WSOP Weekly: First Week Wraps Up With Major Prize Pools as Bracelet Hunting Begins
The opening weekend of the World Series of Poker Online has concluded with four new gold bracelets awarded. WSOP.com kicked off the series on July 1 with one events each day until Aug 1.
Germany’s Manig “Ohio77” Loeser was among the winners over the weekend. Several big-name pros also made appearances and were in the hunt for some hardware as well. Players such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Michael Gagliano, and Andrew Lichtenberger all notched cashes over the weekend.
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WSOP.com has solid numbers for a holiday weekend
The series opened up on July 4 weekend, producing large crowds and large cash payouts. The opening four bracelet event prize pools were just shy of $2 million.
The largest of the four events took place on Thursday. The opening event brought in $574,650 with 1,277 entries. All online bracelet events are available to players in the New Jersey and Nevada markets at WSOP.com.
Players don’t have to live in the state, but must physically be located in New Jersey or Nevada. Here’s a look at the action from the first four events.
WSOP Online 2021
| Event | Tournament | Entries | Prize pool | Winner | Winner payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 NLHE BIG 500 Kickoff (July 1) | 1,277 | $574,650 | Jose “Deposit” Noboa | $105,161 |
| 2 | $600 NLHE Monster Stack (July 2) | 1,038 | $560,520 | Manig “Ohio77” Loeser | $104,313 |
| 3 | $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack (July 3) | 950 | $427,500 | Donnell “Spreezy52” Dais | $90,801 |
| 4 | $500 NLHE Super Turbo (July 4) | 850 | $382,500 | Jeffery "Steelvikes7" Hoop | $73,861 |
| 5 | $1,000 NLHE 8-Max | 459 | $648,700 | Jeremiah "freestylerr" Williams | $139,600 |
| 6 | $2,000 NLHE Deepstack | 416 | $769,600 | Tyler "ShipTheShip" Denson | $175,700 |
| 7 | $777 Lucky Sevens | 888 | $621,600 | Michael "stiltwalk" Mercaldo | $123,574 |
| 8 | $888 Crazy Eights | 782 | $625,600 | Carlos "CarlosWelch" Welch | $124,369 |
| 9 | $400 NLHE Six-Max | 788 | $438,120 | Philip "wingsuiter" Beck | $81,534 |
| 10 | $2,000 NLHE | 1,517 | $455,100 | Michael "njnj17" Leib | $81,645 |
| 11 | $400 NLHE Ultra Deepstack | 1,417 | $510,120 | Vijay "Eclypzed" Para | $86,210 |
| 12 | $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack | 958 | $431,550 | Bryan “Pellepelle” Piccioli | $83,332 |
| 13 | $1,000 NLHE Freezeout | 561 | $504,900 | Ryan “Adopt_aDogg0” Leng | $108,654 |
| 14 | $500 NLHE | 671 | $466,200 | Gionni “Coldwarkid” Demers | $90,023 |
| 15 | $5,300 NLHE High Roller | 188 | $940,000 | Justin “Jsaliba2” Saliba | $253,800 |
| 16 | $600 PLO Hi/Lo Six-Handed | 498 | $268,920 | Allen “Acnyc718” Chang | $61,394 |
| 17 | $400 NLHE 8-Max | 747 | $405,000 | Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka | $75,371 |
| 18 | $1,000 North American Open | 756 | $692,000 | James “Danfriel” Gilbert | $137,570 |
| 19 | $888 PLO Crazy Eights Eight-Handed | 507 | $405,600 | Martin “bathroomline” Zamani | $92,598 |
| 20 | $3,200 NLHE High Roller | 311 | $948,840 | Sang “youngkoi” Lee | $241,768 |
| 21 | $600 PLO Six-Handed | 1,551 | $297,540 | Bradley “DrStrange7” Ruben | $61,148 |
| 22 | $600 NLHE Knockout | 612 | $342,720 | “LastBullet” | $46,796 |
| 23 | $500 NLHE Turbo | 694 | $312,300 | Ryan “hagzzz021” Hagerty | $67,207 |
| 24 | $400 NLHE MonsterStack | 1,176 | $423,360 | Byung “bhy101” Yoo | $77,475 |
| 25 | $7,777 High Roller | 151 | $1,113,927 | David “dpeters17” Peters | $283,940 |
| 26 | $500 NLHE Big Encore | 1,118 | $503,100 | Eric “8Bracelets” Van Auken | $93,627 |
| 27 | $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship | 398 | $367,050 | David “lox10” Goldberg | $86,440 |
| 28 | $3,200 High Roller Championship | 265 | $805,600 | Daniel “RiverRats” Lazarus | $205,347 |
| 29 | $800 NLHE Turbo 8-Max Turbo Deepstack | 623 | $448,560 | Chris “Robotbob47” Moorman | $102,406 |
| 30 | $600 NLHE Six-Max Championship | 783 | $422,820 | Mitchell “franzia” Halverson | $84,057 |
| 31 | $500 NLHE Summer Saver | 917 | $412,650 | Brad “1badcajun” Zusman | $79,683 |
| 32 | $1,000 NLHE Championship | 821 | $738,900 | Drew “dudeguydrew” O’Connell | $146,893 |
| 33 | $500 Grand Finale | 2,024 | $159,100 | Dan “feeltheflow” Sindela | $1,000,000 |
Event 1: $500 NLHE BIG 500 Kickoff (July 1)
New Jersey’s Jose “Deposit” Noboa took home the first bracelet of the summer. He defeated Christopher “basile28” Basile heads-up on Thursday night for the title.
