The PokerStars.com World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP),  the richest online poker tournament series in the world, kicks off its ninth annual instalment on September 5, 2010. The 2010 WCOOP features US $50 million in guaranteed prizes, the most that PokerStars.com has ever guaranteed for a WCOOP series. In addition to trying to win life-changing money, players will compete in almost every conceivable poker discipline to become a World Champion and to win a sought-after WCOOP gold bracelet.

WCOOP is hosted exclusively on PokerStars.com. It runs over 23 days, from September 5-27, 2010, and begins with a $215 6-Max NL Hold'em tournament. This year's WCOOP schedule includes 62 events - many with a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million or more - as well as four brand-new knockout events, giving players the opportunity to win some cash even if they do not make the money. The series will culminate with a $10,300 High Roller mixed-game event (8-Game this year) and the traditional 2-Day $5,200 NL Hold’em Main Event ($10 Million guaranteed), starting on September 26, 2010.

43,973 unique players from 140 countries around the world competed in the 2009 WCOOP, an increase of almost 100% in player participation over 2008. Yevgeniy 'Jovial Gent' Timoshenko won the Main Event, a win worth more than $1.7 million. Players 'Udon Wannit' ($1.2 million), Daniel 'djk123' Kelly ($956,956) and 'reddeevil' ($933,712) also had phenomenal success. Kelly, 'ICuRaRook' and 'Maksflaks' shared the honours for most cashes in the series by making the money in 11 of the 45 events.

"Players across the world re-arrange their calendars around the WCOOPschedule," said Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. "It is the biggest and best online poker tournament series - and draws in tens of thousands of players, with the deepest structures and a wide variety of events. I can't wait to play this year’s series!"

Players can qualify for WCOOP events via PokerStars satellites. All players, no matter what the size of their bankrolls, have a chance to qualify for, and perhaps ultimately win, an event.

For satellite information and updates on this year's World Championship of Online Poker, please check www.wcoop.com regularly.

(Press release from PokerStars)

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