Tag: GGPoker

It’s time to take a gander at the weekend action at GGPoker as well as a snifter at the Stadium Series action over at PokerStars.

We begin at the grand racecourse of GGPoker, and all binoculars were on Stephen Chidwick, who won two events ($5k and $10k) and also finished runner-up in a $10k (those $10k events were Short-Deck events).

Chidwick wasn’t the only star sitting under the $10k parasols who bagged a brace, Isaac Haxton booked two wins in $10k Short Deck events to add to his considerable reputation at the highest stakes.

Seth Davies picked up a win and a second in $10k events, and Sam Greenwood earned a win, second and third. Sergi Reixach played the bridesmaid role with three runner-up finishes across the $10k Short Deck games.

Here are those results in full.

Sunday 19 July

High Rollers Blade PLO $5k

62-entrants

Results

  1. Andras Nemeth – $91,508.28
  2. Maximilian Lehmanski – $57,587.79
  3. Andjelko Andrejevic – $43,568.06
  4. Hun Wei Lee – $32,961.41
  5. Ronny Kaiser – $24,936.96
  6. Magibpsilo – $18,866.05
  7. Jesus Cortes – $14,273.11
  8. SpeedyDouble – $10,798.34

Bryns High Rollers $10k

11-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $69,355
  2. Sergi Reixach – $37,345

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

22-entrants

Results

  1. Isaac Haxton – $97,018.52*
  2. Chi Zhang – $81,932.41*
  3. Sam Greenwood – $34,449.07
    *Indicates a heads-up deal.

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

18-entrants

Results

  1. Sam Greenwood – $99,493.51*
  2. Stephen Chidwick – $75,106.49*
    *Indicates a heads-up deal.

Monday 20 July

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

12-entrants

Results

  1. Seth Davies – $75,660
  2. Sam Greenwood – $40,740

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

11-entrants

Results

  1. Isaac Haxton – $69,355
  2. Sergi Reixach – $37,345

Tuesday 21 July

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

10-entrants

Results

  1. Stephen Chidwick – $63,050
  2. Sergi Reixach – $33,950

High Rollers Short Deck $10k

19-entrants

Results

  1. Daniel Dvoress – $73,194.61*
  2. Seth Davies – $81,353.92*
    *Indicates a heads-up deal

High Rollers Blade Prime $5k

31-entrants

Results

  1. Stephen Chidwick – $47,979.90*
  2. Pascal Lefrancois – $60,894.64*
  3. Wiktor Malinowski – $25,471.
  4. Steve O’Dwyer – $15,654.46
    *Indicates a heads-up deal

Lex Veldhuis Wins a PokerStars Stadium Series Title

Triton commentator and broadcaster, Lex Veldhuis, reminded everyone of his silky skills at the poker table after taking down the 243-entrant $2,100 No Limit Hold’em event during the Stadium Series on PokerStars.

Final table incumbents moored their yachts, not parked bikes, to participate in this one. Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson (2nd), Ivan ‘Negriin’ Luca (5th), Pablo ‘pabritz’ Brito Silva (6th), and Aliaksei “ale6ka” Boika (7th) squeezed into the elevator with he Twitch phenom. ‘MiracleQ’ finished ninth. In Aug he competed in a $1m Spin & Go, finishing second for $100k).

Veldhuis enchanted more than 26,000 people while bagging a personal-best $96,143.60, beating his previous best score of $91,695 after finishing runner-up to ‘GODofHU’ in a $2,100 No Limit Hold’em during the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) in September.

As Veldhuis inches closer to his first six-figure online score Triton may have to go looking for his replacement if he keeps this up.

In other Stadium Series results, the former PocketFives World #1, Michael ‘munchenHB’ Telker, took down the $530, $1m GTD No Limit Hold’em for $157,004. The former Super Tuesday winner, Alisson ‘heyalisson’ Piekazewicz conquered a field of 1,347 entrants in a $1,050 No Limit Hold’em event for $185,376 after cutting a deal with Luan ‘Pseduo Fruto’ Piekazewicz

After spending the morning in the thrall of a praying mantis chewing the head of a cricket (who continued to walk around in a daze for several hours later), I am a little sick of bugs. However, this writer’s discomfort pales into the perpetual doldrums of monotony compared to the quelling of excitement over at GGPoker today.

With the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online action coming to a close at WSOP.com, GGPoker cut the ribbon on their launch into the gold bracelet business, and it has gone as smoothly as a picnic surrounded by seagulls on Skomer Island.

