Best Poker Tournaments

Ever since Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event back in 2003, online poker tournaments have experienced a huge increase in popularity. Every day people login to their favorite poker sites to participate in multi-table contests with impressive 1st place prizes. The best poker tournaments even have substantial guaranteed prize pools, attracting hundreds or even thousands of people at a time!

The biggest prizes, however, are often won when a site hosts a major tournament series. These series are usually scheduled well in advance, and they offer some of the best poker tournaments possible with buy-ins and guaranteed prize pools that are not in a typical daily MTT schedule. PokerStars and the iPoker network both have their own series, and each of these series has its own special perks and promotions.


PokerStars is known for having some of the best poker tournaments online, and they offer two tournament series: the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) and the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). Hosted in May each year, SCOOP offers events with three buy-ins so that players of all bankrolls can participate. SCOOP 2010 had guaranteed prize pools that totaled $45 million! Each SCOOP champion received a special SCOOP watch to commemorate their victory. WCOOP, which takes place in September, requires a larger bankroll since its lowest buy-in is $215. WCOOP 2010 is guaranteeing an incredible $50 million in prize pools, including $10 million for the $5,200 Main Event! This year's WCOOP will have a total of 62 events. Each WCOOP champion receives a special WCOOP bracelet.

The iPoker network is the largest European network online, so it makes sense that they have some of the best poker tournaments and host the European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP). Small bankrolls can participate in Mini ECOOP, which takes place before the main ECOOP events. ECOOP VI featured $5 million in guaranteed prizes including $1.5 guaranteed for the Main Event. Each iPoker site also featured its own promotions for the series. For example, Titan Poker offered $11k in bounties for knocking out designated Team pros. Each event winner received a Tag Heuer watch with their username engraved in it.

While there is plenty of money to be made by playing the daily tournament schedule at your favorite online site, the best poker tournaments will always be in a series. And thanks to the mini version of each series, players don't need to have huge bankrolls for the chance to win some of the millions at stake. If you're a fan of tournaments, now is the time to make some poker downloads and get into the action. With so many great sites online today, the next series is always just around the corner!