With no live World Series of Poker this year in Las Vegas, players in Nevada and New Jersey have battled it online in July. The WSOP Online awarded 31 bracelets at the series online poker site, WSOP.com.
The series proved a massive success and should make for huge online poker revenue numbers in both states. California’s Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero won the final bracelet events of the series on Friday for $310,832.
In total, the series brought in 44,229 entries and paid out $26.9 million. Here’s a look at a few of the storylines from the series.
WSOP.com captures big numbers for bracelet hunting
With so many players staying home during the coronavirus pandemic, the bracelet series certainly filled a void. All events except five paid out six-figure scores for winners.
The 31 winners received more than $4.7 million with an average payout of $152,208. Events saw an average of 1,043 unique entries and 1,427 total entries. The average tournament prize pool was $866,809
The largest prize pool came in the $1,000 NLHE Championship, the finale event of the series. That event produced a prize pool of more than $2 million.
The largest winner payout came in the $3,200 High Roller with Joe McKeehen adding $352,985 to his poker resumé. Here’s a look at all the winners and statistics:
| Event | Operator | Buy-In | Unique Entries | Re-Entries | Total | Prize Pool | Top Prize | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 NLHE Kick-Off | WSOP.com | $500 | 1195 | 520 | 1715 | $771,750 | $130,426 | Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler |
| #2 NLHE 8-Handed Deepstack | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 647 | 272 | 919 | $873,050 | $168,586 | Louis “PokeThese” Lynch |
| #3 NLHE | WSOP.com | $400 | 1450 | 641 | 2091 | $752,760 | $115,850 | Robert “bustinballs” Kuhn |
| #4 NLHE Super Turbo | WSOP.com | $500 | 828 | 351 | 1179 | $530,550 | $97,091 | Matt “Bodeyster” Bode |
| #5 NLHE Freezeout | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 854 | 0 | 854 | $811,300 | $161,286 | Allen “Acnyc718” Chang |
| #6 PLO 6-Handed | WSOP.com | $600 | 497 | 386 | 883 | $449,820 | $89,424 | Nathan “surfbum” Gamble |
| #7 NLHE Knockout Deepstack | WSOP.com | $800 | 989 | NA | 989 | $731,660 | $103,127 | Joon “jykpoker” Kim |
| #8 NLHE Freezeout | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,479 | 0 | 1,479 | $665,550 | $119,400.00 | Alan “GladiusIII” Goehring |
| #9 NLHE Six-Max | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 658 | 368 | 1026 | $974,700 | $188,214 | Ron “MacDaddy15” McMillen |
| #10 NLHE Monster Stack | WSOP.com | $600 | 1,505 | 569 | 2,074 | $1,119,960 | $172,361 | Ryan “Im.sorry” Torgerson |
| #11 NLHE Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,081 | 610 | 1,691 | $760,950 | $128,601 | Raman “Acrogum” Afanasenka |
| #12 BIG 500 NLHE | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,624 | 803 | 2,427 | $1,092,150 | $159,563 | Ryan “joeyisamush” Depaulo |
| #13 NLHE High Roller Freezeout | WSOP.com | $1,500 | 649 | 0 | 649 | $924,825 | $164,249 | Michael “miguelfiesta” Lech |
| #14 NLHE High Roller | WSOP.com | $3,200 | 368 | 128 | 496 | $1,507,840 | $352,985 | Joe “fanofdapoker” McKeehen |
| #15 PLO 8-Max HR | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 386 | 277 | 663 | $629,850 | $133,780.00 | Guy “PhilLaak” Dunlap |
| #16 NLHE Turbo | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,044 | 484 | 1,528 | $687,600 | $116,204 | Terrell “Heezahustla” Cheatham |
| #17 NLHE | WSOP.com | $777 | 917 | 465 | 1,382 | $967,400 | $173,551 | Pat “IchiiKawawa” Lyons |
| #18: NLHE 8-Handed Turbo DeepStack | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 697 | 290 | 987 | $937,650 | $181,060 | Scott “BudLightLime” Hempel |
