PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker returns from September 6 to 30, 2026, with WCOOP tournament buy-ins ranging from $5.50 to $25,000.
Players can also try to qualify without paying the full event buy-in. Power Path starts from $0.50, WCOOP satellites from $0.55, and Special Edition Spin & Go’s from $0.75, with WCOOP tickets and Main Event seats among the available prizes.
WCOOP 2026 Runs From September 6 to 30
WCOOP 2026 begins on September 6 and continues through September 30.
Buy-ins across the series range from $5.50 to $25,000. The schedule includes No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, mixed games, bounty formats and other poker variants.
WCOOP’s flagship Main Events are available at High, Medium and Low buy-in levels, with both No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha formats.
WCOOP Satellites Start at $0.55
Satellites will run throughout WCOOP, starting from $0.55. They give players a chance to win seats to WCOOP tournaments for less than the direct event buy-in.
Power Path starts even lower at $0.50. WCOOP Silver and Gold Pass bundles are available through Power Path, with PokerStars valuing the two bundles at $2,500 and $10,300 respectively. The bundles contain WCOOP tournament tickets.
Special Edition Spin & Go’s Start at $0.75
Special Edition Spin & Go’s offer another way to play for WCOOP tickets, with $0.75, $4 and $20 buy-in levels.
At $0.75, the top listed prize is a $1,050 WCOOP Main Event Medium ticket. The $4 and $20 versions both list a $10,300 WCOOP Main Event High ticket as their largest prize.
Those top prizes come with long odds. The $10,300 ticket has a listed probability of 3 in 1,000,000 in the $4 Spin & Go and 100 in 1,000,000 in the $20 game.
Other prize levels include smaller WCOOP tickets and cash. Rake is 8% on the $0.75 and $4 versions and 6% on the $20 version.
WCOOP Lucky Dip Offers $500,000 in Tickets
The WCOOP Lucky Dip runs from September 6 to 26, excluding WCOOP rest days, with $500,000 in WCOOP tickets available through the promotion.
Playing a categorized WCOOP event earns a random score. Players who enter more eligible events during the same day collect additional scores, but only their highest score counts toward that day’s Lucky Dip.
Each daily Lucky Dip offers a share of more than $27,500 in prizes.
The dates are worth noting because the Lucky Dip ends on September 26, while the main WCOOP schedule continues through September 30.
Four Teams Will Compete in the WCOOP Games
The WCOOP Games adds a separate team competition involving four PokerStars ambassador-led teams.
The captains are Spraggy, Seb, Del & Phil, and Marle. Each captain hosts three Centrolls on August 23, August 30 and September 6.
The last player standing in each Centroll qualifies for the relevant team, leaving each lineup with one captain and three qualifiers.
Those teams then compete in a series of Face Offs. PokerStars describes the WCOOP Games as a competition for team supremacy and Main Event tickets, but the supplied event information does not yet detail the full ticket distribution structure.
How to Get Into WCOOP 2026 for Less
Direct WCOOP tournament buy-ins start at $5.50, but the lowest listed route connected with the series is Power Path from $0.50. Satellites begin at $0.55, while Special Edition Spin & Go’s start at $0.75.
WCOOP itself runs from September 6 to 30. The WCOOP Lucky Dip finishes earlier on September 26, and full details for the WCOOP Player of the Series Leader Boards have not yet been announced.
