The PokerStars website notes that the 2005 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker was the third largest poker event of the year, online or offline. When you factor in gigantic poker series like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, coming in third is truly an accomplishment. PokerStars had pumped the 2005 WCOOP, like others before it, on its site through promotions, freerolls, and other marketing schemes. The result was a massive online poker series that attracted the top online talents from around the world plus thousands of poker hopefuls hoping to strike it rich. The very first event of the 2005 WCOOP attracted 3,062 competitors, each sitting in their respective homes spread out through the globe, battling each other toe to toe with massive cash prizes on the line. Plus, the winner of each WCOOP event took home a shiny bracelet, just like at the WSOP. Panella86 emerged victorious in the 2005 WCOOP Main Event, beating out a field of 1,494 players and winning $577,342. Just like in the 2006 WCOOP, the 2005 Main Event featured a chop. The three final players chopped and then continued play for $50,000 and the gold bracelet.
The final nine players in the 2005 WCOOP Main Event were composed of two Swedes and seven Americans. The two Swedish players, Vendetta and tralala, finished second and third, respectively. Their two cashes combined for nearly $1.1 million for the Swedish economy, propelling each into “high roller” status in the online poker world. PICKLED EGG, from Las Vegas, finished fourth, cashing for $242,775. Hailing from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, aaaaaaaa finished fifth and cashed for $197,995, which can buy a boatload of Manny Ramirez jerseys. JERRRY (sixth), salas777 (seventh), lollylu (eighth), and Buster Love (ninth) rounded out the top nine. Each took home at least $50,000.
The annual $1,050 buy-in no limit tournament brought in 1,799 combatants. VikingVII, from Petaluma, California, battled another California native heads up. In the end, VikingVII cashed for $316,638 for first and DJ16097 cashed for $223,519 and second place. Americans ayaz and jerrod rounded out the top four; each cashed for at least six figures. ElkY, the champion of the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a European Tour Event, finished eighth for $37,232.
Snow Leopard plowed through the 3,062 player field in the very first event of the 2005 WCOOP, winning $306,200 and a bracelet. He defeated toprose heads up; toprose took home $183,720. mrrain (third), fixedset (fourth), bibb (fifth), and ziggy47 (sixth) each cashed for over $50,000. The final nine players remaining in the tournament each hailed from the United States and all but two of the top 20 were American.
There were 2,146 entrants in the $215 no limit hold’em with rebuys event. The final five struck a deal and played on for $20,000 and a bracelet. In the end, genoa_st took home $187,166.20 and first place. Maksflaks (second), n1stunnor (third), yoda777 (fourth), and PokerSavage1 (fifth) were all part of the deal.
All told, the 2005 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker shelled out nearly $13 million. Business would pick up once again in the 2006 WCOOP.