With the coronavirus pandemic shutting down live poker events for most of 2020, poker fans quickly realized that the WSOP Main Event at the Rio in Las Vegas wasn’t going to happen, at least not the way it always had in the past. Over the summer, the WSOP held a special “Season Finale” Online Circuit Event from June 3-14. It was very successful, since many more players could compete online without the expenses associated with the usual 101- live event.
Now, it seems that WSOP executives are planning to try a mix of live and online tournaments in a 2020 Main Event. Of course, the thousands of players who competed in the Season Finale this summer thought that was the Main Event, but now there is another one. It is officially called the 51st WSOP 2020 Man Event and will combine online and live poker in the US and internationally. It will be a more traditional event, more closely mimicking the one in Las Vegas each year. It will require a $10K buy-in ($9,600 + $400) and offer no reentries. Players will receive 60K chips and play 30-minute levels.
Unfortunately, players in the United States must be located in either Nevada or New Jersey in order to participate in the tournament on WSOP.com. The schedule is as follows:
Sunday, December 13, noon PST: Day 1 with 20 levels of play (6 hours of late registration)
Monday, December 14, noon PST: Day 2 to play down to 9 at the final table
Monday, December 28: Final table play to a winner
The US final table will play out live at the Rio All-Suite Hotel &Casino in Las Vegas and be filmed by ESPN. However, if any player tests positive for Covid-19 prior to play, it will disqualify that person from competing at the final table. That person will receive ninth-place money.
For more details, check out the Player’s Guide at wsop.com/online-players-guide/?sf239998309=1
Event #34: $1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em After years and years of playing professionally, Joseph Cheong picked up his first WSOP gold bracelet by taking down a field of more than 6,200 eager competitors and added to his already healthy bank account a fat $687,782.
Event #40: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Ismael Bojang ran through a field of 1,216 anxious players to win his very first WSOP gold bracelet and $298,507 to add to his previous 10 cashes in the 2019 WSOP and to his 75th cash in professional poker.
Event #54: Big Blind Antes $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Portugal’s Diogo Veiga ran away with this event stuffing his pockets with $522,715 and a brand new, shiny gold bracelet for defeating a field of 1,020 entries.
Event #57: $1,000/$10,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship Took a long time, but finally, after a full three days of play, Jessica Dawley grabbed up her first gold bracelet and a very nice first-prize of $130,230.
Event #58: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Jean-Robert Bellande smiled broadly to take his picture after defeating a field of 621 and taking his first bracelet and a hefty total of $616,302.
Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty Mike Takayama made his way through a tough field of 2,065 players to take all the marbles home, including his first bracelet and $198,568 for his troubles.
Event #60: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship Phil Galfond takes his third WSOP Gold bracelet along with $567,788 first prize money to help with all the expenses of bringing a new baby home sometime in Dec 2018. Congrats Phil and Farah.
Event #61: $1,000 WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold’em Championship Ryan “Toosick” Tosoc defeated Anthony ‘Flawlessbink’ Maio to take away his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $238,778.
Event #63: $3,200 WSOP.com ONLINE No-Limit Hold’em High Roller was conquered by Chance “BingShui” Kornuth after running through 480 other players and defeating David “bewater” Goodman heads up to take home a WSOP gold bracelet and a very nice $341,598.
Event #43: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em was taken down by a new champion, Timur Margolin from Israel, and he gladly posed for his obligatory bracelet-holding photo before making his way to the cage to pick up his winnings of $507,274.
Event #46: $2,500 Mixed Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better was completed after a long and hard battle that was eventually won by David Brookshire, who now adds his first WSOP Gold Bracelet to go with his WSOP Circuit Ring. Oh yeah, he also took home $214,291 to party with.
Event #48: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em MONSTER STACK belongs to Tommy Nguyen, the first Canadian to take home gold, and the ninth millionaire crowned at this year’s WSOP. After a long and somewhat anxiety-ridden battle, Nguyen walked away with a sweet $1,037,451. Not bad for a $1,500.00 investment.
Event #49: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship Loren Klein made it three in a row after destroying three-time WSOP bracelet winner Rep Porter. Klein walked away with not only his third bracelet in as many years, but also took home a massive $1,018,336.
Event #50: $1,500 Razz was conquered by Razz Specialist Jay Kwon, who has stated that Razz is his favorite game. Kwon takes home the much coveted WSOP gold bracelet and $125,431.
Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Bounty was swept up by Ryan Leng for his very first WSOP gold bracelet along with a very juicy check for $272,765.
Event #52: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship was won by Scott Seiver, who has done so much in poker that he has earned the right to boast. After winning more than $23 million in live tournaments, he now takes home his second bracelet and adds another $296,222 to his war chest.
Event #53: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better even though “Kid Poker” (our “Queen of Hearts” Paris’s favorite player) did not make it all the way, we still watched until the very end when Joey Couden bested Bruno Fitoussi to take home his first WSOP Gold Bracelet and a fat paycheck of $244,370 to put a smile on his face.