On September 2, the 2012 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, or WCOOP, will commence. The 65-event series has a total guaranteed prize pool of $30 million and features a $5 million guaranteed Main Event on September 23. Building the WCOOP schedule each year is no easy feat, so PocketFives sought out PokerStars Tournaments Team Manager Bryan Slick and PokerStars rep Chris to learn what goes into the process.

PocketFives: Tell us what goes into creating the WCOOP schedule each year. Who is involved, how long does the process take, and whose input you take into consideration before releasing it?

Bryan: The WCOOP planning team is made up of three people in terms of the schedule and many more than that when it comes to all of the other aspects of running the biggest series in online poker. We meet, discuss ideas and feedback that we’ve received over time, and then I write the initial version of the schedule.

We then kick it around a few more times, identifying potential problems or things that can be improved. During this part of the process, the initial draft is seen by a large number of people, including regional marketing teams who may have input specific to the player bases they know best. Eventually, the schedule reaches a state where we think we’ve got it just about right.

At that point, we release it to the players via the PokerStars Blog and the forums and we ask for them to let us know what they think of it. We not only listen to player feedback at PokerStars, we depend upon it, and it’s never happened in my tenure here that a major series schedule has been unaltered by feedback.

After a decent amount of time, we roll the feedback up into a massive sheet containing every comment we’ve seen, how frequently we’ve seen it, etc. and then the core planning team considers each and makes changes to the schedule before I create a final draft. Once that final draft is created, we meet on it once more to consider guarantees and then it’s done. Once things are set in stone, my team (the Tournaments Team) gets to work on the actual events, satellites, etc.

Chris: We also consider things like game mix, time of day, and changes in player patterns (some games becoming more popular and others declining). We also look at duration of events and determine which are candidates for two-day durations. In short, we try to consider every aspect of the series from the standpoint of creating the best player experience possible.

PocketFives: How have WCOOP start times, game mix, and prize pools changed since Black Friday?

Bryan: The game mix hasn’t changed very much since Black Friday, although the start times have changed significantly since that day, moving a few hours earlier in most cases. We still have a significant number of players in the same time zones occupied by the United States, of course.

PocketFives: What’s new in the WCOOP this year? And, what are you looking forward to the most about the 2012 WCOOP schedule?

Bryan: PL/NL Hold’em (PL before the flop, NL after the flop) debuts in WCOOP this year following a strong showing in the most recent MicroMillions series. Also new this year is a SuperKnockout, a special type of knockout tournament with the buy-in and knockout bounty on each player’s head being the same amount, $154.

I’m slightly biased, but I’m looking forward to the Ante Up tournament on September 5. This style of poker has been gaining in popularity, even appearing in this year’s WSOP, and I’m curious to see how much the raised profile will impact the participation in the WCOOP. I’m also very keen to see how some of the tweaks we’ve put in this year, such as raising some of the $530 buy-ins to $700 (so they’ll accept a Step 5 ticket), will affect the overall participation.

Chris: This is also an example of player feedback impacting the schedule. Based on that feedback, we made the decision this year to add a couple of events and to modify some buy-ins to better reflect the player landscape.

PocketFives: It’s interesting to see that the most number of WCOOP events won by a single player is three, and only three players have accomplished that feat (Dan djk123Kelly (pictured), Anders DonaldBerg, and Ryan g0lfaD’Angelo). What does that say about the WCOOP fields?

Bryan: WCOOP is the World Championship of the online side of the poker world. WCOOP structures are deep, providing enormous amounts of play, and the cream rises to the top. Even making a final table in WCOOP is an amazing achievement and actually winning one of these tournaments is a major feather in the cap of any poker player.

That said, it is a little unusual that only three players have won three events, but I fully expect more people to achieve multiple wins in the future and for that record to be broken.

PocketFives: Can you talk about Shaun shaundeebDeeb (pictured) winning four SCOOP eventsearlier this year? That news story was pretty big on PocketFives since he is a longtime member and the feat was pretty impressive. What did you guys at PokerStars think of his accomplishment?

Bryan: We’re as amazed as anyone by the things Shaun can do on a poker table. There are few players I’ll make it a point to watch them play on our site if I’m at my computer with some spare time and Shaun is one of them.

Chris: Shaun’s performance in SCOOP was a compelling story for players and staff alike. It’s difficult to imagine that we will see another such dominating performance again.

PocketFives: Even though he’s no longer a PokerStars pro, can you talk about Viktor Isildur1 Blom (pictured) winning back-to-back SCOOP events earlier this year?

Bryan: Viktor is a great poker talent who is fascinating to watch. Those wins were thrilling and I won’t be surprised if we see many more great accomplishments from him in the future. We wish him all the best.

PocketFives: Will PokerStars’ purchase of Full Tiltchange WCOOP, SCOOP, TCOOP, etc. in any way? What impact do you think that transaction will have on the tournament lineup at PokerStars in general?

Bryan: If there is any change, I expect that it will be in terms of a mutual benefit for both sites by providing more opportunities for play. I don’t expect the major series on PokerStars to change much at all. The regular tournament schedule changes throughout the year in relation to many factors, but we do not plan to make specific adjustments upon Full Tilt’s return.

PocketFives: Do you foresee Full Tilt continuing with its quarterly FTOPS? And will there be separate tournament staff for PokerStars and Full Tilt?

Bryan: The tournament staff for Full Tilt is independent from PokerStars. I’m not able to comment on FTOPS, as what they choose to do with those series is really up to the good folks over at FTP.

Visit PokerStarsfor more details about the 2012 WCOOP, which starts on September 2. If you don’t already have a PokerStars account, sign up through PocketFivesto support our online poker community.