WCOOP 2021: Fact and figures, stats and silliness from this year’s series

The 2021 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is in the books, meaning online poker’s most prestigious tournament series has completed 20 iterations. Incredible really. And it’s still going strong.

No doubt over the coming weeks and months, we’ll take a look back at the full 20 years, the start of a countdown to the 21st renewal in 2022. But in this post, we’re keeping our focus narrow, specifically on the series that has just wrapped up.

Here are all the facts and figures, stats and silliness from the past three weeks of WCOOP competition. We’ve been trying to keep track of all the most significant numbers throughout it all, and here’s where all the calculations will end up.

STAT TRACKER

This series featured 102 events with a high, medium and low buy-in in each, meaning 306 tournaments in all. There was a $100 million guarantee on the whole thing, but an expectation, borne of experience, that that would be comfortably eclipsed. So it proved. Here are the final headline stats from WCOOP 2021:

Tournaments completed: 306
Entries: 1,428,869 (inc. 294,277 re-entries)
Prize pools: $122,340,165
First-place prizes: $18,342,344 (inc. $3,102,427 in bounties)

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HIGHEST AND LOWEST

The high buy-in NLHE Main Event came with a $10 million guarantee this time around, and that was always certain to be the biggest tournament of the series, at least in terms of prize pool. But here’s the top five tournaments from WCOOP 2021, by prize pool, field size and winner’s prize and then the five smallest events too, by the same metrics.

Top five prize pools

$10,000,000 – WCOOP 91-H: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
$3,891,500 – WCOOP 91-M: $530 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
$3,000,000 – WCOOP 34-H: $25,000 NLHE 8-Max, Super High Roller
$2,014,550 – WCOOP 91-L: $55 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
$1,930,000 – WCOOP 63-M: $1,050 NLHE 8-Max, PKO

17 other tournaments had prize pools of $1 million or more

Top five biggest fields (by number of entries)

141,219 – WCOOP 01-L: $5.50 NLHE Phase event
45,743 – WCOOP 01-M: $22 NLHE Phase event
40,291 – WCOOP 91-L: $55 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
27,906 – WCOOP 94-L: $11 NLHE 8-Max, PKO, Series Saver
22,966 – WCOOP 67-L: $11 NLHE PKO

Note: Phase events feature multiple starting flights. Entry numbers include all phases

Top five biggest winner’s prizes

$1,499,942 – CrazyLissy – WCOOP 91-H: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
$657,557 – kZhh – WCOOP 34-H: $25,000 NLHE 8-Max, Super High Roller
$549,008 – festen x – WCOOP 91-M: $530 NLHE 8-Max, NLHE Main Event
$331,495† – Bruno “great dant” Volkmann – WCOOP 63-H: $10,300 NLHE 8-Max, PKO, High Roller
$308,556 – Andras “probirs” Nemeth – WCOOP 92-H: $10,300 PLO 6-Max, PLO Main Event
† – inc. bounties

Smallest five prize pools

$10,937 – WCOOP 46-L: $11 FL Badugi 6-Max
$13,426 – WCOOP 15-L: $11 NL 2-7 Single Draw
$15,000 – WCOOP 21-L: $11 FLHE 6-Max
$15,000 – WCOOP 58-L: $11 NL 5-Card Draw
$15,000 – WCOOP 72-L: $11 Stud

Smallest five fields

40 – WCOOP 41-H: $2,100 FL 2-7 Triple Draw
44 – WCOOP 52-H: $10,300 8-Game High Roller
46 – WCOOP 58-H: $1,050 NL 5-Card Draw
48 – WCOOP 09-H: $2,100 HORSE
53 – WCOOP 46-H: $1,050 FL Badugi 6-Max

Smallest winner’s prizes

$1,582 – Valaquaz – WCOOP 21-L: $11 FLHE 6-Max
$1,766 – The TJS – WCOOP 46-L: $11 FL Badugi 6-Max
$1,954 – Twiggie1990 – WCOOP 54-L: $11 NLHE 8-Max, Turbo, PKO, Freezeout
$1,997 – CnlSayWanker – WCOOP 15-L: $11 NL 2-7 Single Draw
$2,112 – HetlsJeBoy – WCOOP 11-L: $5.50 NLO8 8-Max, PKO

