Argentina’s Alejandro Lococo, known online as “[Papo]AR,” has won the $1,050 buy-in WCOOP 2026 Main Event on PokerStars, defeating a field of 2,310 entries to bank the title and $343,242 in the tournament that traditionally closes the World Championship of Online Poker. The win caps a series that, once again, produced one of the richest and most competitive fields of the online poker calendar and hands Lococo one of the most prestigious trophies a mid-stakes grinder can claim.
A Record-Chasing Field for the WCOOP Main Event
The $1,050 Main Event is the marquee stop of the WCOOP schedule, the event every regular in the field circles on the calendar months in advance. This year’s edition drew 2,310 entries, comfortably clearing the guarantee and pushing the prize pool past $2.3 million. That depth of field is typical for the WCOOP Main Event, which tends to attract a mix of seasoned tournament specialists, online cash game regulars taking a shot, and recreational players hoping for a career-defining score, all competing across the same bracket.
With thousands of entries funneled down over several Day 1 flights and subsequent Day 2 action, the tournament eventually reached its unofficial and then official final table of nine players, where the real grind for the title began in earnest.
Lococo’s Path Through the Final Table
Lococo arrived at the final table sitting third in chips, a position that still left him with plenty of work to do against a mix of patient and aggressive opponents. Rather than coast, he pushed his stack forward from the outset of the final day, picking up pots and staying well above the average chip count as the table thinned from nine players down to the heads-up duel that would decide the title.
That steady accumulation of chips throughout the final table is often the difference between a deep run and an outright win in a field this large. Players who enter the final nine with a mid-sized stack frequently find themselves forced to fold their way through pay jumps, but Lococo’s approach kept him in control of more hands and, by extension, more of the final table’s momentum.
The Heads-Up Finish: Queen-Four Beats Ten-Seven
When the field was reduced to two, Lococo squared off against an opponent playing under the screen name Goodarla, representing Ireland, who ultimately settled for the runner-up prize of $244,673. The deciding hand of the heads-up battle saw Lococo holding queen-four against Goodarla’s ten-seven, a classic reminder that the final pot of a tournament this size often turns on a race or a well-timed commitment of chips rather than a clean dominant holding.
Lococo’s hand held, and with it came the $343,242 top prize, the WCOOP Main Event trophy, and a result that will sit at the top of his tournament résumé for the Main Event mid-buy-in bracket specifically, distinct from the $10,300 and $109 versions of the Main Event that ran the same week.
One Series, Three Main Events
PokerStars runs the WCOOP Main Event across three buy-in tiers each year, and 2026 was no exception. Alongside Lococo’s $1,050 win, the $10,300 high roller version of the Main Event drew 289 entries for a prize pool near $2.9 million, won by Brazil’s Felipe “lipe piv” Boianovsky for $551,632, a result that made him the first player ever to capture both an SCOOP and a WCOOP Main Event title at the $10,000-plus level. The budget-friendly $109 Main Event, meanwhile, drew a massive 14,533 entries for a $1,453,300 prize pool, eventually won by a player going by “ihor888888” for $172,022 after coming from sixth in chips at the final table.
Together, the three Main Events illustrate why WCOOP remains one of the most anticipated series on the online poker calendar: it offers a genuine path to a career score for players at virtually every bankroll level, from four-figure buy-ins to triple-digit shots at a six-figure prize pool.
What the Win Means for Lococo
For Lococo, the WCOOP Main Event title is a landmark result in an online tournament career built on consistent volume rather than a single headline score. Winning the flagship event of the series, even at the mid-level buy-in, carries weight that a similarly sized score in a smaller event would not, since the Main Event field size and PokerStars’ promotion of the title mean every serious online grinder in the world was, in theory, sitting across from him at some point in the bracket.
It also underscores a trend that has been visible throughout the 2026 online season: Latin American players continuing to make deep and often decisive runs in the marquee events of the major series, a pattern Brazilian fans in particular have tracked closely given the strong results posted by their own countrymen throughout WCOOP and WSOP Online this year.
Series Wrap-Up
With the Main Events now complete, WCOOP 2026 effectively draws to a close, handing PokerStars another edition of the series that cements its position as the heavyweight of the online tournament calendar. For players studying how these fields play out deep into the money, understanding solid final table strategy matters as much as raw aggression; readers looking to sharpen their own end-game can start with our poker hand rankings guide to make sure the fundamentals are locked in before the real decisions at the top of a pay ladder start to matter.
Players should always treat online tournament buy-ins as entertainment spend within their means, and anyone concerned about their play should seek support through a responsible gaming resource. Poker remains a game of skill over the long run, but no single tournament result, including a Main Event title, should be mistaken for a guaranteed path to income.