| #19: NLHE | WSOP.com | $400 | 1,757 | 788 | 2,545 | $916,200 | $133,856 | Kenny “Chopuh” Huynh |
| #20 PLO Six-handed | WSOP.com | $500 | 627 | 510 | 1,137 | $511,650 | $97,572 | Kevin “therealkg” Gerhart |
| #21 NLHE Six-Handed | WSOP.com | $777 | 849 | 512 | 1,361 | $952,700 | $168,342 | Tony “Panoramic” Dunst |
| #22 NLHE Turbo Deepstack | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,082 | 497 | 1,579 | $710,550 | $120,083 | Allan “Treeoflife” Cheung |
| #23 NLHE Knckout | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,452 | 0 | 1,452 | $667,920 | $93,776 | Raymond “avant9201” Avant |
| #24 NLHE Eight-Handed | WSOP.com | $400 | 1,590 | 818 | 2,408 | $866,880 | $133,413 | Nick “samadhi” Binger |
| #25 NLHE Summer Saver | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,484 | 671 | 2,155 | $969,750 | $149,245 | Nicholas “mrfinalt” Kiley |
| #26 NLHE Grande Finale | WSOP.com | $500 | 1,677 | 825 | 2,502 | $1,125,900 | $164,494 | Ethan “RampageP” Yau |
| #27: NLHE Freezeout | WSOP.com | $400 | 1,940 | NA | 1,940 | $698,400 | $110,557 | Ian “ApokerJoker2” Steinman |
| #28: Omaha Hi-Lo 6-Max | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 425 | 100 | 525 | $498,750 | $110,673 | William “SlaweelRyam” Romaine |
| #29: NLHE Deepstack | WSOP.com | $2,000 | 580 | 167 | 747 | $1,419,300 | $305,433 | Nick “shadowjacker” Guagenti |
| #30 NLHE Seniors Event | WSOP.com | $500 | 541 | 179 | 720 | $324,000 | $64,411 | Jonathan “SugarJ” Lessin |
| #31 NLHE Championship | WSOP.com | $1,000 | 1,455 | 671 | 2,126 | $2,019,700 | $310,832 | Nahrain “2Rivers” Tamero |
| TOTALS | 32327 | 44229 | $26,871,065 | $4,718,445 | ||||
| Average – 1,043 | Average – 1,427 | Average – $866,809 | Average – $152,208 |
2015 Main Event champion adds third bracelet
Pennsylvania’s McKeehen knows a bit about running deep in big-field events. The winner of the 2015 Main Event took down the biggest WSOP Online event so far on July 14.
In Event 14: $3,200 NLHE High Roller, McKeehen topped a field of 496 entries for his third bracelet and $352,985. That’s the largest payout in the series so far and featured a prize pool of $1.5 million. McKeehen also won a bracelet in 2017 in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship for $311,817.
He now has almost $11 million in WSOP winnings. That also includes three WSOP Circuit championship rings.
McKeehen has been one of the most successful Main Event champions in recent years. Beyond the WSOP, he also has plenty of big scores on other tours. The World Poker Tour has been a big part of that with more than $1 million in winnings and four final table appearances.
Laying the ‘Mac’ down in first try at online poker
Most new online players are simply hoping just for some fun and a chance to win a few bucks. On July 10, 70-year-old Ron “MacDaddy15” McMillen gave online poker a shot for the first time.
A win seemed unlikely, but that’s exactly what happened. The Iowa native won Event 9: $1,000 NLHE Six-Max for $188,214. He now has a bracelet and the biggest score of his career.
Some friends were there when he took down the tournament and the celebration went viral among poker players. Even longtime pro Daniel Negreanu took notice.
Pretty awesome reaction! WSOP bracelet glory congrats!!! https://t.co/Gzb4IqSpfl
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) July 10, 2020
More of Moore in seniors championship
In the $500 seniors event, Jonathan Lessin came out on top for more than $64,000. That made for quite a day for this player from New Jersey.
However, runner-up James Moore drew plenty of interest. The Pennsylvania radiology physician is no stranger to success in senior events.
In 2016, Moore won the $1,000 Super Seniors event for $230,626. A year later he won the same event for $259,230. Moore came close to yet another seniors title at WSOP.com.
