Published 9 September 2026. Analysis and views here are our opinion,
not a guarantee of anything. 18+, please gamble responsibly.
The World Championship of Online Poker is the biggest fixture in the online calendar and it is four days old. PokerStars’ 2026 edition runs from 6 to 30 September across 121 events, with buy-ins from $5.50 to $25,000, and the part most people think of as WCOOP does not happen until the final weekend.
That gap matters if you are deciding whether to play. Three weeks is a long series, and the way it is built rewards people who plan the month rather than the night.
The three-tier structure
Every WCOOP event runs in Low, Medium and High versions. The same tournament, the same format, three prices. A Razz Championship at $1,050 on 10 September has a $109 equivalent running alongside it, and both carry the same title.
This is the detail that decides whether the series is worth your time. A player with a $200 bankroll is not locked out of a world championship event, they play the Low tier of it. What they are not doing is playing the same tournament as the High tier field, and the title is identical either way. Worth knowing before you decide what a WCOOP bracelet on a results page actually represents.
What is running now
The second week is the mixed-game stretch. The Razz Championship goes on 10 September at $1,050. The Thursday Thrill series spans $109 to $5,200 depending on tier. Pot-Limit Omaha, 8-Game and the rest of the mixed formats run through the middle weekend, which is the part of WCOOP that draws the specialists and thins out the recreational field.
Super Tuesday on 15 September carries World Championship status with buy-ins up to $5,200. If you are dipping into one week of the series rather than all three, the middle Tuesday is a reasonable place to do it.
The Main Events, 27 and 28 September
Six Main Events across two days, with $6.5 million guaranteed between them.
Sunday 27 September is No-Limit Hold’em. The Low is $109 with $1.25m guaranteed, the Medium $1,050 with $2m guaranteed, and the High is the $10,300 NLHE Championship carrying $2.5m.
Monday 28 September switches to Pot-Limit Omaha. Low at $109 with $100,000 guaranteed, Medium at $1,050 with $250,000, and the $10,300 PLO Championship guaranteeing $400,000.
The $109 NLHE Main Event with a $1.25m guarantee is the one that shapes the whole series. It is the tournament most of the satellite ladders point at, and the guarantee is large enough that a soft field is not really an option for the operator. Expect several thousand entries.
Where the offers fit, and where they do not
WCOOP is a PokerStars series. We do not hold an affiliate deal with PokerStars, so nothing on this page routes you there, and any offer below is a separate account with a separate operator. Saying that clearly is better than implying a connection that does not exist.
What we do hold is William Hill’s poker welcome offer, and September is a sensible month to look at it because the whole online poker calendar lifts while WCOOP runs.
Ad: new William Hill Poker customers can opt in and claim a £100 bonus plus a pack of Twister tournament tickets on a first deposit or transfer of £10 or more.
Read the shape of that carefully, because it is not £100 in cash. The bonus is released against WHPoints earned at real-money tables, in two stages, and it expires after 45 days. Our own scoring treats that as a 10x playthrough proxy. If you play a few hours a week, 45 days is not a generous window to clear a three-figure bonus, and the honest expectation is that you unlock part of it rather than all of it. The Twister tickets are worth €1 each and land up front, which is the part of the offer you are certain to receive. There are also bonus spins attached at 40x wagering with a £20 maximum redemption and a 14-day expiry.
A playthrough bonus suits someone who was going to play anyway during a busy month. It suits nobody who is depositing to claim the number.
Elsewhere
The live circuit has its own September. GUKPT Luton finished on 8 September with a £150,000 guaranteed Main Event, and the WPT Prime Lodge Championship festival runs 24 September to 12 October with a $1 million guarantee on its $1,100 championship event, which overlaps the back end of WCOOP. Away from the tables, the 250th St Leger runs at Doncaster this Saturday.
Everything here is opinion and information rather than advice, and a bonus you have to play through is a reason to play less carefully, not more. 18+, new customers only.
Sources: PokerNews, Poker News Daily, PokerNews GUKPT Luton, World Poker Tour.
