Last Updated on September 12, 2026 by Bala Kumar
If you’ve logged into PokerStars anytime in the last week, you’ve probably noticed the lobby looks a little different. Extra tabs, bigger guarantees, a trophy icon next to half the tournament names — that’s WCOOP season, and this year it’s a big one. The World Championship of Online Poker is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and the series is already a week into a run that stretches all the way to September 30.
I’ve been following WCOOP since the days when a $500 buy-in felt like a genuine commitment, so here’s where the 2026 series stands, what has already happened, and what players can still look forward to through the Main Event weekend.
What Exactly Is WCOOP?
Quick primer for anyone newer to online poker: WCOOP stands for the World Championship of Online Poker, and it’s PokerStars’ flagship online tournament series, run every September since 2002. Think of it as the online equivalent of the WSOP in Las Vegas — except instead of one physical room in Nevada, tens of thousands of players from every corner of the globe log in from their laptops to chase a title.
What separates WCOOP from a regular weekly promotion is scale and prestige. Every single winner — even in a $5.50 tournament — walks away with an official WCOOP trophy shipped to their door. The trophy has become one of the signature markers of a WCOOP title, and it’s a name that shows up alongside WSOP bracelets on plenty of resumes.
The 2026 Schedule: Key Numbers You Should Know
This year’s series runs from September 6 through September 30, and PokerStars has built out one of the largest schedules the festival has ever seen for its silver anniversary edition:
- 121 numbered events spread across 350 individual tournaments
- Buy-ins ranging from $5.50 all the way up to $25,000
- More than $40 million in guaranteed prize money
- Six Main Events across NLHE and PLO formats, split into Low, Medium, and High buy-in tiers
- Formats beyond standard No-Limit Hold’em, including Pot-Limit Omaha, HORSE, Razz, 8-Game, Progressive Knockouts, and Mystery Bounty variants
The headline dates to circle are September 27 and 28, when the six Main Events go off. NLHE takes the spotlight on the 27th, and PLO gets its own dedicated day on the 28th, together putting more than $6.5 million in guarantees on the table. If you’re only going to play one weekend of WCOOP, that’s the one.
Before the Main Events even started, the series opened with the second phase of the Sunday Million 20th Anniversary, a $109 buy-in event with a genuinely massive $5 million guarantee, which ran its Phase 1 qualifying flights right up until the series kickoff.
There’s also money on the table outside the tournaments themselves. PokerStars is running four separate leaderboards — Low, Medium, High, and an overall Player of the Series race — splitting an additional $100,000 among the most consistent grinders of the month. If you’re the type of player who fires a dozen events a week rather than one big shot, that leaderboard race is worth tracking almost as much as any single title.
Results So Far: Who’s Already Won
We’re less than a week into the series, and it’s already produced a few storylines worth knowing.
Espen Jorstad grabs an early title. The Norwegian pro — best known outside online circles for winning the 2022 WSOP Main Event for $10 million — picked up his third career WCOOP title on September 7 in WCOOP 02-H, the $1,050 PKO Warm-Up, topping a 154-player field. The heads-up battle against Finnish player “realsuhisjii” is what made it memorable: Jorstad was staring down a four-to-one chip deficit when he doubled up holding king-queen against his opponent’s kicker-troubled king-jack, then rivered a straight to seize the lead outright. From there he closed it out in a separate hand, three-betting preflop with ace-king, firing all three streets, and moving all-in after rivering two pair — his opponent’s own turned two pair simply wasn’t good enough. Jorstad collected $33,250 combined once bounties were added in, putting a title in three different WCOOP years for him (2023, 2024, and now 2026), with a blank 2025 sandwiched in between.
Brazil is off to a hot start again. If you followed the WCOOP Boot Camp warm-up series in August, this won’t surprise you — Brazilian players made up half the finalists in both Boot Camp Main Events. That momentum carried straight into the championship proper: by the time Jorstad’s event wrapped on September 7, Brazil already had five WCOOP titles on the board for the series, more than any other country at that early stage.
The Sunday Million 20th Anniversary has already crowned its champion. The $109 buy-in Progressive Knockout event, carrying a $5 million guarantee, drew a staggering 55,444 entries across its Phase 1 qualifying flights, generating a $5,544,400 prize pool. Belarusian player “AHTOCb” came out on top, defeating the UK’s Charlie “JIZOINT” Coombes heads-up for a combined $255,337 in prize money and bounties. Sweden’s Niklas “Lena900” Astedt, one of online poker’s most established grinders, made a deep run into the final 49 but was eliminated in 8th place. Notably, eight of the last 49 players had qualified via satellites costing as little as $1.50 — a good reminder of just how accessible these marquee events can be.
