The WSOP.com portion of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Series concluded Friday. The one-event-a-day series awarded more than $26.8 million in prizes and 31 WSOP gold bracelets during July.
All told, there were more than 44,000 entries in the WSOP.com events, in which only players on WSOP Nevada and WSOP New Jersey could participate. That includes 32,000 unique players and nearly 12,000 re-entries.
The focus now shifts to the second part of the WSOP Online Series, which is on the global site GGPoker. Its 54 additional WSOP bracelet events are currently playing out through early September. While GGPoker is available to much of the world, players cannot play on the site from the United States.
The final week of action on WSOP.com culminated with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship in which players built more than a $2 million prize pool. Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero won the final bracelet of July in that event and earned over $311,000.
Click below for previous recaps of WSOP.com bracelet events:
- Events #1-#5 (Hellmuth, Negreanu among bracelet hunters)
- Events #6-#12 (Gamble, Goehring, Depaulo all grab gold)
- Events #13-#19 (2015 Main Event champ McKeehen wins High Roller)
- Events #20-#26 (Dunst, Binger among bracelet winners)
Read on for highlights from the final week of bracelet events on WSOP.com.
Event #27: Ian Steinman wins $400 NLHE Freezeout
Last Monday, Ian “ApokerJoker2” Steinman won his first career bracelet in Event #27, a $400 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout.
There were 1,940 players in the event, building a prize pool of about $698,000. The win earned Steinman a first prize of just over $110,000.
The victory also helped Steinman finish the series on top of the $100,000 leaderboard to win an extra $18,000. Steinman ultimately had 15 cashes and three final tables in the series. WSOP.com divided $100,000 among the top 50 performers in online bracelet events (excluding the seniors event).
Prior to his win, Steinman had earned four WSOP Circuit rings and was the 2016 WSOP.com Online Player of the Year. He is probably best known among poker fans for having managed to fold a set of kings on the river versus Joe McKeehen at a 2018 World Poker Tour Main Event final table. This happened after the latter had backdoored a straight.
Steinman outlasted Satoshi “Godzillla” Tanaka heads-up for the win. Shaun “ddtgg” Deeb (13th) and Bryan “Pellepelle” Piccioli (14th) were among those making the final two tables.
Event #28: William Romaine captures $1K Omaha Hi-Lo title
In the last of four non-NLHE events on the schedule, William “SlaweelRyam” Romaine on Tuesday won his first bracelet in Event #28, a $1,000 Omaha Hi-Lo event.
There were 525 entries in the event, including 100 re-entries. The total prize pool was almost $499,000. Like Steinman, Romaine earned about $110,000 for the victory. Earlier, Romaine had finished as runner-up in Event #13, a $1,500 NLHE Freezeout.
Bubbling the six-handed final table was longtime player and 2002 WSOP Main Event third-place finisher Ralph “sosana” Perry, who took seventh. Other familiar names going deep in this one included 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
Originally scheduled as another $600 NLHE event, Wednesday’s Event #29 was changed two weeks ago to a $2,000 NLHE Deepstack. The change added one extra “big” buy-in event to the series, and in the end, Nick “shadowjacker” Guagenti took the title and a big first prize of just over $305,000.
Guagenti bested a 747-entry field (including re-entries) to win his first bracelet after earning third place in a 2019 WSOP event. The almost $1.42 million prize pool would prove the third-largest in the series. Only the $1.5 million prize pool of the $3,200 buy-in High Roller and the Championship Event’s $2 million-plus were larger (see below).
Ari “philivey” Engel finished third, with Ryan “toosick” Tosoc (fifth), Vinny “brownmagic” Pahuja (sixth), and Tom “.beast.” Cannuli (ninth) also helping make up a tough final table.
Event #30: Jonathan Lessin tops $500 Seniors Event
On Thursday came the penultimate Event #30, a $500 Seniors Event. This was the only “non-open” event of the series because participants had to be at least 50 years old to play.
There were 720 total entries who built a $324,000 prize pool. Jonathan “SugarJ” Lessin came away the winner, earning his first bracelet and a prize of just over $64,000.
Lessin topped James “muskrrr” Moore (second) and Allen “Nucman” Pock (third) to secure the win.
Event #31: Tamero wins $1K Championship for almost $311K
On Friday came the culminating Event #31, labeled the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship. It wasn’t exactly the WSOP Main Event in a traditional sense, but it was the largest tournament of the WSOP.com portion of the WSOP Online series.
The event attracted 1,455 players who re-entered 671 times for 2,126 total entries. That created a prize pool of just over $2 million, which was the largest of the series. Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero came out on top, winning his first bracelet and a big first prize of nearly $311,000.
Norman “Abnormality” Michalek finished second for just over $192,000, and Andrew “WATCHGUY42” Lichtenberger took third for 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
