The 2020 World Series of Poker Online Series on WSOP.com finished on Friday. The series, which held one event per day, distributed over $26.8 million worth of prizes and 31 WSOP gold bracelets throughout July.
In summary, the WSOP.com events, which were exclusively accessible to players on WSOP Nevada and WSOP New Jersey, had over 44,000 entries. This comprised 32,000 unique players and nearly 12,000 re-entries.
Attention now moves to the second segment of the WSOP Online Series taking place on the global site, GGPoker. It is hosting 54 more WSOP bracelet events that will continue until early September. Although GGPoker is accessible to most parts of the world, it is not available to players in the United States.
The last week of activity on WSOP.com concluded with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship where players amassed a prize pool of over $2 million. Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero emerged as the victor in this event, clinching the final bracelet of July and bagging over $311,000.
Click on the following links for recaps of previous WSOP.com bracelet events:
- Events #1-#5: Bracelet Hunters include Hellmuth, Negreanu
- Gamble, Goehring, and Depaulo all secure gold in events #6 through #12.
- McKeehen, 2015 Main Event Champion, Wins High Roller in Events #13-#19
- Dunst and Binger are among the bracelet winners in events #20-#26.
Continue reading for highlights from the last week of bracelet events on WSOP.com.
Event #27: Ian Steinman wins $400 NLHE Freezeout
Ian “ApokerJoker2” Steinman achieved his first career bracelet win last Monday in Event #27, a $400 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout.
The event consisted of 1,940 players, creating a prize pool of approximately $698,000. Steinman’s victory resulted in a first prize of slightly more than $110,000.
Steinman’s victory also enabled him to finish the series at the top of the $100,000 leaderboard, earning him an additional $18,000. Throughout the series, Steinman had 15 cashes and made it to three final tables. WSOP.com distributed $100,000 among the top 50 performers in online bracelet events, not including the seniors event.
Steinman had already secured four WSOP Circuit rings and was named the 2016 WSOP.com Online Player of the Year before his victory. The poker community most notably remembers him for successfully folding a set of kings against Joe McKeehen in the 2018 World Poker Tour Main Event final table, following McKeehen’s backdoored straight.
Steinman outperformed Satoshi “Godzillla” Tanaka in a heads-up match for the victory. Among those who made it to the final two tables were Shaun “ddtgg” Deeb, who placed 13th, and Bryan “Pellepelle” Piccioli, who came 14th.
Event #28: William Romaine captures $1K Omaha Hi-Lo title
In the final of four non-NLHE events on the schedule, William “SlaweelRyam” Romaine won his first bracelet on Tuesday in Event #28, a $1,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event.
The event had a total of 525 entries, with 100 of them being re-entries. The prize pool rounded up to nearly $499,000. Romaine, similar to Steinman, won around $110,000 for his victory. Prior to this, Romaine had been the runner-up in Event #13, a $1,500 NLHE Freezeout.
Ralph “sosana” Perry, a longtime player who finished in third place in the 2002 WSOP Main Event, bubbled the six-handed final table and took seventh place. Other well-known players who performed well in this event include Jimmy “DoubleWiener” Fricke (eighth), Upeshka “gomezhamburg” De Silva (ninth), and ESPN’s WSOP commentator Norman “normanchad” Chad (13th).
Event #29: Nick Guagenti earns $300K-plus for winning $2K Deepstack
Initially planned as a $600 NLHE event, Event #29 on Wednesday was modified two weeks ago to a $2,000 NLHE Deepstack. This alteration introduced an additional “big” buy-in event to the series. Ultimately, Nick “shadowjacker” Guagenti emerged as the champion, bagging the title and a hefty first prize of slightly above $305,000.
Guagenti emerged victorious from a field of 747 entries (including re-entries), securing his first bracelet after a third-place finish in a 2019 WSOP event. The prize pool of nearly $1.42 million was the third-highest in the series. The only larger pools were the $1.5 million for the $3,200 buy-in High Roller and over $2 million for the Championship Event (details below).
Ari “philivey” Engel came in third place, contributing to a challenging final table along with Ryan “toosick” Tosoc who finished fifth, Vinny “brownmagic” Pahuja who was sixth, and Tom “.beast.” Cannuli who ended up in ninth place.
Event #30: Jonathan Lessin tops $500 Seniors Event
The second to last Event #30, a $500 Seniors Event, took place on Thursday. This was the sole “non-open” event of the series as it required participants to be at least 50 years old to participate.
A total of 720 entries contributed to a prize pool of $324,000. Jonathan “SugarJ” Lessin emerged as the winner, securing his first bracelet and a prize amounting to slightly more than $64,000.
Lessin secured the win by topping James “muskrrr” Moore, who came in second, and Allen “Nucman” Pock, who finished third.
Event #31: Tamero wins $1K Championship for almost $311K
The pinnacle event, Event #31, arrived on Friday, known as the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Although it wasn’t the traditional WSOP Main Event, it was the biggest tournament of the WSOP.com part of the WSOP Online series.
