PokerStars 2008 WCOOP Breaks Online Prize Record

from PokerStars:

POKERSTARS 2008 WCOOP BREAKS ONLINE PRIZE POOL RECORD

With More Than $10 Million Up for Grabs – ‘ckingusc’ Walks Away the Winner

ISLE OF MAN, UK, September 23, 2008 – With a prize pool exceeding $10 million, PokerStars broke the online poker prize pool record on Sunday with the 2008 WCOOP Main Event. The $5,200 NLHE tournament made online poker history as the largest ever online poker tournament with more than 2,000 players competing for 36 hours over two days. Carter “ckingusc” King, a 22-year-old student from Columbia, S.C., cut through the Main Event taking home $1.26 million first prize.

PokerStars continued to dominate the world of online poker tournaments at this year’s WCOOP with total prize pool of $39,958,000 – more than $3 million more than the last year’s event. Players from 118 different countries participated in 33 events for more than $55,000 in buy-ins. Players “PearlyJammer” and “thedonator” cashed 10 times in the tournament with “Dorinvandv” leading as the top earner before the main event.

Team PokerStars Pro Bertrand ‘ElKy’ Grospellier continued his 2008 tournament success in the WCOOP, cashing seven times and earning more than $400,000 over the two week period. He finished 21st in the main event cashing $22,942.50.

“The WCOOP is a great tournament to play, in preparation for upcoming tournaments like EPT London and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in January” said ElKy, 2008 PCA Champion. “The prize pool is enormous and there is such an incredible variety of players and styles. No other online tournament compares to the WCOOP.”

Final Table/Payouts:

Name

City, Country

$

1

ckingusc

Columbia, USA

$1,265,432

2

liberace

London, UK

$1,375,249

3

AJKHoosier1

Round Lake, USA

$782,542

4

Markush13

Minsk, Russia

$961,718

5

ShoesRDurrty

Oakton, USA

$801,153

6

Sumpas

Linkoping, Sweden

$415,150

7

klslcz

Denver, USA

$305,900

8

BOLLPOKER

Versailles, France

$196,650

9

kovi99

Vienna, Austria

$121,267