PokerStars has announced that it will host the largest buy-in tournament in the history of online poker, smashing the previous record. The $51,000 buy-in event will be part of the 2015 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million.
The tournament will take place at 12:30pm ET on September 20th, 2015, at the beginning of the back third of the WCOOP schedule. It will be a No-Limit Hold’em Eight-Max event with a $50,000 buy-in and a $1,000 entry fee. For comparison, the 2015 WCOOP Main Event has a total buy-in and fee of just $5,200 (I say “just” like that is pocket change), though it does have an impressive $10 million guarantee and $1.5 million guaranteed to go to the winner.
According to a press release issued by PokerStars, the previous largest buy-in for an online poker tournament was $25,000 found in heads-up events at the WCOOP in 2008 through 2010 and at the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) in 2009 through 2011.
As large tournaments have become more accessible for poker players over the years, live tournament organizers, in particular, have introduced “High Roller” and “Super High Roller” events in an attempt to increase the concentration of top pros. Amateurs are not typically going to have the bankroll necessary to fork over a $50,000, $100,000, or $250,000 buy-in unless they are wealthy businessmen. As such, the tournament field is more dense with “name” pro poker players, supposedly creating a better tournament. The buy-in for the World Series of Poker’s “Poker Players Championship” was set at $50,000 with the above in mind.
PokerStars pro and 2014 Poker Hall of Fame inductee Daniel Negreanu made similar statements about the new $51,000 WCOOP event, saying, “Over the last few years we have seen the emergence of Super High Roller events at live events across the globe. I think it only makes sense that the world’s largest poker site is also the host of the largest buy-in online poker tournament ever. I’m excited to test my skills against the best of the best, online.”
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker will take place this fall (well technically this summer), beginning September 7th. It will run for three weeks, featuring 66 total tournaments and $40 million in guaranteed prize pools. It is not a cheap tournament series. The lowest buy-in is $109, though there is only one of those; the most common “low” buy-in is $215. The PokerStars SCOOP is the tournament series with much more affordable buy-ins, as they top out at where the buy-ins of the WCOOP tournaments start.
As is always the case, players can attempt to win entries into WCOOP events via satellite if they cannot or do not want to shell out for the full buy-in of a tournament.
