Exotic formats at WCOOP 2021: What to play besides NLH?

Author

Vargoso

Published

8/31/2021

Updated

9/19/2021

WCOOP has always stood out from the crowd by its unique approach to exotic poker formats. Those always occupy a reasonably significant share in the schedule. In this article, we will analyze Stud, Draw, 8-Game, and Shortdeck events.

Not only Hold'em

In modern online poker, any tournament that is not played in No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha can be classified as exotic. It's almost impossible to find such events in the schedule of any room.

However, those can be exciting not only for old-school regs and amateurs but also for any player looking for opportunities to boost his profits. WCOOP 2021 at PokerStars is perfect for this. In the autumn part of the series, the best events will be:

Event (CET)	Format	Event	Buy-in	Guarantee
31 August 18:05	Limit 2-7 Triple Draw	WCOOP 41	$22, $215, $2,100	$15K, $40K, $85K
1 September 20:15	Limit Badugi	WCOOP 46	$11, $109, $1,050	$10K, $20K, $50K
2 September 20:15	NL Omaha H/L	WCOOP 50	$5,5, $11, $109	$15K, $50K, $100K
2 September 20:15	8-Game	WCOOP 52	$109, $1,050, $10,300	$50K, $100K, $500K
4 September 20:15	NL 5-Card Draw	WCOOP 58	$11, $109, $1,050	$15K, $20K, $40K
7 September 20:15	Limit Stud	WCOOP 72	$11, $109, $1,050	$15K, $40K, $75K
8 September 18:05	NL 6+ Holdem	WCOOP 74	$5,5, $55, $530	$15K, $20K, $40K
8 September 20:15	NL 5 Card Omaha H/L	WCOOP 76	$22, $215, $2,100	$35K, $65K, $175K
9 September 20:15	HORSE	WCOOP 81	$5,5, $55, $530	$20K, $50K, $100K
11 September 20:15	NL Omaha H/L	WCOOP 86	$11, $109, $1,050	$25K, $60K, $125K
14 September 20:15	NL 6+ Holdem	WCOOP 98	$11, $109, $1,050	$30K, $40K, $75K

Tournaments features and satellites

The main feature of such exotic tournaments, in addition to a wide range of buy-ins, is massive guarantees. After analyzing the results of already completed events, we have spotted overlays so beloved by MTT fans.

For example, out of 18 WCOOP 2021 events under rare poker formats in the first week of the series, five were unable to cover the guaranteed prize pool. In the same NLH tournaments, this is not common. And this is despite satellites.

For each exotic poker tournament at WCOOP 2021, 4 to 10 satellites with buy-ins from 5% to 25% of the target event fee and guaranteed tickets are available on the day of the tournament.

Who is winning?

Patrick Leonard wins WCOOP 2021 event

Rare poker formats are called so because players don't have the chance to roll at their tables regularly and thus train their skills. Therefore, the winners of such tournaments are usually grinders for whom the core discipline is Hold'em and Omaha.

Three players previously known as grinders of other formats have already won exotic events on this series:

Patrick Leonard

Patrick "pads1161" Leonard, although officially sponsored by partypoker, the Briton is already hunting down the leaderboard of the PokerStars Series, and one of the tournaments he won was #15-H: $1,050 NL 2-7 Single Draw, which he called the "most fun" in the entire WCOOP schedule.

Patrick Leonard Twitter

Adam "Adamyid" Owen beat 317 competitors in #23-M: $109 Stud Hi/Lo. At the same time, he got into the prizes of No Limit, and Fixed Limit Hold'em events.

Adam Owen