The most recent edition of PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) was sailing along nicely, with nearly $80 million worth of prizes already awarded, when it all came crashing down. Main Events were left twisting in the wind thanks to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The operator halted the final weekend games after the attacks and is now planning a reboot — aptly named WCOOP Take 2 — for early November.
Poker players expect variance on the felt when they play, but they typically expect the game itself to run smoothly. In the online poker world, players rarely have to think about the platform’s stability when they play on sites like PokerStars.
That stability is only really noticed in the rare cases when it disappears. Over 300 events were already completed in the 2022 WCOOP, with nearly $80 million worth of prizes already in players’ accounts before the DDOS attacks started.
For Take 2, PokerStars is bringing back the WCOOP Main Events and boosting their prizes for a massive final showdown worth almost $28 million in guarantees. Canadians from across the country (excluding Ontario) are eligible for the rescheduled Mains, and the boosted prize pools. The action kicks off on November 5 and will run until November 9.
Canadians Get Another Shot at WCOOP Glory
When the 2022 WCOOP came crashing down on the final weekend because of a DDoS attack, Canadians had already bagged 11 WCOOP titles. That puts Canada 8th on the comprehensive list of titles by country, but Canucks do a bit better when the player pool size is considered.
Brazil leads the list with an astonishing 60 titles before the series ground to a halt. Still, compared to their population, it works out to about 1 for every 3.5 million people in Brazil. The UK, second with 32 titles, has 1 title for every 2.15 million residents. Canada (once the ineligible population of Ontario is removed) essentially ties that with 1 title for every 2.13 million people.
That said, while Canada does better per capita than the top two, third-place Austria and 5th place Norway unsurprisingly blow the country out of the game. Austrians have won a title for every 391,000 residents, but that is not much of a shock given both the poker skills Austrians have shown over recent years, and the tax situations in Austria make the country a very attractive place to play poker. Norway does even better by population, with a title for every 384,000 residents.
2022 WCOOP Titles by Country
| Titles | Country |
|---|---|
| 60 | Brazil |
| 32 | UK |
| 23 | Austria |
| 17 | Sweden |
| 15 | Germany |
| 14 | Norway |
| 12 | Ukraine |
| 11 | Canada |
| 10 | Romania |
2022 WCOOP Titles Per Capita
| Titles | Country | Population | 1 Title Per |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Norway | 5379000 | 384,214.29 |
| 23 | Austria | 8917000 | 387,695.65 |
| 17 | Sweden | 10350000 | 608,823.53 |
| 10 | Romania | 19290000 | 1,929,000.00 |
| 32 | UK | 67220000 | 2,146,825.00 |
| 11 | Canada (excl Ont) | 23440000 | 2,130,909.09 |
| 60 | Brazil | 212600000 | 3,543,333.33 |
| 12 | Ukraine | 44130000 | 3,677,500.00 |
| 15 | Germany | 83240000 | 5,549,333.33 |
Canada’s 11 titles still put the Great White North in an elite spot by population, moving the country to 6th on the per capita list, two places up from the raw numbers. Now Canucks can add a few more to the total, with the sequel to the final weekend coming in early November. There are 66 games on the new schedule, including redos for all levels of the Main Events.
There are many extra prizes to be won and more than just the mulligan Main Events on the November 5 – November 9 schedule. All Canadians outside of Ontario can take part — see below for some key highlights of the WCOOP Take 2 weekend. New players just signing up with the operator can take advantage of the PokerStars Deposit Bonus to boost their bankroll ahead of the Take 2 weekend.
WCOOP Take 2 Highlights
- Dates: Saturday, November 5 — Wednesday, November 9, 2022
- Tournaments: 66
- Total Guarantees: $27,918,500
- Buy-In Range: $5.50 – $10,300
- Main Events, starting Nov 6
- WCOOP $109 NLHE Main Event Low — $3m guaranteed — increase of $500,000
- WCOOP $1,050 NLHE Main Event Medium — $5m guaranteed — increase of $1m
- WCOOP $10,300 NLHE Main Event High — World Championship of NLHE — $7m guaranteed — increase of $1m
- WCOOP $109 PLO Main Event Low — $109 PLO, $250K Gtd
- WCOOP $1,050 PLO Main Event Medium — $1,050 PLO, $600K Gtd
- WCOOP $10,300 PLO Main Event High — $10,300 PLO World Championship of PLO, $1M Gtd
- Other Key Games:
- WCOOP Take 2 Kickoff:
- Nov 5
- $5.50/$40k, $55/$175K, and $530/$200K
- Women’s Event
- Nov 6
- $5.50/$3.5k, $22/$10k, and $109/$25k
- WCOOP Take 2 Kickoff:
