The 2026 WCOOP on PokerStars has produced winners at every level, and two recent results show the range of the series. At the top, Dutch pro Johannes "Jepser8" Straver has had one of the best high-roller runs of the festival, capped by a win in the $10,300 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill for $167,733. At the other end of the buy-in scale, Team PokerStars Pro Sebastian "peace&love" Huber beat more than 1,100 entries to win a $75 PKO turbo and become a three-time WCOOP champion.
Both stories say something about how the modern WCOOP works — and how different paths lead to the same trophy.
Straver's high-roller run
Straver's run started with back-to-back wins in the series' Super Tuesday high rollers.
In the first, he won a small-field high roller from just 23 players for $106,622. A week later, he won WCOOP 49-H: $5,200 Super Tuesday High Roller, beating a field of 67 entries and defeating Canada's Guillaume "Nolet20" Nolet heads-up for $90,420. That denied Nolet what would have been his fourth WCOOP title.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannes "Jepser8" Straver | $90,420 |
| 2 | Guillaume "Nolet20" Nolet | $67,695 |
| 3 | Rodrigo Selouan | $50,682 |
Then came the biggest score of the three. The $10,300 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill drew 48 entries for a $480,000 prize pool, with only six places paid. Straver took down the event and collected $101,875 in bounties plus $65,858 in regular prize money — $167,733 in total. PokerNews counts it as his fourth WCOOP title.
Kazakhstan's "VbV1990" finished second for $83,983, and "Nacho12444" was third for $53,014. Jorge "jorginho88" Abreu busted in seventh and left with only bounties ($7,500), while high-stakes regular Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi finished ninth.
Why high-roller PKOs play differently
In a 48-player PKO with six places paid, most of the money isn't in the payout table — it's in the bounties. Straver's $101,875 in bounties was more than 60% of his total.
That changes strategy in important ways:
- Wider calls when covering. When you have an opponent covered, winning the hand also wins their bounty. That extra equity lets you call shoves with weaker hands than a freezeout would allow.
- Less ICM pressure. With so much money in bounties, the payout jumps matter less. Players can take more risks late without the usual penalty.
- Bounties grow. In progressive knockouts, half of each bounty you win goes onto your own head. Big-stack players become more valuable targets as the event goes on.
Straver's results show a player comfortable with these dynamics against elite, tiny fields — where every opponent is a strong regular and edges are small.
Huber's third title at the micro-stakes end
Huber's win came in Event 100-M: $75 NLHE 6-Max Turbo PKO. The field was 1,113 entries, the prize pool $75,884, and 143 players cashed. Slightly more than half of the pool went to regular payouts, with the rest in bounties.
Brazilian players made up 13 of the last 20, with "Any2vsYou" the deepest Brazilian finisher in fifth for $2,879. Malta's "LAFAL1O" finished fourth and the UK's "tombk24" third.
Heads-up, Huber and "Old brock" had both locked up $5,442. Huber went on to win, leaving with $10,056 to "Old brock"'s $6,586.
It added a third WCOOP title to a collection that already included:
- 2022: $5.50 NLHE 7-Max PKO
- 2024: $11 H.O.R.S.E.
Huber had a busy day. He also finished third in Event #93-M, a $215 NLHE event, for $7,380, and sixth in the $55 PLO Event #92-M for $1,297.
Why a pro plays $75 events
It may seem strange to see a Team PokerStars Pro celebrating a $75 win. But Huber's titles — a $5.50 PKO, an $11 H.O.R.S.E. event and now a $75 PKO — show that WCOOP titles at the low tiers are real prizes. The low buy-in events often have the biggest fields, and winning one against 1,000-plus entries is statistically harder than winning a 48-runner high roller.
Being an ambassador also means being visible across the schedule, not just in the high rollers.
Two routes to a WCOOP title
Put the two results side by side and the contrast is striking. Straver's Thursday Thrill had 48 players and paid six; Huber's turbo PKO had 1,113 players and paid 143. Straver's buy-in was more than 130 times Huber's, and his score was more than 16 times larger.
Yet both earned the same thing on the WCOOP record books: a title. That is one of the reasons WCOOP remains special. The trophy count doesn't care about buy-in, which is why players like Huber keep entering low-stakes events, and why title leaders such as Benny Glaser and Patrick Leonard have built their records across every tier.
It also explains why the high rollers are so hard. With fields that small, almost every opponent is a winning regular — there is little room for error.
Other WCOOP winners this week
- Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa won his fifth WCOOP title in the $109 5-Card PLO.
- "CPUrul0r" won the $1,050 Fenomeno for $22,223, a sixth WCOOP title.
- Joao "Naza114" Vieira won the $1,050 PLO8 World Championship for $27,202, beating Koplimaa for his 14th WCOOP title.
- Renan Bruschi became the first four-time winner of the 2026 series, taking his career total to 13.
What this means for players
Learn bounty math. PKOs and mystery bounties are now a large part of every major online series. Understanding how bounties change your calling ranges is one of the most useful skills you can build. Start with pot odds and equity, then apply the bounty as extra pot money when you cover an opponent.
Big fields reward patience. Huber's win came against 1,113 entries. Low buy-in events are where most players can afford to compete, but deep runs require long sessions and solid fundamentals. Our poker strategy hub is a good starting point.
Pick the right site. WCOOP is only available on PokerStars in certain markets. US players looking for large PKO and turbo schedules should check Americas Cardroom and Black Chip Poker on the Winning Poker Network.
Bankroll accordingly. High-roller fields are tiny and tough; micro-stakes fields are huge and swingy. Both require the right bankroll management.
With the WCOOP Main Events running this weekend, the series still has plenty of titles left — and both players still have chances to add to their totals before the festival ends on September 30.