The organisers had to suspend play in both Event #32: $100 The Opener and Event #33: $1,111 Every 1 For COVID Relief, due to a ‘critical bug’ caused by the sheer number of entrants in the Opener (29,306) coupled with a high volume of observers. This deadly mix caused the servers to crash, and to make things worse, GGPoker also suffered a Distributed denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

There are 3,690 players left in ‘The Opener’ and GGPoker will return the buy-in to each of them in the form of tournament tickets. There are 1,418 entrants from a field of 1,598 in the COVID Relief event, and the organisers have doubled the $177,378 currently collected for charity.

Event #32 resumes July 26 18:30 UTC and Event #33 on the same day at 18:00.

All players begin with current stack sizes.

GGPoker has doubled its server capacity to avoid a repeat occurrence, and added a second layer of DDoS protection.

Hackers in my garden.

Hackers online.

Kenny “Chopuh” Huynh Wins Event #19: $400 No Limit Hold’em

There was no such depressing news for the titans attempting to win a bracelet on American soil.

Event #19: $400 No Limit Hold’em attracted 2,545-entrants (1,757 unique, 788 re-entries), and Kenny “Chopuh” Huynh showed great artistry to weave his way to the summit and $133,857 first prize.

Huynh has earned $212,130 playing live tournaments and not once has he made money in a WSOP event played in the world of brick and mortar. In February he booked a personal-best $80,298 for finishing runner-up to Joel Deutsch in a $550 No Limit Hold’em tournament at the Parx Casino in Bensalem.

Hunter Frey was Huyn’s primary hazard coming into the final table. Frey has a solid resume with a third in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em event, seventh in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em in 2011, and third in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em in 2013. Frey had to make do with sixth in this one.

Here are the results.

Event #19: $400 No Limit Hold’em

2,545-entrants (1,757 unique, 788 re-entries)

Results

  1. Kenny “Chopuh” Huynh – $133,857
  2. Matthew “610610” Berger – $82,733
  3. Vincent “meatball44” Ablahani – $60,744
  4. Sang “youngkoi” Lee – $$44,985
  5. Kenneth “KBconcepts” Phillips – $33,625
  6. Hunter “Hunt_Dizzle” Frey – $25,287
  7. Michael “namhtiw1” Whitman – $19,149
  8. Michael “vapor098” Federico – $14,659
  9. Paul “Debt2Me” Gunness – $11,361

Two high rollers than dived deeper than the precipitous Mariana Trench were Ryan Riess (70th), Matt Berkey (75th),

Another beguiling bonanza of a GGPoker report courtesy of having a few moments to spare as the Yerba Mate tea sits heavy in the strainer and Steve O’Dwyer had a better weekend than most.

O’Dwyer has distinguished gluttony when it comes to hogging live tournament wins, and he’s been transferred his jug of luck and skill to the online realm equally successfully in the past 12-months.

The American star picked up two impressive wins at GGPoker over the weekend. Both tournaments were $5k events, and both had field sizes that exceeded the usual intimate get together you typically see in the high stakes games online.

O’Dwyer conquered fields of 111 and 133 entrants to collect a combined haul of $259,226.12.

While the No-Limit Hold’em saw bumper fields, the Short-Deck didn’t. There were two on the weekend at the $10k price point, and Ihor Shkiliaruk won them both (although the fields were 4 and 6 respectively, and 50% of the buy-ins in the field of 6 were Skiliaruk’s)

Outside of the double winners, Wiktor Malinowski took down a $10k, and Joao Vieira and Mikita Badziakouski collected wins in $5k events.

Here are the results in full.

$10k Bryns High Roller

27-entrants

Results

  1. Wiktor Malinowski – $117,735.04
  2. Jonathan Van Fleet – $72,359.90
  3. Oasis – $44,472.37
  4. Elio Fox – $27,332.69

$10k Bryns Short Deck High RToller

4-entrants

Results

  1. Ihor Shkiliaruk – $38,800

$10k Bryns Short Deck High RToller

6-entrants

Results

  1. Ihor Shkiliaruk – $58,200

$5k High Rollers Blade PLO

36-entrants

Results

  1. Joao Vieira – $85,316.76
  2. Onetimeplease22 – $50,409.56
  3. Isaac Baron – $31,730
  4. Sean Winter – $19,972.26
  5. Gr4vyB04t – $12,571.42

$5k High Rollers Blade Mulligan

111-entrants

Results

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $120,755.41
  2. Kristen Bicknell – $90,925.15
  3. Joao Vieira – $68,463.93
  4. Stephen Chidwick – $51,551.28
  5. Pascal Hartmann – $38,816.56
  6. Timothy Adams – $29,227.68
  7. FuTimReilly – $22,007.57
  8. Mikita Badziakouski – $16,571.04

