‘Learning by doing’ is sometimes the best way to get your head around a subject.
Poker is an obvious example; first you’ll want a simple explanation of the rules, but then you’ll need to play out a hand or two to really understand the path from the deal to the showdown.
It’s in this spirit of active education that PokerStars has announced the return of WCOOP Boot Camp, August 2-17.
It’s a tournament series for the site’s global market with 130 events and over $6.5 million in guaranteed prizes.
But while there’s big money on the line, PokerStars is framing this as a learning opportunity. Because there’s an even bigger opportunity coming up, with prizes an order of magnitude larger.
This year’s WCOOP Boot Camp may have a $6.5M guarantee, but last year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) proper had one literally 10x larger, and we expect the 2026 version to be comparable.
The full WCOOP comes hot on the heels of the Boot Camp and will run from September 6-30.
So is WCOOP Boot Camp a chance to win, or a chance to learn?
As any good poker player will tell you, every hand is always both.
WCOOP Boot Camp will offer players free training sessions - see below for more.Much more than just hold’em
Part of what sets up WCOOP Boot Camp as a practice run for the full-fat WCOOP is the schedule. 65 events are on there, and true to ‘COOP fashion they will each be available at a choice of price points, Low and High.
A range of satellites will be running from just $0.55, and two Main Events are scheduled for August 16. The Low $109 Main Event has a $500K GTD prizepool, with $300K GTD for the $1,050 High edition.
Then there’s the variety on offer. Just like WCOOP or its springtime sister series SCOOP, plenty of tournament formats and game variants are represented, from HORSE to 2-7 single draw, turbos, mystery bounties and a large number of progressive KO (PKO) tourneys.
It’s almost possible to play a different game every single day of the series; check out these highlights, one for each day of the series, for proof. Each is available at two buy-in levels (Low/High).
- August 2: $2.20/$22 NLH Turbo PKO ($6K/$50K GTD)
- August 3: $5.50/$55 HORSE ($2.5K/$5K GTD)
- August 4: $11/$109 PLO8 ($7.5K/$15K GTD)
- August 5: $11/$109 NL 2-7 Single Draw PKO ($3.5K/$7K GTD)
- August 6: $5.50/$55 PL Badugi PKO ($2.5K/$5K GTD)
- August 8: $11/$109 8-Game ($5K/$10K GTD)
- August 9: $11/$109 PLO ($10K/$25K GTD)
- August 10: $5.50/$55 Razz ($2K/$5K GTD)
- August 11: $11/$109 5-Card PLO ($5K/$7.5K GTD)
- August 12: $5.50/$55 FL 2-7 Triple Draw ($2K/$5K GTD)
- August 13: $5.50/$55 5-Card PLO8 ($5K/$10K GTD)
- August 15: $55/$530 NLHE PKO ($75K/$25K GTD)
- August 16: $109/$1,050 Main Event ($500K/$300K GTD)
Free coaching available from BBZ Poker
Helping to put the ‘Boot Camp’ into the series name are the coaches at the online training site BBZ Poker.
Jon 'apestyles' Van Fleet is one of the BBZ Poker coaches.Each Friday during the series is a ‘rest day’ when the BBZ Poker coaches will hold free strategy sessions looking ahead to the weekend’s big events.
These sessions will run from 1-4pm CEST at the BBZ Discord, and as well as offering great preparation for the upcoming tournaments will share passwords for special centroll tournaments, taking place after the training sessions, which will award $1K or more in WCOOP tickets.
Sign up at PokerStars to take part.