Back to the felt and snagging a bracelet
Alan Goehring was a regular on the WPT in the series’ early years but had dropped out of sight in recent years. His record at the live tables is pretty impressive.
Goehring is a two-time WPT Champions Club member from 2003 and 2006. He has $5.3 million in live tournament winnings in a career dating back to 1997.
In 1999 Goehring even finished runner-up in the WSOP Main Event for $768,625. A WSOP bracelet always eluded him, however, and he took some time away from the game from 2012-19.
Now with a few more events under his belt, Goehring returned to action in a big way on July 8 in Event 8: $500 NLHE Freezeout. After topping a field of 1,479, he took home his first bracelet and $119,400.
It was quite a return to the action. What kept him away for so long?
“I’m trading financial markets – index futures, bond futures, forex,” he told WPT.com in January. “I retired from Wall Street and now I trade on my own. I didn’t play a single hand of poker in 2018.”
The recent success may have Goehring back at the tables a bit more.
Other big names make nice runs in WSOP Online
There has been no shortage of other big names making deep runs in the first half of the series.
In Event 1: $500 Kickoff, WPT commentator Tony Dunst came close to his second bracelet, taking third for $57,881. Fifteen-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth took 11th for $57,881 after leading late in the event.
The Poker Brat, who hosts the Raw Deal segment on the WPT, had some nice words for his colleague.
Think there’s no skill in @WSOP tourneys? My last two WSOP tourneys, here in Vegas, I have a 6th (last tourney 2019 WSOP, 608 players), and an 11th last night in online tourney 1706 entry’s. Forget me though, @tonydunsttv did 2nd and 3rd (last night) in same tourneys! #POSITIVITY
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 2, 2020
Twitch streaming star Jason Somerville scored a sixth-place finish in Event 2: $1,000 NLHE 8-Handed Deepstack.
In Event 6: $600 PLO 6-Handed, longtime pro John Esposito took third for $38,685. He has a long poker career dating back to the early 1980s, with $3.7 million in winnings.
Esposito won a bracelet in 1999 and now has three WSOP third-place finishes in the last two years. The biggest of those came last summer in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $466,407.
Almost back to back
Another interesting storyline has been the play of New Jersey’s Ryan Torgersen. He came into the series with only a few cashes in major tournament scores. He’s turned it up a notch, however, in the WSOP Online.
On July 9 he finished runner-up in the $1,000 NLHE Six-Max for $116,379, second to McMillen. If that wasn’t impressive enough, a day later he scored an even bigger finish.
Torgersen took down the $600 Monster Stack for $172,362. It was quite a run in back-to-back tournaments.
Another big Chance in WSOP
Chance Kornuth is no stranger to poker success. He’s already waiting to play a WPT final table in Las Vegas.
In January he finished as chip leader among the final six players of the WPT Gardens Poker Championship. That final table is set to be filmed for broadcast at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel & Casino.
However, the pandemic has delayed that indefinitely. With no live poker, Kornuth showed off some of his online poker chops during the WSOP Online.
The founder of Chip Leader Coaching came close to his third bracelet in Event 9: $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed. Kornuth took second for a payday of $79,291.
After being down to less than a blind at one point, Kornuth came back for a nice score. He was also hindered by some disconnection issues with 11 players left.
Let’s get #3* @ChipLDR pic.twitter.com/qA5wQYtzLn
— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) July 12, 2020
Ian Steinman earns an extra $18K as leaderboard winner
Players in the WSOP Online had something else to play for – an extra $100,000 for the series leaderboard. Ian “APokerJoker2” Steinman took the title after cashing in 15 events.
That included winning Event #27: NLHE Freezeout for $110,557 as well as fifth- and sixth-place finishes.
The player of the series win nets him the top leaderboard prize of $18,000. After a win and a runner-up, Ryan “Im.Sorry” Torgerson finished second in the standings for $12,000. Here are the complete final standings:
1st – Ian “APokerJoker2” Steinman, 3,186.94
2nd – Ryan “Im.Sorry” Torgerson, 3,085.34
3rd – Robert “BustinBalls” Kuhn, 2,996.16 points
4th – Philip “tomte” Yeh, 2,714.33
5th – William “SlaweelRyam” Romaine, 2,639.85
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