The tentative schedule for this year’s World Cup of Online Poker (WCOOP) has just been released, and the online nosebleed players will be delighted to see that a $102,000 buy-in event has been included!


The Super High Roller No Limit Hold’em event is planned as number 53 in the 82 event extravaganza, with a 100% buy-in increase on last year’s biggie - which saw Ben ‘Ben86’ Tollerene walking off with $616,000 in the inaugural SuperHighRoller $51K event.

34 players ponied up the massive buy-in last year, with 13 rebuys as well – which took the prize-pool to over $2.3million.

Two other massive names in the game cashed in 2015’s version, with Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald finishing 5th and man of the moment Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz taking down 6th. If this year can attract a similar number of high-stakes heroes then the 1st prize will be well over the $1million mark.

Not that the annual festival is only catering for nosebleed players – as well as the regular events there are also plans for a separate mini-WCOOP to run concurrently, with buy-ins to suit the modest amateurs pocket ranging from $1.10 up to $11, although the Main Event will feature a $50 buy-in.

On thePokerStars blog the following announcement was made with regard to the mini-version, stating:

To get some questions and answers out of the way right from the beginning, I'll explain that Mini-WCOOP is not in any way intended to be another stakes level of WCOOP itself. But instead a companion series run at 1/100th of the buy-in of most WCOOP Events, at 1/1,000th for some, etc. Mini-WCOOP buy-ins range from $1.10 to $11 with the exception of the Mini-WCOOP Main Event, which will cost $50 to play.”



BryanS, the PS rep answering questions over on the 2+2 forum added:

The series is being run specifically to enable extension of play and excitement for many of our players for whom WCOOP is far beyond their reach, not to simply provide another set of tournaments for those who are already playing WCOOP.”

BryanS took to the forum a couple of weeks ago, explaining:

We're up to Version 04 of this year's WCOOP schedule, and we're quite excited about what we're in the process of building, and I hope that you will be similarly excited. I'm looking forward to your feedback and thank you in advance for any and all constructive discussion(s) to come.”

Regular poster ‘2012’ commented on the Super High Roller, stating:

I think making the SPHR a $100k is overkill. $20k during SCOOP was absolutely amazing and the field was huge, why go so extreme, the player pool will be super limited.”



For most players, however, it was the lack of a ‘middle-ground’ of buy-ins which has caused some consternation, although the general vibe is that the schedule looks very good.

‘Trujustrus’ posted:

Overall looks great, not sure about the 100k tho’. Regarding the mini-WCOOP, please re consider running it at 1/10th of the buy in instead of 1/100th. People were asking about a low-mid stakes series, not another micromillions.”

Matt Vengrin echoed these sentiments, posting:

Buy-in's seem too high. Mini-WCOOP seem too low. Even if it’s not "intended" to be another level of WCOOP this does go against a statement made that WCOOP's would never be tiered... that was reserved only for SCOOP.”

Not everyone agreed, however, with ‘DoGGz’ writing:

I know it's unpopular around these parts, but I think you are absolutely doing the right thing with 1/100th buy-in. I love the idea of mWCOOP. If the mWCOOP was 1/10th, what we'd see is many people passing up taking shots at the WCOOP and passing up playing equally priced sats into the WCOOP. The price-point of sub $11 is perfectly positioned to give players who never have a chance to take shots at the WCOOP something to look forward do.”



The WCOOP is planned to kick off on September 4th and the organizers and sponsors PokerStars are still looking for more feedback before finalizing the full schedule. Further updates here on PokerTube as and when, of course.


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Andrew from Edinburgh, Scotland, is a professional journalist, international-titled chess master, and avid poker player.Read more

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