The World Series of Poker Online series has officially started, featuring daily bracelet events on WSOP.com. Five days in, there have already been five bracelet winners. These are the first five out of 85 bracelets that will be awarded this summer on both WSOP.com and GGPoker.
Only participants on WSOP Nevada and WSOP New Jersey can partake in the 31 events scheduled on WSOP.com in July. The GGPoker segment of the WSOP Online series, featuring 54 more events, commences on July 19 and extends till early September. (The full schedule can be viewed here.)
GGPoker events will be open to players from numerous countries, but not the United States, as it’s on GGPoker’s list of prohibited countries.
Here are the results of the first five events from WSOP.com.
Event #1: Jonathan Dokler wins kickoff event, Hellmuth 11th
The series got underway last Wednesday, kicking off with Event #1, the $500 No-Limit Hold’em. At the beginning, fewer than 400 players had occupied their virtual seats. However, after nearly four hours of late registration, the total entries rose to 1,715 (1,195 unique and 520 re-entries), creating a total prize pool of $771,750.
Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler emerged victorious after nearly 12 hours of poker, securing the title and a first prize of $130,425.75. This victory marked Dokler’s first WSOP bracelet, following several cashes at the 2019 WSOP. Additionally, he performed admirably in the WSOP.com Super Circuit Series in March, where he won an event worth over $77,000.
Phil Hellmuth maintains the record for the most WSOP bracelets at 15, which is five more than his closest competitors. Hellmuth, playing under the alias “Lumestackin” on WSOP.com, attempted to secure a 16th bracelet in Event #1. However, he fell slightly short of the final table, ending in 11th place and earning $7,871.85.
Event #2: Louis Lynch wins $1,000 Deepstack, Somerville and Negreanu go deep
The buy-in doubled on Thursday with Event #2, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack 8-Max tournament. Louis “PokeThese” Lynch won his first WSOP bracelet and a $168,585.95 first prize after a little over 11 hours.
The tournament ended up attracting 919 participants in total (647 unique entries and 272 re-entries), creating a prize pool of $873,050.
Jason “haderade” Somerville managed to reach the final table and finished in sixth place, earning $27,762.99. Michael “itWasThatOr0” Gagliano and Daniel “DNegs” Negreanu also made significant progress, finishing 11th with $7,33.62 and 18th with $5,849.43 respectively.
Event #3: Robert Kuhn beats out Israelashvili, Cannuli, Anderson for win
Event #3, a $400 No-Limit Hold’em event, occurred on Friday and saw a modestly increased turnout with a total of 2,091 entries. This included 1,450 unique entries and 641 re-entries.
Robert “bustinballs” Kuhn earned the victory and a first prize of $115,849.76 in exactly 12 hours. He added his first career bracelet to his WSOP Circuit ring from 2016, which he won in Atlantic City.
Among those who secured a share of the $752,760 prize pool included regular WSOP casher Roland “prngls12” Israelashvili who came in eighth place and won $12,345.26, Tom “.BEAST.” Cannuli who finished sixth in the 2016 WSOP Main Event and secured 17th place with $4,591.83, and Calvin “projector52” Anderson who finished 18th and also won $4,591.83.
Event #4: Matt Bode earns bracelet in less than six hours
Matt “Bodeyster” Bode clinched his first WSOP bracelet in Event #4, the $500 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo with six-minute levels, on Saturday. It took Bode just five hours and 45 minutes to secure the title and win $97,090.65, marking it as one of the fastest bracelet victories in WSOP history.
Though the cash prize is significant, it is minor compared to other winnings from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet. In the 2019 WSOP, there were 90 bracelet events and the first prizes of 86 events were larger. Among the four events with smaller first prizes, two were not “open” events, specifically the Casino Employees and the Bracelet Winners events.
Event #4 saw a total of 1,179 entries, including 828 unique entries and 351 re-entries, which generated a prize pool of $530,550. Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee, a two-time bracelet winner and the 2015 WSOP Europe Main Event champion, placed fifth, taking home $22,389.21. Joe “MelonHead” Bartholdi, who won the World Poker Tour Championship in 2006, also had a strong showing, finishing in 11th place and earning $5,570.77.
Anthony Spinella, who goes by “nowb3athat”, and Ari Engel, known as “philivey”, also reached the final two tables, securing 13th and 16th place, respectively, with winnings of $4,403.56 and $3,501.63. Phil Hellmuth, or “Lumestackin”, further extended his record of World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes by finishing 37th and earning $1,963.03.
Event #5: Allen Chang wins $1,000 freezeout
At last, Allen “Acnyc718” Chang earned his first career bracelet in Event #5, a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout, after a grueling 10 1/2 hours of play last night.
As indicated by its name, this event did not allow re-entries, unlike previous events where players could re-enter twice. Of the 854 participants, the total prize pool amounted to $811,300. Chang secured the top prize, taking home $161,286.44.
Greg Himmelbrand, known as “ClickingBtnz” (10th), Ryan Laplante, known as “Protential” (11th), and Michael Gagliano, known as “itwasthator0” (12th), were just shy of the final table, each receiving $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 |