Given how early we are in the calendar, expect the real headline numbers — the biggest scores, the highest-profile final tables — to come in the back half of the month as the schedule builds toward the Main Event weekend.
How WCOOP 2026 Compares
Numbers only mean something with context, so here’s how this year lines up against recent history:
| Series | Buy-in Range | Total Events | Guaranteed Prize Pool | Actual Prize Money Paid | Main Event Format |
| WCOOP 2026 | $5.50 – $25,000 | 350 tournaments (121 events) | $40M+ | In progress | 6 Main Events (NLHE & PLO), Sept 27–28 |
| WCOOP 2025 | $5.50 – $25,000 | 378 tournaments | $65M | Nearly $74M (763,364 total entries) | 6 Main Events, roughly $4M top pool |
| WSOP 2026 (live) | $400 – $250,000+ | Hundreds of bracelet events | Varies by event | Varies by event | $10,000 buy-in, $10M to winner |
A few things stand out here. WCOOP keeps its entry point extremely low — you can genuinely start your run for the price of a coffee — while still building toward Main Events with guarantees in the seven figures. That accessibility is really the whole identity of the series: a $5.50 tournament and a $25,000 Super High Roller exist on the same schedule, often on the same day. It’s also worth noting that guarantees are a floor, not a ceiling — last year’s series started with $65 million guaranteed and ended up paying out nearly $74 million once entries blew past expectations, so don’t be surprised if this year’s $40M+ figure climbs as September rolls on.
It’s also worth knowing the difference between WCOOP and its spring sibling, SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker). SCOOP runs in the spring, while WCOOP is PokerStars’ flagship autumn championship series and generally carries the most prestige of the two.
Practical Tips If You’re Planning to Play
A few things I’d tell anyone jumping into the series for the first time:
Satellite your way in if the direct buy-in feels steep. Daily Step satellites start at just $0.55, and there are Spin & Go qualifiers running throughout the month that can turn pocket change into a Main Event seat. This is genuinely how a huge share of the field gets there every year — nobody should feel like the $1,050 or $10,300 buy-ins are the only door in.
Pick your tier honestly. The Low/Medium/High split on the Main Events isn’t just marketing — it changes the field composition dramatically. Low buy-in Main Events draw thousands of entries with a wide mix of skill levels, while the High tier fields are smaller and considerably tougher. Match the buy-in to where you’ll actually get value, not just where the bragging rights sound biggest.
Don’t ignore the mixed-game events if you’re a Hold’em specialist. HORSE, Razz, and 8-Game tournaments during WCOOP consistently draw softer fields relative to their guarantees, simply because fewer recreational players know the rules. If you’ve put even a little time into learning Omaha Hi-Lo or Stud, this month is a good time to cash in on that knowledge gap.
Track the leaderboard if volume is your game. If you’re planning to multi-table a heavy schedule across the month, the Player of the Series race pays out even if you never final-table a single event outright — consistency counts.
What to Watch For as September Continues
The next real inflection point is the Main Event weekend on September 27–28, but expect steady headlines between now and then as the mid-tier events crown champions and the leaderboard races take shape. Given how quickly Jorstad and the Brazilian contingent made their mark in the opening days, this edition already has the makings of a competitive series from top to bottom rather than one dominated by a single storyline.
We’ll keep this page updated as new champions are crowned and the Main Events approach, bookmark it if you want the latest without digging through scattered tournament reports.
FAQs
When does WCOOP 2026 start and end?
WCOOP 2026 runs from September 6 to September 30 on PokerStars, marking the 25th edition of the series.
When are the WCOOP 2026 Main Events?
The six Main Events take place on September 27 (No-Limit Hold’em) and September 28 (Pot-Limit Omaha), with a combined $6.5 million in guaranteed prize money.
What’s the cheapest way to enter WCOOP 2026?
Direct buy-ins start at $5.50, but satellites begin as low as $0.55, and Spin & Go qualifiers also award Main Event seats and ticket packages throughout the series.
How is WCOOP different from SCOOP?
SCOOP runs in the spring and emphasizes buy-in and format variety, while WCOOP is considered PokerStars’ “world championship” series, generally carrying more prestige and, historically, larger year-end prize totals.
Do WCOOP winners get anything besides prize money?
Yes — every tournament champion, regardless of buy-in level, receives an official WCOOP trophy shipped to their home address.
Who has won a WCOOP title so far in 2026?
Norwegian pro Espen Jorstad won WCOOP 02-H, the $1,050 PKO Warm-Up, on September 7, 2026, earning his third career WCOOP title after coming back from a four-to-one chip deficit heads-up. Belarusian player “AHTOCb” also won the $5 million guaranteed Sunday Million 20th Anniversary event around the same time.
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