WCOOP vs WSOP Online Statistics

WCOOP Statistics

The WCOOP series began in 2002 and has been held annually ever since. We can analyze the statistics from 2002 to 2023 and observe the following:

Throughout the series, 2,445 events have taken place, with a total of 8,835,603 players participating. The total prize pool over the years has amounted to $1,299,316,484.

Let’s first take a look at the number of events held annually within WCOOP.

It’s easy to see the steady growth of the series up until 2010, after which growth slowed down. What happened in 2010 that could have halted the rise in WCOOP’s popularity on PokerStars?

It was the UIGEA law, passed in 2006 but only coming into effect on June 1, 2010. PokerStars lost the ability to operate and advertise in the US market, leading to a decline in demand for its flagship tournament series. This impact can also be seen later in the number of participants in the Main Event during those years.

Another notable moment occurred in 2017 when the series introduced tournaments with lower buy-ins. From that point on, WCOOP events began to be held in three price segments, attracting both casual players and high rollers.

From this point on, the series saw growth in the number of tournaments, although the number of players in the Main Event (now with an average buy-in) began to decrease. In 2020 and 2021, the WCOOP Main Event experienced an overlay, something that had only happened once before (in 2015) in the series’ history.

Now, let’s move on to the graph showing the number of participants in the Main Event and its prize pool. This graph will help us understand the event’s popularity over the years.

It all started in 2002 when the Main Event buy-in was $1,050. The first WCOOP Main Event attracted 238 players, with a prize pool of $238,000.

The following year, the Main Event buy-in was increased to $2,600, and the number of participants grew to 892, resulting in a prize pool of $891,000.

The series continued to grow year after year along with the popularity of online poker, and in 2008, the organizers increased the buy-in to $5,200.

By this time, the number of participants in the Main Event had approached 3,000, but due to the increase in buy-in, the number of players dropped to 2,185. The 2008 prize pool was a massive $10,925,000, but this record was surpassed during the peak of the series in 2010, when 2,443 players competed for a $12,215,000 prize pool.

From this point on, WCOOP faced challenging times. 2011 was the year of “Black Friday.” US authorities blocked the domains of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker. While PokerStars managed to recover and continue its development in Europe, Full Tilt Poker faded into history. The room was acquired by PokerStars, but outside the US market, it no longer held much interest for players.

After recovering from the blow in 2011, WCOOP’s popularity began to rebound. The main events attracted more participants, and the prize pools grew year by year until 2015 when, for the first time in history, the Main Event experienced an overlay.

In response, the organizers increased the Main Event buy-in to $5,000 in 2016, added more events in 2017, and collaborated with UFC in 2019. Despite these efforts, the Main Event experienced overlays in 2020 and 2021, and from 2019 to 2023, the number of players and the prize pool continued to decline year after year.

WSOP Online Statistics

WSOP Online is a poker series that first appeared on WSOP.com and later on GGPoker in 2020.

We can only draw conclusions from the four past series (2020–2023), as WSOP Online doesn’t have as rich a history as WCOOP.

The series’ popularity surged during the COVID-19 pandemic when WSOP organizers couldn’t hold a large live event in Las Vegas. This led to a strong start for the series in 2020, followed by a decline in popularity as the pandemic ended.

It’s also important to note that we’ve combined the statistics for the number of events in the international version of WSOP Online, held on GGPoker, and the regional versions available to WSOP.com players in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

If we only considered the WSOP Online tournaments held on GGPoker, we’d be looking at 31 tournaments in 2020 and 33 tournaments each year thereafter.

Comparing the number of tournaments, it’s clear that WSOP Online organizers don’t focus on increasing the number of events, thereby maintaining the high value of the bracelet awarded to the winner.

By looking at the number of participants in the main event of the series (with a $5,000 buy-in) and the prize pool, we can observe the series’ high popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a slight decline and then gradual growth.

It’s important to note that the WSOP Online Main Event is held in a re-entry format, where players can enter the tournament three times if they are eliminated. This significantly impacts the total prize pool of the event.

In 2020, the tournament featured 23 starting days and attracted 5,802 participants with a $5,000 buy-in. The total prize pool was $27,559,500, and the winner, Stoyan Madanzhiev, took home $3,904,686.

In 2021, the number of starting days increased to 27, but the number of players dropped to 4,092 after the pandemic. As a result, the tournament, which had a $20,000,000 guarantee, experienced an overlay. The winner was Aleksei Vandyshev, who received $2,543,073.

In 2022, the series returned to growth. The number of participants increased to 4,984, and the prize pool amounted to $23,674,000. The winner was Simon Mattsson, who won $2,793,574.

In 2023, the series nearly set a new record with 5,742 participants in the main event and a prize pool of $28,609,250. The winner was Bert

Finish Line

Comparing the statistics of WCOOP and WSOP Online, it’s easy to notice the difference in the organizers’ approaches.

The long-standing WCOOP series from PokerStars aims to provide participation opportunities for every player by adding a large number of tournaments with varying buy-ins. In contrast, WSOP Online maintains the high value of its gold bracelets while offering increased chances of victory for players who are willing to make re-entries.

These tournament series are significantly different from each other, but they will be competing for the attention of online poker enthusiasts this fall.