WSOP Online Series 2023 – Week 1

The first week of the 4th annual World Series of Poker Online (WSOP-O), hosted by GGPoker; the world’s most prestigious poker tournament at the world’s biggest poker room has finished. Eight WSOP bracelets have already been won through the site with an additional two being won as part of the exclusive Ontario-only WSOP. Plus, as part of the series, the first 3 Continental freerolls have run, giving away $250,000. Just 2,567 players competed in these events, and 975 of them shared the prize pool that included 11 $10,000 tournament entries. more events that will begin (and maybe end) including a a monster event and a MONSTER event, but more on those later.

The first event to award a bracelet of the series was the World Series of Poker Online Event #1: Bankroll Builder Bounty NLH. This $108 buy-in event attracted a total of 7,619 players and created a prize pool of $761,900 for the multi-day event, it was ‘Mezer21’ who won the event and earned $58,884.04 for the effort, including $27,554.48 in bounties.

WSOP Bracelet Events

Event #2: Gladiators of Poker Opener, the second event of the WSOP Online poker tournament series, offered a $2,500,000 guarantee on a $300 buy-in with multiple Day 1’s. Over the week, a total of 9,488 players joined the festivities and the chase for a World Series of Poker Championship Bracelet. Of the starting pack, 1,135 players made it through to Day 2 to compete for the $2,647,152 prize pool, a significant jump from the guarantee. This prize pool guaranteed the final table would all receive over $20,000 and the final three would earn over $100,000. Day 2 ended with Brazillian player ‘pfckb’ topping the pack, claiming the bracelet, the top prize of $234,707.30 and securing the $100,000 Freeroll for the Americas.

The third event of the official World Series of Poker Online tournament series was event #3: Bounty No Limit Hold’em Championship. Similar to most of the events in this poker tournament series, there was no prize guarantee other than the coveted WSOP bracelet. The $2,100 buy-in without a guarantee did not scare off anyone as 677 players jumped at the chance to become the champion. Creating a prize pool of $1,354,000 and a top prize of $59,681.20. It took 28.75 hours over 2 days of play for ‘Meruemu’ to claim the victory in this championship event. The player also earned $98,664.09 in bounties for his work.

Thursday August 24 at 18:00 UTC marked the start of the fourth bracelet event as part of the World Series of Poker online poker tournament series. The event, an $840 buy-in Bounty Pot Limit Omaha event, had progressive bounties starting at $20 per player. When late registration was completed, a total of 706 players bought in to fight for the victory. It took 25.75 hour for the starting field to play down to a winner as when the last hand was dealt ‘redpillgame’ had claimed the championship for $24,895.46 plus an additional $56,953.13 in Bounties.

The Weekend Events

The first full weekend of the World Series of Poker Online poker tournament series ran 2 events, with a third event, a BIG event, scheduled to finish on the Monday. The first poker tournament of the weekend was Event #5: Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship. The event attracted a total of 176 Ladies ready to fight for the bracelet, creating a prize pool of $79,325. The tournament paused at level 16 with just 36 players left. Xinwen Zhang is the current leader with 288,046 as the players wait until Saturday to finish the event knowing on the final 27 will get paid.

The $1,500 MONSTER STACK No Limit Hold’em Event #6 was scheduled to begin at 14:00 UTC on Saturday, August 27. The final day of this event played out over a total of 29.25 hours to play out as 1,207 players battled for the bracelet and top prize of $231,821.19. At the end of play it was ‘EEewashu99’ flying the Austrian flag taking the championship bracelet.

$10,000,000 Guaranteed

The first of the major World Series of Poker Events was Event #7: Million Dollar Mystery Bounty. This $210 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament offered a $10,000,000 guarantee including a top bounty prize of $1,000,000. Day 1’s for this tournament ran multiple times each day leading up to the Day 2. By the time Day 2 started, there were a total of 51,211 players who bought into the event to fight for the prize. 4,472 survived to day 2 to fight for a share of the $10,242,000 including the $1,000,000 mystery bounty. Played over 2 days, the eventual winner of the event, sporting the Ukrainian flag, was ‘pumbiko_O’ who earned $354,650.80 plus an additional $5,488 in bounties. However, the big winner of the event was the 224th place finisher ‘John Milly’ who was the lucky winner of the $1,000,000 mystery bounty.

Monday saw the running of Event #8: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship. The first limit event of the series, also saw the return of GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu after a 2 year absence from online play. The poker tournament attracted 124 players for a total prize pool of $294,500. Finishing 31st, while not the ideal result for DNegs, was a very strong showing in an incredibly strong field. The eventual winner ‘fr33hongkong’, who is considered to be one of the best Limit Hold’em players, took home a prize of $64,021.13 after defeating Espen Jorstad, the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, who settled for 2nd, earning $48,330.03.

Ontario

Two events ran in the exclusive Ontario WSOP Bracelet series. The first was Event #1: Gladiators of Poker Ontario Opener. The $150,000 guaranteed tournament was scheduled for August 21 at 18:00UTC. The $300 buy-in Event attracted 851 total players creating a prize pool of $237,429. The event which took less than 24 hours to play out ended with ‘PokerKeeng’ winning the bracelet and the $38,304.05 to prize.

The second Ontario only tournament was Event #2: Mystery Millions. This Mystery Million$ had a $210 buy-in and a $250,000 guarantee. A total of 1,796 players paid the entry over the multiple day 1’s creating a total prize pool of $359,200. The eventual winner ‘fishw33d’, took home a total of $27,297.55 plus an additional $7,590. The biggest winner of the event was the 13th place finisher ‘Jorge A Pacheco’ who ended up with the biggest bounties, earning $37,800 in bounties.

The first week of the WSOP Online kept the thrills going non-stop. Millions were won as players from around the world were able to complete for a World Series of Poker bracelet. With 5 more events in Ontario and 25 for the rest of the world, keep an eye on the schedule for upcoming events for an event that fits your schedule. Win your own WSOP bracelet and show the world you are a champion.