Everything You Need to Know About the 2020 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP)

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Aug 30, 2020 15 min read

The 2020 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars gets underway this Sunday with the first of a 225-tournament schedule that runs until Wednesday, September 23rd.

The festival comes with more than $80 million in guarantees, with Low, Medium and High buy-in tiers for each event.

PokerNews takes you through everything you need to know about WCOOP, including the must-play events, key details on satellites, and how you can enjoy all the action thanks to cards-up Twitch coverage on the PokerStars channel.

Key Events of the Festival

Every event of the WCOOP is an important event, with 23 of them coming with at least seven-figures guaranteed. Here we take you through three events that we think you should add to your 2020 WCOOP schedule.

WCOOP-02: Progressive KO, Sunday Slam

The festival kicks off with the opening Sunday event, which features the very first Sunday Slam tournament. A key addition to the 2020 WCOOP are certain events that will award 'Slam' tickets to the winner, in addition to the huge prize pool.

At first glance there are nine 'Sunday Slam' tournaments with additional prizes, the first of which starts this Sunday with three WCOOP-02 Events.

• WCOOP-02-L: $109 Progressive KO, Sunday Slam ($1.5m GTD)
• WCOOP-02-M: $1,050 Progressive KO, Sunday Slam ($2m GTD)
• WCOOP-02-H: $10,300 Progressive KO, Sunday Slam ($1.5m GTD)

Head to the PokerStars lobby for more details about these or any other Sunday Slam tournaments.

WCOOP-25-H: $25,000 Super High Roller

The biggest buy-in event of this year's WCOOP is the $25,000 Super High Roller. It's sure to attract some big names when it gets underway at 18:05 (BST) on Sunday, September 6th.

Satellites to this particular event aren't running in the lobby yet, but you can imagine that there will be a route for players of all bankrolls to make it into the Super High Roller and brush shoulders with some of the best poker players in the world.

WCOOP-01: Phase

Phase tournaments have been among the biggest success stories in major online poker festivals recently, and the three WCOOP-01 promise to be no exception. With multiple Phase 1s running every day to the low, medium, and high tier of tournament, it's super easy to get a share of the more than $3m in guarantees between them.

Day 2 of the Phase tournaments will continue on Monday, September 21st.

• WCOOP-01-L: $2.20 Phase ($250k GTD)
• WCOOP-01-M: $22 Phase ($1m GTD)
• WCOOP-01-H: $215 Phase ($2m GTD)

WCOOP-72-H: $5,200 Main Event

It is difficult to hand-pick events to look out for, as is always the case with these major online poker festivals, but we have to mention the six massive Main Events. Three of these Main Events are for Hold’em players, the other trio is for the Pot-Limit Omaha specialists among you.

The three NLHE Main Events all start at 7:05 p.m. CEST on September 20 and all take place over the course of three days. They come with buy-ins of $55, $530, and $5,200 and boast of guarantees weighing in at $1.25 million, $2 million, and a whopping $10 million.

The tournament has paid out $1m to first every year since 2007 and this year comes with a $10,000,000 guarantee - the biggest of the entire festival and has been won in the past by the likes of J.C. “area23JC” Tran, Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz and Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff (pictured).

PLO aficionados can compete in their own WCOOP Main Events that cost $109, $1,050, and $10,300 to buy into. These huge events have guaranteed prize pools worth $300,000, $750,000, and $1.25 million respectively. They get underway at 9:05 p.m. CEST on September 20.

Main Event satellites are already in the client, with Sit & Go tournaments running whenever enough players enter:

Win Your Way Into the $5,200 Main Event With WCOOP Fast Track

It’s possible to win your way into the $10 million guaranteed $5,200 WCOOP Main Event for a single dollar thanks to the WCOOP Fast Track system.

This series of satellites are available right now so you can get your grind on and start trying to qualify for your shot at the big time. There are four steps in total and you can buy into any step, including Step 4.

Be aware that you can only win one $5,200 WCOOP Main Event seat using the Fast Track system and you’ll be prevented from entering future Fast Track tournaments if you qualify for the Main Event.

• Step 1: $1 Sit & Go tournament with 12 players
• Step 2: $11 Sit & Go tournament with 21 players
• Step 3: $109 MTT
• Step 4: $1,050 MTT

Improve your satellite strategy for free

WCOOP Satellites

As always there is a rich and varied offering of satellites for players to sink their teeth into. They are easily accessible by clicking 'WCOOP 2020' in the PokerStars lobby and heading to either MTT or Sit & Go Satellites.

$1.5 Million WCOOP Sweepstakes

PokerStars is giving away three WCOOP Main Event seats every day from August 30 through September 20. All you need to do is opt-in to the WCOOP Sweepstakes in your challenges window then play at least one WCOOP tournament to win an entry to the day’s giveaway.

Turn $4 into $5,200 in WCOOP SPINS

SPINS are PokerStars’ jackpot sit & go tournaments and the site has created two levels of WCOOP SPINS. The first only costs $4 to enter and pays out $8 cash or WCOOP tickets worth between $11 and $5,200. The still affordable $22 buy-in WCOOP SPINS payout either $44 or $55 cash, plus WCOOP tickets ranging from $109 to $5,200.

WCOOP Cards-Up Twitch Live Streaming

PokerStars is streaming its biggest WCOOP events on its Twitch channel while the PokerNews Live Reporting team is providing industry-leading updates across 25 events!

$100,000 Worth Of Tickets Being Given Away on Twitch

Everyone loves watching the game’s biggest stars grinding away on Twitch. If you link your PokerStars and Twitch account you’re eligible for the $100,000 worth of WCOOP ticket giveaways beginning August 30.

$100,000 WCOOP Player of the Series Leaderboards

There are four leaderboards to chase down with combined prizes of $100,000. There’s are Low, Medium, High, and an overall leaderboard where the best performing WCOOP players share $100,000.

The Low leaderboard pays out the top 25 finishers with prizes ranging from $150 to $5,000. Fifteen places are paid on the Medium leaderboard. Prizes here start at $350 and increase to $8,500. The High leaderboard awards $12,500 to its winner, $10,000 to the runner-up and $7,500 to the third-place finish.

Become the WCOOP Overall Player of the Series to secure a $25,000 cash payout. All leaderboard winners also receive a custom trophy to commemorate their achievement.

Quick Guide to Progressive Knockout Tournaments at PokerStars

Sign Up To PokerStars and Grab A Welcome Bonus

You’re going to need a PokerStars account to compete in the $80 million guaranteed 2020 WCOOP. You’re good to go if you already have one, if not, download PokerStars via PokerNews.

Create your free account and deposit at least $20 using the bonus code “THIRTY” for a free $30 worth of play for the next six days after your deposit. The following hits your account on the days shown below:

• Day 1: 10x $0.50 tickets
• Day 2: 5x $1 tickets
• Day 3: 5x $1 tickets
• Day 4: $5 cash bonus
• Day 5: 5x $1 tickets
• Day 6: $5 cash bonus

Full 2020 WCOOP Schedule

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He now works as Managing Editor. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

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