$5k High Rollers Blade Closer

55-entrants

Results

  1. Mikita Badziakouski – $86,269.92*
  2. Daniel Dvoress – $59,549.32*
  3. David Peters – $39,930.05
  4. Sam Greenwood – $28,825.41
  5. Mustapha Kanit – $20,809
  6. Isaac Baron – $15,021.97
  7. RIVERRAT89 – $10,844.33
    *Indicates a heads-up deal

$5k High Rollers Blade Prime

133-entrants

Results

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $138,470.71
  2. DanBiz – $105,332.75
  3. KeiijoKonvehti – $80,125.23
  4. Viktor Kudinov – $60,950.16
  5. Michael Addamo – $46,364
  6. Xingyun888 – $35,268.45
  7. Sean Winter – $26,828.21
  8. Laurynas Levinskas – $20,407.86

Each time you feel like online poker has reached its apotheosis, the operators burn the old textbooks in a conflagration of colour, and a new ‘record’ emerges like a Phoenix.

GGPoker is the latest to hunch around the firepit after it released further details on the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) online schedule, a move prompted by a leaked version ending up on Pokerfuse.

54-bracelets are up for grabs between Jul 19 to Sep 6, allowing poker fans the opportunity to win a bracelet from the comfort of home from outside of the USA for the first time.

The schedule is virtually indistinguishable from what you would expect from the typical muddle of live events, and that’s because of GGPoker’s inability to construct a plan with more alternatives than Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha. That said, there are a few old favourites on the roster (see below).

The ‘prestige of a WSOP bracelet has gone down the toilet’ brigade will be eating up and vomiting on the news that the BIG 50 will create a new record allowing punters to win a bracelet for as low as $50. The maximum that someone is going to be in for is $25,000.

Players who finish in the money (ITM) will have their real names broadcast to the world, including 100% of people who make a final table. That action will come to you live via GGPoker.tv and Poker Central.

The Main Event

The biggest story is the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event and its record $25m guarantee, beating the $21,780,000 amassed by the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS field. There will be multiple Day 1’s with Day 2 beginning Aug 30. Each flight is a freezeout.

There are also leaderboard prizes, but the details are sparse for now. There will be a leaderboard specifically for events that tie in with GGPoker’s Asian facing audience (Pure Gold Dragon), and there are leaderboards called ‘Pure Gold Mouse’ and ‘Pure Gold Cards.’

There are also three ‘People’s Choice’ bracelet events.

  • Most Popular
  • Pros Vote
  • Spin The Wheel

Here are the highlights.

Highlights

Event #1: $100, $2m GTD ‘The Opener’
Event #2: $1,111 ‘Every 1 for Covid Relief’ – $111 charitable entry
Event #10: $400, $3m GTD ‘COLOSSUS’
Event #17: $1,500 ‘MILLIONAIRE MAKER’
Event #25: $10,000 ‘HU NLHE Championship’
Event #31: $500, $5m GTD ‘Mini Main Event’
Event #38: $25,000, $10m GTD ‘NLH Poker Players Championship’
Event #39: $50, $1m GTD ‘BIG 50’
Event #52: $10,000, $5m GTD ‘WSOP Super MILLION$’

High Roller Highlights ($10k+)

Event #12: $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship
Event #25: $10,000 ‘HU NLHE Championship’
Event #38: $25,000, $10m GTD ‘NLH Poker Players Championship’
Event #52: $10,000, $5m GTD ‘WSOP Super MILLION$’

Follow the blue line for more details on the playing and streaming schedules.

https://www.contents.ggnetwork-contents.com/wsop-2020-online
Timothy Adams

It’s time for another 586-words of carefully choreographed syntax designed to provide you with the results of high stakes online multi-table tournament (MTT) action from the land of GGPoker.

What follows is the primary results of the weekend and the first few days of a week that has seen the world wince and whine.

The most significant prize that flew down the electronic wires of the Internet went to Robert Lipkin. The American collected $118,495.05 after getting the better of 100-entrants in the High Rollers Blade Prime $5k.

There were three other members of the six-figure club.

Chris Brewer collected $101,365.01 after beating Jake Schindler, heads-up, in the 20-entrant Bryns High Rollers $10k, ‘AAAKid’ banked $116,403.84 after subjugating the 107-entrant field in the High Rollers Blade Mulligan $5k, and ‘BrynkenneyAA’ earned $116,904.27 and a watch for capturing the flag in the 108-entrant Asian Poker Tour (APT) Super High Roller $5k.