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MORE ABOUT WCOOP:
2021 RESULTS | RESULTS 2002-2020 | 20 YEARS OF WCOOP
YEAR-BY-YEAR | MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS |OFFICIAL WCOOP PAGE | ALL BLOG REPORTS

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INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE

WCOOP always delivers some incredible individual performances as players run hot and see their year-long preparation come to fruition. This year, there were two players who won three events and a further 13 who won two titles. Here are this year’s multiple champs:

3 wins:
Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi (UK)
Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins (Brazil)

2 wins:
_sennj_ (Norway)
Eduardo “Eduardo850” Silva (Brazil)
Elliott “elliottpet” Peterman (Costa Rica)
FAL1st (Russia)
Fisherman FV (Netherlands)
kurzatvvarz (Poland)
Lauriê “LaliTournier” Tournier-Moraes (Brazil)
Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt (Austria)
Joao “Naza114” Vieira (Netherlands)
Pablo “Pablos701” Wesley (Brazil)
Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (UK)
Belarmino “PaGaOVelhinho” de Souza (Brazil)
Jerry “Perrymejsen” Odeen (Finland)

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THE BRIDESMAIDS

It’s also often fun at this stage of a major series to consider some alternative histories and to look at the near misses. Who were the players who consistently got heads-up, but couldn’t get over the line? What if a few heads-up battles had gone the other way? Who would we be lauding then?

This time, two Nordic players became the ultimate bridesmaids. Sweden’s “GlobalHappiness” and Finland’s “zerodeda” both got down to the last two on three occasions, but came away without a title. Eight other players finished second twice and did not win an event.

However, two players got heads up four times: Joao “Naza114” Vieira and Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani. Vieira converted twice and finished runner-up twice. Garagnani converted once.

Here’s a list of all the players who got heads up more than once, and what they actually ended up winning:

HEADS UP FOUR TIMES

Won two, runner up twice
Joao “Naza114” Vieira (Netherlands)

Won one, runner up three times
Pedro “pvigar” Garagnani (Brazil)

HEADS UP THREE TIMES

Won three
Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi (UK)
Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins (Brazil)

Won two, runner up once
Eduardo “Eduardo850” Silva (Brazil)

Won one, runner-up twice
Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna (Finland)
Diego “Die Ventura” Ventura (Peru)
Luke “lb6121” Schwartz (UK)

Runner-up three times
GlobalHappiness (Sweden)
zerodeda (Finland)

HEADS UP TWICE

Won two
_sennj_ (Norway)
Elliott “elliottpet” Peterman (Costa Rica)
FAL1st (Russia)
Fisherman FV (Netherlands)
kurzatvvarz (Poland)
Lauriê “LaliTournier” Tournier-Moraes (Brazil)
Dinesh “NastyMinder” Alt (Austria)
Pablo “Pablos701” Wesley (Brazil)
Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (UK)
Belarmino “PaGaOVelhinho” de Souza (Brazil)
Jerry “Perrymejsen” Odeen (Finland)

Won one, runner-up once
avttaS (Russia)
Baca4b (Poland)
Camilancefieldg (Canada)
Durabo (Denmark)
edercampana (Brazil)
Gladi3 (Austria)
Jans “Graftekkel” Arends (Netherlands)
Will “hellzito” Arruda (Brazil)
kZhh (Hungary)
MrHyde97 (Peru)
Mulatin181 (Brazil)
Nelepo10 (Brazil)
Pablo “pabritz” Brito (Brazil)
PIPON777 (Latvia)
Andras “probirs” Nemeth (Hungary)
RPILON (Canada)
shrekpoker91 (Ukraine)
SmilleThHero (Austria)
Stakelis24 (Lithuania)
tubatalevski (Bulgaria)
vincelis (Lithuania)
Christian “WATnlos” Rudolph (Austria)
zufo16 (Mexico)

