The 2020 World Series of Poker Online is officially underway at WSOP.com in the United States. Americans and those visiting the states of Nevada or New Jersey will be able to compete for WSOP bracelets exclusively for the next couple of weeks.
Two bracelets have already been awarded. Jonathan Dokler managed to win the opening event after outlasting a field of 1,715 runners. Meanwhile, Louis Lynch won his first WSOP bracelet after taking down Event #2 despite deep runs from both Daniel Negreanu and Jason Somerville.
Also, GGPoker has released its schedule of events for the remainder of the series. They will host 54 of the 85 event series.
Art.Vandelay Wins Opening Event
Event #1 of the WSOP Online was the $500 NL Hold’em Kickoff Event. The event drew a fantastic field of 1,715 players with over $771,000 being awarded to players. One of those players was Phil Hellmuth. The 15-time bracelet winner made a deep run in the event but fell short of his 16th bracelet with an 11th place finish.
Congrats to Jonathan ‘ArtVandelay’ Dokler who beat 1,714 entrants to win WSOP Online bracelet #1. But check out who @NormanChad says will not be winning this summer ! pic.twitter.com/9K50Hd2PpL
— WSOP (@WSOP) July 2, 2020
In the end, it was Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler who took the first bracelet. He outlasted a final table that included Taylor Von Krigenbergh, Daniel Park, and World Poker Tour Host Tony Dunst. Ultimately, Dokler defeated Justin “MadTitan” Turner heads-up for the bracelet and $130,426.
PokeThese Wins Event #2
Event #2 of the WSOP Online was a $1,000 NL Hold’em Deepstack Event. This event drew a field of 919 runners with two big names chasing WSOP gold. Daniel Negreanu was chasing bracelet #7 in this one but fell short when he busted in 18th place.
LOUIS "POKETHESE" LYNCH OUTLASTS FIELD OF 919 TO WIN EVENT #2 – TAKES HOME A WSOP BRACELET AND $168,585 !
Read more and watch full rebroadcast of the final table at : https://t.co/32q1bN5yrv pic.twitter.com/uqPuFG8hVK— WSOP (@WSOP) July 3, 2020
Jason Somerville is a former WSOP champion and was looking to add to his bracelet collection. It was not meant to be as he finished in 7th place.
Eventually, it was Ryan “KOVID19” Ko against Louis “PokeThese” Lynch for the title. Lynch took a massive lead into heads-up play and managed to emerge victorious when his pocket sixes outlasted the Q-6 of Ko. Lynch won his first career WSOP bracelet along with $168,586 in prize money.
GGPoker Releases WSOP Online Schedule
While the first few events will be primarily American players, the rest of the world will get a shot to play for bracelets starting on July 19th. GGPoker has released its schedule of 54 bracelet events. Those events will carry guarantees of $60 million.
This series will have something for everyone with buy-ins starting as low as $50 all the way to $25,000. You read that correctly – you will be able to play for a WSOP bracelet for $50. The Main Event of the series will kick off September 5th and will feature a $25 million guaranteed prize pool.
Be Part of History this Summer. Just announced. The WSOP Online main event on @GGPokerOfficial will have a 25M GTD prize pool, largest of all time for a single event.
Full schedule for International players here : https://t.co/D7vROhvVhp pic.twitter.com/uMEOP2Qxif
— WSOP (@WSOP) June 26, 2020
Asian players will have a special focus in this series with several events running on Asian time rather than GMT. This includes the HK$8,000 NL Hold’em Asian Championship running on August 9th. Natural8 is the Asian-facing skin of GGPoker and will feature prominently during the series.
As expected, the series on GGPoker will be all flop games with a mix of Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and Short Deck. There will be some Limit Hold’em thrown in, but that is the only Limit games being played. Mixed game players will have to wait until the fall live series. In the meantime, they can practice their video poker or blackjack skills at Australian online casinos.
Three events will be People’s Choice, where they can select the game via popular vote. One will be exclusively a player vote, one will be a vote by the pros, and one is a “Spin the Wheel” event.
The WSOP Online on GGPoker will kick off on July 19th and continue until September 6th. It is unclear whether a live WSOP will run this fall, but if it doesn’t, players in Australia and other parts of the world still have plenty of chances at winning WSOP gold.