The PocketFives World #1, Conor’ 1_conor_b_1’ Beresford took second to ‘AAAKid’ for $87,648.57, Ali Imsirovic won the 4-entrant Bryns High Rollers $25k for double his money, and Timothy Adams clobbered the 54-entrant High Rollers Blade Opener $5k for $79,845.95. The Canadian, Ami Barer, won the 50-entrant High Rollers Blade Closer $5k for $95,537.39, Artur Martirosian bested the 37-entrant field in the High Roller Blade $5k for $74,972.12, and the South American star, Farid Jattin, drubbed the 49-entrant field in the High Rollers Blade PLO $5k for $88,945.32.

Here are those results in full.

Bryns High Rollers $25k

4-entrants

Results

  1. Ali Imsirovic – $98,000

Bryns High Rollers $10k

20-entrants

Results

  1. Chris Brewer – $101,365.01
  2. Jake Schindler – $61,317.65
  3. Ali Imsirovic – $31,317.34

High Rollers Blade Prime $5k

100-entrants

Results

  1. Robert Lipkin – $118,495.05
  2. Cliffboth – $89,739.45
  3. Darren Elias – $67,962.05
  4. IAmZeCaptainNow – $51,469.45
  5. Pascal Lefrancois – $38,979.15
  6. Laurynas Levinskas – $29,519.95
  7. Preben Stokkan – $22,356.20
  8. Conor Beresford – $16,930.95

High Rollers Blade Opener $5k

54-entrants

Results

  1. Timothy Adams – $79,845.95*
  2. Sam Greenwood – $63,322.03*
  3. Juan Pardo Dominguez – $39,204.04
  4. Jake Schindler – $28,301.31
  5. Preben Stokkan – $20,430.66
  6. Isaac Haxton – $14,748.85
  7. Alex Foxen – $10,647.16

*Indicates a deal

APT Super High Roller $5k

108-entrants

Results

  1. BrynkenneyAA – $116,904.27
  2. Beishadezhu2 – $88,025.38
  3. Sam Greenwood – $66,280.49
  4. Daniel Dvoress – $49,907.22
  5. HansNeverLose – $37,578.63
  6. CowBaby – $28,295.55
  7. Ali Imsirovic – $21,305.71
  8. Mike Watson – $16,042.56

High Rollers Blade Mulligan $5k

21-entrants

Results

  1. David Misikowski – $52,250
  2. Jake Schindler – $31,607.04
  3. Chris Brewer – $16,142.96

High Roller Blade $5k

37-entrants

Results

  1. Artur Martirosian – $74,972.12
  2. Steve O’Dwyer – $44,297.40
  3. Rubbherducky – $27,882.73
  4. Preben Stokkan – $17,550.62
  5. TheProfessional – $11,047.13

High Rollers Blade Closer $5k

50-entrants

Results

  1. Ami Barer – $95,537.39
  2. Gr4vyB04t – $58,745
  3. David Misickowski – $39,457.47
  4. Rebuyguy – $26,502.55
  5. Michael Addamo – $17,801.07
  6. Jake Schindler – $11,956.52

High Rollers Blade PLO $5k

49-entrants

Results

  1. Farid Jattin – $88,945.32
  2. Andrew Pantling – $54,691.59
  3. Ami Barer – $36,734.90
  4. Andjelko Andrejevic – $24,673.87
  5. Sean Winter – $16,572.80
  6. George Wolff – $11,131.52

High Rollers Blade Mulligan $5k

107-entrants

Results

  1. AAAKid – $116,403.84
  2. Conor Beresford – $87,648.57
  3. Dario Sammartino – $65,996.77
  4. Ami Barer – $49,693.58
  5. Nick Schulman – $37,417.77
  6. Alex Foxen – $28,174.43
  7. Jellopy77 – $21,214.50
  8. Oiltrader – $15,973.89

The enrollment in GGPoker’s high stakes multi-table tournaments (MTTs) has been more fish paste sandwich than full-on New York Deli, but for the sake of uniformity here are the results.

The form seems to be this: when an MTT becomes a short-handed Sit n Go, Jake Schindler wins it. The American-pro featured in the money (ITM) in three of the five $5k+ events spread over the last three days, winning the two smallest.

Schindler took down two 5-entrant Bryn’s High Rollers $5k events, beating Alex Foxen in one and Chris Brewer in the other as well as finishing 4/52 in the High Rollers Blade Prime $5k.

Juan Pardo Dominguez finished ITM in two events, including winning the highest buy-in of the lot in another short-handed scramble. The Spaniard took down the 6-entrant Bryn’s High Rollers $10k, defeating that man Jake Schindler, heads-up. Dominguez also finished 3/23 in the High Roller Blade Mulligan $5k, an event that ‘dnegking’ won for $57,083.13.