Runner-up twice
_pauL€FauL_ (Austria)
Alex “AlexKP” Petersen (Denmark)
Dante “dantegoyaF” Goya (Brazil)
Fukuruku (Ukraine)
Haringbuis (Netherlands)
Naked:D (Ukraine)
Matt “OLD TIME GIN” Stone (Canada)
Tobias “Senkel92” Leknes (Norway)

NATIONAL SUCCESS

There are no official prizes for the countries that perform the best during WCOOP, but it’s something we always enjoy keeping track of. The Countries Leader Board in our daily WCOOP updates is replicated across the world as poker players of all nations watch the success of their countryfolk.

This time, as is very often the case, Brazil blitzed the competition. Prior to the 2021 WCOOP series, the most titles a single country had ever won was 35. Brazil set that mark last year. But the South Americans absolutely destroyed their own record this time around, finishing the series with an absolutely incredible 57 titles. Russia, who finished second, eclipsed Brazil’s previous mark, but the Class of 2021 Brazilians had a clear lead of 20 over even them.

In all, 42 countries got on the board this time, which is also a record. In 2018, we saw winners from 41, but on the final day, Slovakia won its first of the series and pushed us up to 42 for WCOOP 2021.

Here are the final standings:

57 titles — Brazil
37 — Russia
27 — UK
20 – Netherlands
16 — Austria
15 — Canada
14 — Sweden
11 — Poland
9 — Hungary
8 — Finland, Germany
7 — Belarus, Norway
6 — Mexico, Ukraine
5 — Czech Republic, Latvia, Romania
4 — Argentina, Lithuania, Peru
3 — Bulgaria
2 — Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Moldova
1 — Andorra, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Morocco, New Zealand, Panama, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Uzbekistan.

Note: Andorra, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, San Marino and Uzbekistan won the first WCOOP titles in their history.

AND THE RUNNERS UP…?

In case anyone was wondering whether Brazil just got lucky a bunch of times heads up, the answer is no. Brazilians also finished runner up on 54 occasions during this WCOOP, and on at least three occasions, Brazilians finished first, second and third in the same tournament.

The main overachievers in heads-up battles were British players, who crowned 27 champions and had only 18 runners-up. Otherwise, as the list of second-place finishers below demonstrates, most countries won approximately half of their heads-up battles:

Second place finishes:

54 – Brazil
37 – Russia
22 – Netherlands
18 – Austria, UK
15 – Canada, Ukraine
11 – Belarus, Poland
10 – Germany, Sweden
9 – Finland
6 – Bulgaria, Norway
5 – Estonia, Lithuania, Peru, Romania
4 – Greece, Hungary
3 – Denmark, Ireland, Malta, Mexico
2 – Andorra, Argentina, Belgium, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Latvia, Moldova
1 – Chile, Croatia, Ecuador, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Thailand, Uruguay.

OTHER STRAY TIDBITS…

Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins became the first player ever to win three titles in back-to-back WCOOPs, having done so in both 2020 and 2021.

Both Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna and Benny “RunGodlike” Glaser have now won at least one WCOOP title for four consecutive years.

The similar streaks of both Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos and Fabiano “Kovalski1” Kovalski ended this year when neither won a title, having won at least one every year since 2018.

Thirty-eight tournaments ended in a deal, but the runner up took more money than the winner on only three occasions.

Thirty-four tournaments were won by players whose username begins with the letter “p”.

For the first time since 2016, no player based in Malta won a WCOOP tournament.

San Marino is the smallest country ever to win a WCOOP title. By population, San Marino is ranked 190th in the list of 193 UN member states, with a population of 33,931.

None of WCOOP’s top three most decorated players won a title this year. Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov, Shaun “shaundeeb” Deeb and Tobias “Senkel92” Leknes all drew blanks, although Strebkov and Leknes both finished runner up (twice, in Leknes’s case).