image from pokerallstar.com

All eyes of the online poker world have been gathering at the largest site, PokerStars, for the past week. The 2008 installment of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) has been crushing the guarantees left and right, then left again. Tonight events #17 and #18 roll out (PLHE $530 6max and H.O.R.S.E. $215) and these events continue on until the $5,200 buy-in NLHE Main Event #33 with a hefty $10,000,000 guarantee on September 21st which is a two-day event.

The Main Event however isn't even the highest buy-in of the series as Event #5's "High Roller" event with a $10,300 buy-in saw 2003 WSOP champ, and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker hit the final table taking 6th and sizable $139,635 payday. Tomorrow the largest buy-in of the tournament series, Event # 19's "High Roller" Heads-Up tourney has a people-really-have-this-much-money-to-play-poker-with $25,500 buy-in with a $1,600,000 guarantee (and as of right now, 79 players are registered, just one shy of a full $2 million prize pool).

Check out the live coverage of the WCOOP at PokerStarBlog.com, or for past stats hit up the main WCOOP page here.