Preben Stokkan is the man who walked away from GGPoker with the biggest prize of the past three days. The Norwegian star conquered a 52-entrant field to win the High Rollers Blade Prime $5k. Stokkan beat Timother Nuter, heads-up, to claim the $94,390.95 first prize.

Here are the results in full.

Bryn’s High Rollers $5k

5-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $23,750

High Roller Blade Mulligan $5k

23-entrants

Results

  1. Dnegking – $57,083.13
  2. Sergi Reixach – $34,530.69
  3. Juan Pardo Dominguez – $17,636.18

Bryn’s High Rollers $10k

6-entrants

Results

  1. Juan Pardo Dominguez – $58,200

High Rollers Blade Prime $5k

52-entrants

Results

  1. Preben Stokkan – $94,390.95
  2. Timother Nuter – $58,040.06
  3. Chris Brewer – $38,983.98
  4. Jake Schindler – $26,184.51
  5. George Wolff – $17,587.46
  6. Ali Imsirovic – $11,813.04

Bryn’s High Rollers $5k

5-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $23,750

It’s time to catch up on the results from the GGPoker High Roller action, and the biggest winner earned his crust taking down the lowest buy-in event I will cover.

Lester “mon$terDad’ Edoc conquered a field of 687-entrants in the $500 buy-in, $2m GTD High Roller MILLION$ event. Edoc beat ‘Lucky_Luke1’ in heads-up action to take the title and top prize of $285,646. Featuring on the final table were recognised high stakes regs such as Simon Higgins (5th) and Ivan “Negriin’ Luca (6th).

Results

  1. Lester “mon$terDad’ Edoc – $285,646.
  2. Lucky_Luke1 – $203,618
  3. Supermoustache – $145,146
  4. 00COEL – $103,465
  5. Simon Higgins – $73,753
  6. Ivan “Negriin’ Luca – $52,573
  7. ExoticJoe – $37,476
  8. THEfaryboy – $26,714
  9. Luis “ CurrihoMaluko” Faria – $19,042

Bryn High Rollers

Timothy Adams had a good week, taking down the 19-entrant $25,000 event for $240,741.89, while also taking the most significant prize ($84,022.91) in one of the two $10,000 games that played out. Ali Imsirovic took the top prize of $55,059.38 after cutting a deal with Schindler in the other $10k buy-in event.

Schindler had an outstanding week concerning in the money (ITM) finishes. The American finished ITM eight times and won four of them. Another player who featured heavily is Chris Brewer with six ITM finishes and two wins.

Here are the results.

Bryn’s High Roller $25,000 No Limit Hold’em

19-entrants

Results

  1. Timothy Adams – $240,741.89
  2. Laurynas Levinskas – $145,629.43
  3. Mikita Badziakouski – $74,378.68

Bryn’s High Roller $10,000 No Limit Hold’em

20-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $78,659.75*
  2. Timothy Adams – $84,022.91*
  3. Chris Brewer – $31,317.34

*Indicates a heads-up deal

Bryn’s High Roller $10,000 No Limit Hold’em

10-entrants

Results

  1. Ali Imsirovic – $55,059.38*
  2. Jake Schindler – $41,940.62*

*Indicates a heads-up deal

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

17-entrants

Results

  1. Chris Brewer – $52,487.50
  2. Alex Foxen – $28,262.50

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

15-entrants

Results

  1. Allinbox905 – $46,312.50
  2. Jake Schindler – $24,937.50

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

4-entrants

Results

  1. Chris Brewer – $19,000

Beat Ali Imsirovic heads-up.

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

14-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $43,225
  2. Chris Brewer – $23,275

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

29-entrants

Results

  1. Golden snitch – $64,294.41
  2. David Peters – $38,058.71
  3. Alex Foxen – $23,390.87
  4. Andras Nemeth – $14,376.01

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

3-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $14,250

Beat Alex Foxen, heads-up.

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

11-entrants

Results

  1. Allinbox905 – $33,962.50
  2. Chris Brewer – $18,287.50

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

18-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $33,495.48*
  2. Ali Imsirovic – $52,004.52*

*Indicates a heads-up deal

Bryn’s High Roller $5,000 No Limit Hold’em

13-entrants

Results

  1. Ali Imsirovic – $40,137.50
  2. Allinbox905 – $21,612.50

The Blade Results

The former PocketFives World #1, Andras Nemeth, faired well in the Blade action winning the 111-entrant Blade Mulligan for $120,755.41 and finishing runner-up to Viacheslav Buldygin in the Closer. Buldygin had an excellent run in the Blade events, making the final table of all three of them, finishing eighth in the Prime, second in the Mulligan and winning the Closer.

