In 2003, the World Championship of Online Poker marked its second year. It was so successful in its first year that the top online poker site on the planet, PokerStars, brought it back, making it better than ever in the process. In 2003, the WCOOP sported 11 events, ranging from everyone’s favorite, No Limit Hold’em, to Stud Hi/Lo. The Main Event was a $1,050 buy-in no limit event that attracted 891 entrants. In the end, and over 10 hours after it first began, the WCOOP Main Event crowned its champion, DeOhGee. He walked away with $222,750, which was 25% of the Main Event prize pool. DeOhGee defeated DOUBLEDUCE heads up. In the final hand, DOUBLEDUCE showed A-5 after the two were all in pre-flop. DeOhGee’s chances looked grim when he showed K-J suited, but the king of diamonds fell on the flop. The rest, as they say, is history. DOUBLEDUCE cashed for $124,740.
Rounding out the top finishers in the 2003 WCOOP Main Event were Tiltorama (third for $80,190), neg smeg (fourth for $57,915), and Finland native mongeron (fifth for $48,114). The top nine finishers pocketed at least $10,000, a nice return on investment for several hours’ worth of work. A total of 81 people cashed.
There were a whopping 1,358 players who paid $300 to battle it out in Event #4, a No Limit Hold’em tournament. After all, it’s the most popular poker game on the planet. In the end, Erik123 defeated bvdahl when the two got all in pre-flop. Erik123 held pocket jacks; bvdahl flipped over A-9. The board came 6-8-6-K-7, providing no help to bvdahl and sending Erik123 to the winner’s circle. He cashed for $101,850, which was roughly 340 times the amount of his buy in. Talk about a payday!
Another PokerStars player who went home with far more cash than he walked in with was actiondonkey. The Las Vegas native won $78,250, picking up first place in the $500 limit hold’em event. He blazed through a field of 626 players, defeating a man with a very creative name on PokerStars, imSMARTurDUM, heads up. The runner up pocketed $44,759. Stomark (third) and mcintyre (fourth) each nabbed over $20,000. There were 63 players who cashed in total; each took home at least $782.50. In one of the largest online tournaments ever held, there were plenty of PokerStars players sent home happy.
There were nearly 6,800 total entries in the 2003 WCOOP. Nearly one-sixth of the field, 1,301 players to be exact, competed in a lower-stakes $100 limit hold’em event. The winner, C.M. Burns, triumphantly turned his $100 buy-in into $32,525. Rivahboat took home second place, paddling for $18,214. Maximus421 finished in fourth place, cashing for $11,709.
Other players who captured WCOOP bracelets for winning one of the 11 events included batoelrob, Lenny, naya, jr50, Starkitty, RatPack, and BigCy. The poker boom was on, evidenced by the excitement and thrills displayed at the 2003 WCOOP.