Pokerstars WCOOP 2009 Announces $40 million Prizepool

September sees the return of the 8th PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) which, with a prizepool of $40 million,  makes it the biggest online series of tournaments in the world.The Main Event last year was won by Carter “ckingusc” King who walked away with an impressive $1.2 million first prize.
The competition has grown in size and stature with each passing series and last year attracted 22,873 players from 119 countries worldwide, with each of the winners receiving a  gold bracelet in the WSOP fashion.It is also hailed for its accessibility and as Pro member Vanessa Rousso puts it;
“The WCOOP is my favourite event – anyone can play at anytime, anywhere, with tournaments running throughout the day. For millions of players, it’s the ultimate poker championship and everyone has the chance to become a World Champion!”
The series of 45 tournaments will take place between September 3 to September 21, 2009 and 14 of those 45 events will offer a prize pool of $1 million or more.The WCOOP offers a wide variety of poker games  including Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Razz, HORSE and 2-7 Draw and this year sees 8 new additions to the tournament including Badugi, $530 Heads Up PL Omaha.
Team PokerStars Daniel Negreanu said “There are hundreds of exciting tournaments all year round but nothing compares to the [PokerStars.com] WCOOP – it’s the ‘must play’ event of the year for any poker player. Last year over 20,000 players came together from across the world to compete in the largest ever online poker event – for their chance to become a World Champion”.
Players will be able to qualify for the WCOOP via satellites at low entry buy ins and there is also the opportunity of being able to compete against the poker pros as Team PokerStars members will be well represented in this series and will include Vanessa Rousso, Gavin Griffin, Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, or more locally based members like Joe Hachem or Lee Nelson.