Here are the results.

High Rollers Blade Prime $5k

121-entrants

Results

  1. ButtonSmashingMonkey – $125,977.09
  2. Jake Schindler – $95,829.04
  3. Dan Smith – $72,895.88
  4. DanBiz – $55,450.90
  5. KeijoKonvehti – $42,180.73
  6. Timothy Nuter – $32,086.33
  7. Sergi Reixach – $24,407.62
  8. Viacheslav Buldygin – $18,565.55

High Rollers Blade Mulligan $5k

111-entrants

Results

  1. Andras Nemeth – $120,755.41
  2. Viacheslav Buldygin – $90,925.15
  3. Ali Imsirovic – $68,463.93
  4. Mikita Badziakouski – $51,551.28
  5. Jake Schindler – $38,816.56
  6. Dnegking – $29,227.68
  7. Dan Smith – $22,007.57
  8. George Wolff – $16,571.04

High Rollers Blade Closer $5k

50-entrants

Results

  1. Viacheslav Buldygin – $95,537.39
  2. Andras Nemeth – $58,745
  3. Oasis – $39,457.47
  4. Chris Brewer – $26,502.55
  5. Isaac Haxton – $17,801.07
  6. Chad Eveslage – $11,956.52

World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet bucket-list lovers will be in a state of reverie, this morning after the iconic institution announced plans to organise two online bracelet series.

The Coronavirus pandemic crushed poker’s soul like the wings of a butterfly between toddler’s thumbs as it surged through the universe, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and the summer WSOP.

The WSOP acted rapidly, agreeing upon a deal to host a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Online Series with new partners GGPoker. You sensed at the beginning of that incredible 18 gold ring experiment that the WSOP had the receptivity to shift their entire gold bracelet schedule online (the series generated more than $130m in prize money).

Now, it’s official.

WSOP Online Bracelet Events

Grinders, go out and get yourself a comfy seat cushion because you’re going to be busy.

The plan is for WSOP.com to host a daily bracelet event throughout July (31, if you can’t be bothered to do that thing in your head that reminds you how many days there are in each month).

There are drawbacks.

Due to regulations, the variety of tournaments is limited to No Limit Hold ’em (NLHE) or Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), and the buy-in level is capped with the most extreme buy-in a $3,500 NLHE High Roller, but one doubts it will lead to a fragile state of mind.

Three of the WSOP’s marquee events have leapt to the online realm with The BIG 50, Monster Stack and Senior Event brands included in the schedule. The cilantro on this yellow split-pea soup is a $1,000 No Limit Hold ’em Championship on Fri, Jul 31 at 15:00 (PDT).

You can qualify for bracelet events through the online satellite system for less than a buck, and the WSOP is also putting on a $100,000 Online Bracelet Series Leaderboard (although there is no word on prizes). Competing players must have their butts firmly ensconced in either New Jersey or Nevada, meaning Delaware residents don’t get to taste that split-pea soup.

GGPoker Bracelet Events

GGPoker will host 54 bracelet events.

The good thing about the WSOP’s relationship with GGPoker is their ability to offer a broader range of event types, and a higher buy-in ceiling, with $25,000 buy-in events frequently running on the site.

There is no schedule presently, but we know the action starts July 19 and runs to Sep 6.

“It wouldn’t be Summer without WSOP,” said Ty Stewart, executive director of the WSOP. “While we are thrilled to be reopening our venues and optimistic about future offline events, we couldn’t be more excited about deepening our relationship with GGPoker and watching some history unfold online this summer.”

WSOP Sponsorship

As WSOP extends its relationship with GGPoker, it will be interesting to see what happens to their long-term sponsorship partnership with 888Poker. While it’s not out of the question for WSOP to have multiple online partners (including partypoker), one imagines online operators will push for exclusivity.

The Schedule

The WSOP’s Ty Stewart made the point that these events are not direct replacements for their live sister, but run as a separate concept, providing more value for their players at a unique time for civilisation. Still, should it turn out to be the resounding success one expects it to be, then it’s going to be challenging for the WSOP not to repeat the online experience annually. If you remember the furore that emerged from some quarters of the poker community during the creation of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), it will be interesting to see what the poker world thinks of this move if it does become a permanent fixture in the poker calendar.

The WSOP harbours hopes of running a live WSOP in the winter, and that could be bad news for other live tour operators clamouring to fire their own last-ditch 2020 salvos.

Here is the schedule for the WSOP.com events.

