It's here, it's here, the most wonderful time of the year, the time when legends prove their name, no-names become big names, and phrases like "I wont million" become part of the poker lexicon.

It's time for the World Championship of Online Poker.

Over the next few weeks, you have the opportunity to win one of online poker's most coveted titles. There is a minimum of $45 million in the prize pool, and you can feel confident it will get bigger than that before it's all over.

Need any account to play WCOOP? Click here to get one.

What do you need to know to play? Well, there's a lot to talk about here. Below, you'll find everything you need to get started on your road to a WCOOP bracelet.

Get an account

While PokerStars is the biggest online poker room in the world, WCOOP is such a rich event that it draws in people who have never played here before. If you're among those people, be aware: all players making their first deposit qualify for the PokerStars 100% deposit bonus of up to $600.

You will need to use the bonus code STARS600 when you sign up here.

Qualify for events

While WCOOP has a wide range of buy-in amounts, anyone with a few bucks or some Frequent Player Points can make it into an event.

You can find satellites in the PokerStars WCOOP lobby or go to this page and click on any of the QUALIFY NOW buttons.

If you're ready to get into Sunday's events, here are links to satellites for the first four events.

WCOOP-01: $109 NL Hold'em (WCOOP Kickoff, Phase 2), $1.5M Guaranteed
WCOOP-02: $215 NL Hold'em (6-Max, Sunday Warm-Up SE), $1M Guaranteed
WCOOP-03: $10,300 NLHE (High-Roller, Heads-Up), $300K Guaranteed, No Late Registration
WCOOP-04: $215 NL Hold'em (Sunday Million SE), $1.5M Guaranteed

$10 million Main Event

This year's WCOOP Main Event has a $10 million guaranteed prize pool. First place in the tourney will be at least $1.5 million. While the buy-in is a stiff $5,200, the potential for life-changing money is too great not to give a few satellites a shot.

No matter whether you have one FPP in your account or as little as 11 cents, you have a chance to play for online poker's most prestigious bracelet. Remember, it's only been a couple of years since one man turned 40 FPPs into a Main Event title.

Ready to start? This link will take you directly to Main Event satellites.

Player of the Series

As it does in all in its major series, PokerStars will be keeping track of the top players from beginning to end. Each time you place in an event, it earns you points. Earn enough of them and you could end up winning winning thousands of dollars worth of prizes.

Here's how the Player of the Series prizes shake out:

1st: Champion's Trophy, $20,000 cash, 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket
2nd: $10,000 cash, 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket
3rd: $7,500 cash, 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket
4th: $5,000 cash, 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket
5th: $2,500 cash, 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket
6th-10th: 2016 TCOOP Main Event Ticket

For full details and information, see the 2015 WCOOP Leader Board page.

Coverage

Since 2005, we have been providing coverage of every WCOOP final table, and that won't change this year. Our team of writers are grinding their coffee beans right now in advance of three full weeks of coverage.

You can find all of our reporting right here in our 2015 WCOOP coverage section. We'll also be on our @PokerStarsBlog Twitter account with in-tourney updates along the way. If you're deep in a tourney, hit us up so we can follow your coverage and report on your progress.

How to prepare for WCOOP

Over the past week, we have asked our top online players to give us some advice on how to prepare. We have more of that to come as WCOOP begins, but for now, here is some top advice on how to get your WCOOP game going.

Adrienne Rowsome on scheduling WCOOP along with real life
Lex Veldhuis on the difference between PLO cash games and PLO tourneys
Celeste Orona on how to play WCOOP for the first time
How Jaime Staples will try to get into the $51,000 event
Mickey Petersen's favorite satellites
Andre Coimbra with six ways to qualify for WCOOP

So, that should be enough to get you started for the weekend. Any questions? You can find most of what you need right here on the WCOOP Frequently Asked Questions page.

Good luck!