PokerStars is adding a community competition to the 2026 World Championship of Online Poker, giving players the chance to join teams led by some of the operator’s best-known ambassadors and compete for WCOOP Main Event tickets.
The new WCOOP Games will feature four teams headed by Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, Marle Spragg, Sebastian “peace&loove” Huber and Brazilian PokerStars commentators Felipe Phil and Flávio del Valle.
Community players can qualify for the teams through tournaments costing just $0.01 to enter. Those who make the cut will then receive entry into selected $109 WCOOP tournaments, where their performances will determine which community advances.
The promotion adds another route into a WCOOP schedule that will run from September 6-30 and feature 350 tournaments across 121 events.
How The WCOOP Games Work
Each ambassador team will contain three community qualifiers.
Players earn their places through special one-cent “centroll” tournaments scheduled for August 23, August 30 and September 6. Players choose the ambassador community they want to represent and attempt to win their way onto that team.
The four teams are:
- Team Spraggy
- Team Marle
- Team Seb
- Team Del & Phil
PokerStars’ official schedule lists Seb’s qualifying tournament at 14:00 ET, Spraggy’s and Marle’s at 15:00 ET, and Del & Phil’s at 19:00 ET on each qualifying date.
Players can only qualify for one WCOOP Games team.
Once the teams are complete, PokerStars will automatically enter the community qualifiers into designated $109 WCOOP tournaments for the head-to-head stage.
Three WCOOP Face-Offs Decide The Winner
The competition then moves into three Face-Off events during WCOOP.
Team Spraggy faces Team Del & Phil on September 9 in WCOOP 23-M, a $109 NLHE Heads-Up Turbo Progressive Total KO Zoom tournament carrying a $30,000 guarantee.
Team Marle takes on Team Seb on September 15 in WCOOP 47-M, the $109 NLHE Progressive KO Bounty Builder High Roller with $150,000 guaranteed.
The winners of those two matchups progress to the final on September 21.
That deciding contest takes place during WCOOP 81-M, a $109 NLHE Turbo carrying a $75,000 guarantee.
The format is effectively a last-longer. Whichever team has a qualifying community player survive deepest wins the Face-Off.
There is an important distinction between the ambassadors and their teammates. Although the PokerStars personalities represent their respective communities, only the results of the three community qualifiers count toward deciding the WCOOP Games standings.
$1,050 WCOOP Main Event Tickets Await The Winners
There is considerably more than bragging rights on offer.
Each of the three community players on the overall winning team receives a $1,050 ticket for the WCOOP NLHE Main Event Medium on September 27.
That tournament carries a $2 million guarantee.
Players therefore have a route from a $0.01 qualifying tournament to a $109 WCOOP event and potentially into one of the biggest tournaments of the entire series.
PokerStars is also putting additional prizes back into the participating communities. The community behind the winning team in each Face-Off will receive a $3,500 freeroll the following day.
Across the competition, those community freerolls account for another $10,500 in prizes.
WCOOP 2026 Will Crown 350 Champions
The WCOOP Games arrive shortly before the start of the 2026 World Championship of Online Poker.
PokerStars recently revealed the complete WCOOP 2026 schedule, with the festival running from September 6 through September 30.
There are 121 events split across Low, Medium and High buy-in levels, creating 350 individual tournaments and the same number of WCOOP champions.
Formats include No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, 8-Game, HORSE, progressive knockouts and Mystery Bounty tournaments.
The series is built around six WCOOP Main Events alongside 10 World Championship disciplines.
The NLHE Main Events begin on September 27, followed by the PLO Main Events on September 28. Combined guarantees across the six Main Events total $6.5 million.
For Spraggy, Marle Spragg, Huber and the Del & Phil partnership, however, this year’s WCOOP starts slightly differently.
Before the championship titles are decided, they need to find three players capable of carrying their communities through the WCOOP Games.
WCOOP Games Key Dates
- August 23: First community qualifying tournaments
- August 30: Second community qualifying tournaments
- September 6: Final community qualifying tournaments and WCOOP begins
- September 9: Team Spraggy vs. Team Del & Phil
- September 15: Team Marle vs. Team Seb
- September 21: WCOOP Games Final
- September 27: $1,050 WCOOP NLHE Main Event Medium
- September 30: WCOOP 2026 concludes
Players can find the qualifying tournaments in the PokerStars client by searching for “WCOOP Games.”