WSOP.com Schedule*

Event #1: Jul 1, $500 NLHE Kick-Off
Event #2: Jul 2, $1,000 NLHE DeepStack
Event #3: Jul 3, $400 NLHE
Event #4, Jul 4, $500 NLHE Super-Turbo
Event #5: Jul 5, $1,000 NLHE Freezeout
Event #6: Jul 6, $600 PLO8 – 6-Handed
Event #7: Jul 7, $800 NLHE Knockout DeepStack
Event #8: Jul 8, $500 NLHE Freezeout
Event #9: Jul 9, $1,000 NLHE 6-Max
Event #10: Jul 10, $600 NLHE Monster Stack
Event #11: Jul 11, $500 NLHE Turbo DeepStack 6-Handed
Event #12: Jul 12, $500 The BIG 500 NLHE
Event #13: Jul 13, $1,500 NLHE High Roller Freezeout
Event #14: Jul 14: $3,200 NLHE High Roller
Event #15: Jul 15, $1,000 PLO High Roller
Event #16: Jul 16, $500 NLHE Turbo
Event #17: Jul 17, $777 NLHE
Event #18: Jul 18, $1,000 NLHE Turbo DeepStack
Event #19: Jul 19, $400 NLHE
Event #20: Jul 20, $500 PLO 6-Handed
Event #21: Jul 21, $777 NLHE 6-Handed
Event #22: Jul 22, $500 NLHE Turbo DeepStack
Event #23: Jul 23, $500 NLHE DeepStack
Event #24: Jul 24. $400 NLHE
Event #25: Jul 25, $500 NLHE Summer Saver
Event #26: Jul 26, $500 NLHE Grand Finale
Event #27: Jul 27, $400 NLHE Freezeout
Event #28: Jul 28, $1,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 6-Handed
Event #29: Jul 29, $600 NLHE Turbo DeepStack 6-Handed
Event #30: Jul 30, $500 NLHE Senior’s Event
Event #31: Jul 31, $1,000 NLHE Championship

*All events start at 15:00 (PDT), and it’s unknown if they will be 1 or 2 day events.

You won’t see a hot air balloon bearing the GGPoker brand name and the slogan “We Are The Home of High Stakes Poker.’ Still, a rooster is reminding high stakes players that frequent stormy games are ranging from $25/$50 to $200/$400 with No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and Short Deck on the menu.

Things are simple circumventing the high stakes poker scene. You sit down at a table, and you see a face. Unfortunately, it’s not the same in the online world, and for this reason, many top pros feel unsafe competing in games, and a few believe certain forms of online poker will die out due to integrity concerns.

GGPoker is not indolent about these threats. 

In a bid to help foster a ‘live feel’ to their online product, GGPoker has reached out to their VIPs to advise them to change their pseudonyms to their real names, and provide proof in the shape of a passport or driving license or find somewhere else to play.

Here is the correspondence sent to VIP players from GGPoker.

“Thank you for being an active member of our VIP Games. We are contacting you to inform you of our new VIP Game policy. It has recently come to light that some players are creating multiple accounts to hide [sic] identity and target weaker players despite our effort to police it. This is affecting the safety of our VIPs and hurting the integrity of the game. As such, we plan on progressively converting players’ nicknames to their Real Names.

“Once we have received and verified the document, your Nickname will be converted to your Real Name. Subsequently, you will no longer be allowed to use any other multi-accounts on [sic] GGPoker Network, which includes all skins on the network.

“If you do not wish to comply, we regret to inform you that we can no longer accept your services. In this case, please cease playing and cash out your balance immediately.”

So far, the rules only cover high stakes cash games. GGPoker does have an extensive high stakes multi-table tournament (MTT) schedule, but currently, players can choose to use their real names or select an alias. 

The use of real names in high stakes games began at partypoker, with the Poker Masters Online, Super High Roller Bowl Online and World Poker Tour Online Championships all making actual name participation mandatory.

WSOPC Online Series: The Numbers

The first foray into international online waters for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a resounding success. The $100m GTD WSOP Circuit Online Series generated $134,706.274 in prize money, 30% higher than the promise.

The 516 tournament structure attracted 485,851 entrants, and close to $50m of the generated prize money came from the 18 gold ring events that acted as the main attraction.

Every single tournament nailed its guarantee.

The biggest single prize came in the $1,000, $5m GTD Main Event where ‘schimmelgodx’ earned $1.2m for conquering the 9,779 entrant field. 

Multi MILLION$

On the bread and butter front, GGPoker is rolling out a new initiative called Multi MILLION$. It’s a series of three weekly ‘Phased-Tournaments,’ with a combined $3,150,000 in guarantees. 

