The World Series of Poker Online series has officially kicked off with daily bracelet events on WSOP.com. After five days there have been five bracelet winners, the first of 85 to be awarded this summer on both WSOP.com and GGPoker.
Only those playing on WSOP Nevada and WSOP New Jersey are able to participate in the 31 events taking place on WSOP.com in July. Starting July 19, the GGPoker half of the WSOP Online series begins with 54 more events lasting through early September. (See the full schedule here.)
Players from many countries will be able to play in the GGPoker events, although not from the United States as that is one of the countries on GGPoker’s prohibited list.
Here is a rundown of results from the first five WSOP.com events.
Event #1: Jonathan Dokler wins kickoff event, Hellmuth 11th
The series started last Wednesday with Event #1, the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Kickoff. Less than 400 players were in their virtual seats when the first hands were dealt. But by the time the almost four hours’ worth of late registration ended, there were 1,715 total entries (1,195 uniques, 520 re-entries). That made the total prize pool $771,750.
After almost 12 hours of poker, Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler took the title and the first prize of $130,425.75. Dokler earned his first WSOP bracelet after picking up a few cashes at the 2019 WSOP. He also did well in the WSOP.com Super Circuit Series in March, where he won an event for more than $77,000.
Phil Hellmuth holds the all-time record for most WSOP bracelets with 15, five more than his nearest challengers. Playing as “Lumestackin” on WSOP.com, Hellmuth made a run at a 16th bracelet in Event #1, though he ultimately came just shy of the final table, finishing 11th for $7,871.85.
Event #2: Louis Lynch wins $1,000 Deepstack, Somerville and Negreanu go deep
On Thursday the buy-in doubled with Event #2, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack 8-Max tournament. It took just over 11 hours for Louis “PokeThese” Lynch to win his first WSOP bracelet and a $168,585.95 first prize.
The tournament ultimately drew 919 total entries (647 uniques, 272 re-entries), making a $873,050 prize pool.
Jason “haderade” Somerville made the final table, finishing sixth for $27,762.99. Also making relatively deep runs were Michael “itWasThatOr0” Gagliano (11th, $7,33.62) and Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu (18th, $5,849.43).
Event #3: Robert Kuhn beats out Israelashvili, Cannuli, Anderson for win
Friday saw a slightly larger turnout for Event #3, a $400 No-Limit Hold’em event that drew 2,091 total entries (1,450 uniques, 641 re-entries).
Robert “bustinballs” Kuhn took exactly 12 hours to claim the victory and a $115,849.76 first prize. Kuhn added his first career bracelet to the WSOP Circuit ring he won in Atlantic City in 2016.
Others grabbing pieces of the $752,760 prize pool included frequent WSOP casher Roland “prngls12” Israelashvili (eighth, $12,345.26), 2016 WSOP Main Event sixth-place finisher Tom “.BEAST.” Cannuli (17th, $4,591.83), and Calvin “projector52” Anderson (18th, $4,591.83).
Event #4: Matt Bode earns bracelet in less than six hours
On Saturday Matt “Bodeyster” Bode won his first WSOP bracelet in Event #4, the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo with six-minute levels. Bode needed just five hours and 45 minutes to win the title and $97,090.65 in what has to be one of the quickest bracelet wins in WSOP history.
The cash prize, while substantial, is small compared to other WSOP bracelet wins. The 2019 WSOP had 90 bracelet events, 86 of which had larger first prizes. Two of the four events with smaller first prizes were not “open” events (the Casino Employees and the Bracelet Winners events).
The 1,179 total entries in Event #4 (828 uniques, 351 re-entries) created a prize pool of $530,550. Two-time bracelet winner and 2015 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee finished fifth ($22,389.21). Joe “MelonHead” Bartholdi, winner of the World Poker Tour Championship back in 2006, made a deep run as well to finish 11th ($5,570.77).
Anthony “nowb3athat” Spinella (13th, $4,403.56) and Ari “philivey” Engel (16th, $3,501.63) also made the final two tables. Phil “Lumestackin” Hellmuth also extended his record number of WSOP cashes by finishing 37th ($1,963.03).
Event #5: Allen Chang wins $1,000 freezeout
Finally, last night it was Allen “Acnyc718” Chang taking 10 1/2 hours to earn his first career bracelet in Event #5, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout.
As the name suggests there were no re-entries in this one, unlike all of the other events thus far in which players could re-enter twice. With 854 players the prize pool added up to $811,300, from which Chang claimed $161,286.44 as the first prize.
Greg “ClickingBtnz” Himmelbrand (10th), Ryan “Protential” Laplante (11th), and Michael “itwasthator0” Gagliano (12th) all just missed the final table, each earning $8,680.91.
2020 WSOP Online Series by the numbers (through Event #5)
| Event | Event | Buy-In | Players | Re-Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NLH Kick-Off | $500 | 1,195 | 520 | $771,750 | Jonathan Dokler | $130,425.75 |
| 2 | NLH 8-Handed Deepstack | $1,000 | 647 | 272 | $873,050 | Louis Lynch | $168,585.95 |
| 3 | NLH | $400 | 1,450 | 641 | $752,760 | Robert Kuhn | $115,849.76 |
| 4 | NLH Super Turbo | $500 | 828 | 351 | $530,550 | Matt Bode | $97,090.65 |
| 5 | NLH Freezeout | $1,000 | 854 | 0 | $811,300 | Allen Chang | $161,286.44 |
