WCOOP Draws 593,189 Entries as Three Online Festivals Conclude

The closing weeks of September saw three major online poker festivals conclude across GGPoker, CoinPoker and PokerStars, with WSOP Online, the Global Online Poker Championship and WCOOP each taking a different approach to their respective championship schedules.

GGPoker's WSOP Online focused on 33 bracelet events, CoinPoker staged a 37-day championship series supported by a $50 million guarantee, and PokerStars divided WCOOP into Low, Medium and 

High levels across 121 events and 350 tournaments.

The amount of post-series information available also differs considerably between the three festivals. PokerStars released complete aggregate statistics for WCOOP, CoinPoker confirmed several major field and payout figures after GOPC, while the available WSOP Online numbers cover only the first 17 bracelet events rather than the full series.

WSOP Online ran on GGPoker from August 16 through September 29 and featured 33 bracelet tournaments.

The series included several major advertised guarantees. The $5,000 Main Event carried a $25 million guarantee, while both the Mini Main and Millionaire Maker offered $5 million guarantees. At least $10 million was also guaranteed across the GGMillion$ High Rollers.

By the completion of Event #17, WSOP Online had already generated 147,174 entries and $51,568,490 in prize money.

Those numbers represent only the first half of the bracelet schedule. They are therefore not final entry or prize pool totals for the complete 33-event festival.

That distinction makes direct statistical comparisons with WCOOP's full-series figures difficult, since complete aggregate numbers for WSOP Online were not included in the available data.

CoinPoker's Global Online Poker Championship ran from August 23 through September 29, covering 37 days of tournament action.

The series was promoted with a $50 million overall guarantee, and CoinPoker later reported that the completed championship finished above that figure.

Unlike PokerStars with WCOOP, however, CoinPoker did not publish one combined final figure covering every entry and every dollar awarded across the entire GOPC schedule.

The GOPC Main Event attracted 7,414 entries. "siema" won the tournament for $423,605 and finished the festival with $480,542 in total winnings.

CoinPoker reported that figure as the highest amount earned by any player during the championship.

The lower buy-in championship events produced even larger fields. The $55 Global Main attracted 21,281 entries, with PenthousePrinz taking first place for $57,700.

The $11 Global Mini Main generated 26,060 entries. Soygeld333 won the tournament and collected $24,040.

CoinPoker also distributed $200,000 through regional leaderboards during the series and reported several notable satellite paths.

PokerStars provided the most complete statistical breakdown of the three festivals after WCOOP concluded.

The series ran from September 6 through September 30 and featured 121 events divided across 350 tournaments at Low, Medium and High levels.

Across the full schedule, WCOOP generated 593,189 entries and $49,054,415 in total prize pools.

First-place finishers collectively earned $7,999,725. The largest individual winner's prize during the series was $551,632, while the smallest was $234.

Multi-title performances were also common. Thirty-six players won more than one WCOOP title during the festival, although no player won more than four events.