Global MILLION$ – $100 buy-in, $1m GTD

High Roller MILLION$ – $500 buy-in, $2m GTD

Zodiac MILLION$ – 500 Yuan buy-in, 1m Yuan GTD

Day 1’s will run daily and around the clock with the Day 2 starting every Sunday at 18:00 (GMT).

If you want to have a thriving business, then word of mouth marketing is your milieu. If you’re in the second-hand car business, you want people screaming from the bus stops about how your cars never break down. If you’re a scuba diving operator, you want your clients to mutter through their breathing tubes about how safe they felt while experiencing vivacious coral curves. 

As with most things in life, there is another side to this story. As the marketing genius, Seth Godin, states in a blog post titled ‘Why Word of Mouth Doesn’t Happen,’ if you’re in the business of curing people’s venereal disease (VD) don’t bank on people taking your work viral. 

Where does poker fit into this word of mouth marketing philosophy? 

Let’s take a look at Fedor Holz’s new partnership with GGPoker through the lens of Godin’s blog post.

Here are eight reasons word of mouth marketing won’t work, and whether it makes GGPoker’s decision to hire Holz inspiring or a waste of money.

1. Embarrassment

As in the VD example, the affiliation with your brand feels too embarrassing to share with others. Holz has worked hard to build his reputation both in and outside of poker. While there are online poker rooms, Holz would be embarrassed to be connected with, GGPoker is not one of them because of the high calibre of people who GGPoker have signed before him.

2. It’s Difficult to Bring Up

If you’re a seller of mobile phone ring tones, then if you’re in the earshot of a ring-a-ding-ding, it provides the opportunity to sell your wares, however, if you have just had a cracking massage than it’s challenging to bring it up.

Holz has been smart enough to negotiate a partnership that includes an affiliation with his training site: Pokercode. Because of this, Holz will be spreading his allegiance to GGPoker to his 51.5k Twitter followers because it’s a win-win.

3. Not Cutting Edge Enough

Godin asserts that the product might not be cutting edge enough for your crowd. Maybe you’ve recently switched from Betamax to VHS, and you’re trying to sell the idea to your Netflix buddies. It’s not that it’s embarrassing, it’s because you’ve only recently found out about it.

GGPoker is in the early stages of hiring ambassadors to spread the word of mouth marketing to poker fanatics living in the West. Bryn Kenney joined the team a while ago, but the lone wolf is now part of a pack as GGPoker expands quickly.

When it comes to the stale, hackneyed online poker ecosystem, GGPoker is cutting edge, so no problem on this score.

4. The Thing is Too Popular

Godin uses the example of a blogger afraid of posting on a popular topic over fears of appearing lazy as something that falls within the walls of this realm. 

Had PokerStars wanted to sign Holz, then maybe the ‘too popular’ maxim may have applied when it came to the German’s use of his megaphone, but not with GGPoker. 

GGPoker is trending.

5. Exclusivity

I can imagine that during prohibition, people would be less likely to share the location of their speakeasies over fears that the loss of exclusivity would create too much attention. 

‘Exclusivity’ is prevalent throughout the poker world. It’s either related to legal issues (not wanting the authorities to know about the game), financial ones (not wanting people to take your action), or privacy reasons (not wanting people to know you play in the game).

None of these reasons will stop Holz from telling everyone from the North to the South Pole to play on GGPoker.

6. The Collision of Two Worlds

Godin uses the example of a child attending summer camp to explain this one. Maybe the child is a complete nerd in a normal school but gets to be the cool one in summer camp, and he doesn’t want anyone finding out about his secret world. However, Holz is incredibly proud of his poker career, and so this one is not going to be a problem. 

7. Manipulation

The best way to describe this one would be to use the example of PokerStars during their insane decision to handle the Supernova Elite break up the way they did, and the effect it had on their ambassadors having to sell the brand. If GGPoker has a few fibulas and tibias in the closet, we haven’t seen them, and until we do, Holz will keep espousing the virtues of his new partner.

8. Taste

I know I keep picking on PokerStars, but it’s challenging for a prominent member of the poker community to accept a gig from the largest online poker site this side of California’s Science Center because it will affect their status.

People will cry ‘taste?’

Bryn Kenney.

Daniel Negreanu.

GGPoker has excellent taste, and because of that, if you’re in allegiance with them, you also have it. 

Godin’s climax is to challenge you to ‘change the experience of talking about you so fundamentally that people will choose to do it. Given our analysis of the above eight factors, it’s clear that Holz will have no problem talking about the value that GGPoker provides, and by default that makes the $32m man a cracking choice for an ambassador. 

Why word of mouth doesn’t happen