The event drew in 1,455 players, who re-joined the game 671 times, resulting in a total of 2,126 entries. This led to the formation of a prize pool slightly above $2 million, setting a record as the largest in the series. Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero emerged victorious, winning his first bracelet along with the grand first prize close to $311,000.
Norman Michalek, also known as “Abnormality”, came in second place and won just over $192,000. Andrew Lichtenberger, who goes by “WATCHGUY42”, finished in third place, earning a little more than $142,000.
2020 WSOP Online Series by the numbers
| Event | Event | Buy-In | Players | Re-Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Limit Hold’em Kick-Off | $500 | 1,195 | 520 | $771,750 | Jonathan Dokler | $130,425.75 |
| 2 | No Limit Hold’em 8-Handed Deepstack | $1,000 | 647 | 272 | $873,050 | Louis Lynch | $168,585.95 |
| 3 | No Limit Hold’em | $400 | 1,450 | 641 | $752,760 | Robert Kuhn | $115,849.76 |
| 4 | No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo | $500 | 828 | 351 | $530,550 | Matt Bode | $97,090.65 |
| 5 | No Limit Hold’em Freezeout | $1,000 | 854 | 0 | $811,300 | Allen Chang | $161,286.44 |
| 6 | Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 6-Handed | $600 | 497 | 336 | $449,820 | Nathan Gamble | $89,424.21 |
| 7 | No Limit Hold’em Knockout Deepstack | $800 | 989 | 0 | $731,860 | Joon Kim | $106,126.98* |
| 8 | No Limit Hold’em Freezeout | $500 | 1,479 | 0 | $665,550 | Alan Goehring | $119,399.67 |
| 9 | No Limit Hold’em 6-Max | $1,000 | 658 | 368 | $974,700 | Ron McMillen | $188,214.57 |
| 10 | No Limit Hold’em MonsterStack | $600 | 1,505 | 569 | $1,119,960 | Ryan Torgersen | $172,361.84 |
| 11 | No Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed | $500 | 1,081 | 610 | $760,950 | Raman Afanasenka | $128,600.55 |
| 12 | The BIG 500 No Limit Hold’em | $500 | 1,624 | 803 | $1,092,150 | Ryan Depaulo | $159,563.11 |
| 13 | No Limit Hold’em High Roller Freezeout | $1,500 | 649 | 0 | $924,825 | Michael Lech | $164,248.92 |
| 14 | No Limit Hold’em High Roller | $3,200 | 368 | 128 | $1,507,840 | Joe McKeehen | $352,985.34 |
| 15 | PLO 8-Max HR | $1,000 | 386 | 277 | $629,850 | Guy Dunlap | $133,780.14 |
| 16 | No Limit Hold’em Turbo | $500 | 1,044 | 484 | $687,600 | Terrell Cheatham | $116,204.40 |
| 17 | No Limit Hold’em | $777 | 917 | 465 | $967,400 | Pat Lyon | $173,551.56 |
| 18 | No Limit Hold’em 8-Handed Turbo DeepStack | $1,000 | 697 | 290 | $937,650 | Scott Hempel | $181,060.21 |
| 19 | No Limit Hold’em | $400 | 1,757 | 788 | $916,200 | Kenny Huynh | $133,856.82 |
| 20 | PLO 6-Handed | $500 | 627 | 510 | $511,650 | Kevin Gerhart | $97,571.65 |
| 21 | No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed | $777 | 849 | 512 | $952,700 | Tony Dunst | $168,342.09 |
| 22 | No Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack | $500 | 1,082 | 497 | $710,550 | Allan Cheung | $120,082.95 |
| 23 | No Limit Hold’em Knockout | $500 | 1,452 | 0 | $667,920 | Raymond Avant | $95,476.96* |
| 24 | No Limit Hold’em 8-Handed | $400 | 1,590 | 818 | $866,880 | Nick Binger | $133,412.83 |
| 25 | No Limit Hold’em Summer Saver | $500 | 1,484 | 671 | $969,750 | Nicholas Kiley | $149,244.52 |
| 26 | No Limit Hold’em Grande Finale | $500 | 1,677 | 825 | $1,125,900 | Ethan Yau | $164,493.99 |
| 27 | No Limit Hold’em Freezeout | $400 | 1,940 | 0 | $698,400 | Ian Steinman | $110,556.72 |
| 28 | Omaha 8 6-Max | $1,000 | 425 | 100 | $498,750 | William Romaine | $110,672.62 |
| 29 | No Limit Hold’em Deepstack 6-Handed | $2,000 | 580 | 167 | $1,419,300 | Nick Guagenti | $305,433.36 |
| 30 | No Limit Hold’em Senior’s Event | $500 | 541 | 179 | $324,000 | Jonathan Lessin | $64,411.20 |
| 31 | No Limit Hold’em Championship | $1,000 | 1,455 | 761 | $2,019,700 | Nahrain Tamero | $310,831.83 |
| TOTALS | 32,327 | 11,942 | $26,871,265 |
*includes knockout bounties