A resident of North Bergen, New Jersey, Noboa took home $105,161 after 12 hours at the felt on opening night. Noboa seems to have luck in opening events. In the 2020 opening WSOP.com event, he finished in 21st for $3,936.
Before Thursday’s tournament, Noboa had $39,341 in lifetime WSOP cashes. This was his first six-figure score.
Other final table notables included Shannon “Aulophobia” Shorr and Michael “ParxBigStax” Marder. BigStax spoke with USPoker about his unfortunate run at the final table.
“Disappointing of course to immediately get coolered the second hand of the final table,” says Marder, a poker grinder from Sewell, New Jersey. “But you can’t knock the opportunity to chill at home on the couch playing for six figures and a bracelet.”
Event 2: $600 NLHE Monster Stack (July 2)
Manig “Ohio77” Loeser finally sealed the deal and won his first bracelet. Previously he’s finished second twice and third three times in bracelet events.
On Friday night, he outlasted 1,038 players to take in $104,313 and a bracelet. Even though this was his first bracelet, Loeser is a seasoned veteran with over $11 million in lifetime tournament winnings.
Twitch streamer Justin “LappyPoker” Lapka also found some success in the event, finishing sixth for $17,488.
Kathy “Luckygal” Liebert was among other recognizable names that made a deep run. She finished just out of the final table, coming in 12th for $5,885.
Event 3: $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack (July 3)
In just six hours, Donnell “Spreezy52” Dais scored his first bracelet and $90,801 in this fast-moving tournament. Dais topped tournament regular Mike “SammyTwizz” Azzaro heads-up for the championship.
The event saw 950 entries and a prize pool total of $427,500. Phil “Lumestackin” Hellmuth, Jamie “DanBilzerian” Kerstetter, Jeff “NedrudRelyt” Madsen ,and Ryan “joeyisamush” Depaulo all cashed in the event as well.
Hellmuth is playing the series from the Aria in Las Vegas and also played in the World Poker Tour Venetian event over the weekend as well. He took some time to offer players some interesting practical advice when playing so much online poker.
My next article: how to take a shower in the middle of a @WSOP Online poker tourney (just did it!). I bet online pros have an ideal system for this! It helps to have someone stalling at your table AND to time it for the 5 min hourly break, any advice from the online young guns? https://t.co/MHcoREBGCC
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) July 4, 2021
Event 4: $500 NLHE Super Turbo (July 4)
Jeffery “Steelvikes7” Hoop took down the Super Turbo bracelet event on Sunday. This becomes Hoop’s first bracelet and he also scored $73,861.
This was the smallest event so far, but may have been expected with most Americans celebrating the holiday. The event still produced 850 entries and generated a $382,500 prize pool.
At just under six hours, the Super Turbo tournament was also the shortest event played so far in the series.
Other notable final table qualifiers included regulars Vineet “brownmagic” Pahuja, Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler, and Ryan “sYchoSiD” Hohner, who finished runner-up for $45,671.
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Upcoming bracelet events
WSOP.com will continue to offer action for the rest of July. High rollers should be pleased to see a few bigger buy-in events on the horizon.
Friday and Saturday also bring some lower price-point tournaments for weekend warriors. Here’s a look at this week’s upcoming events:
- $1,000 NLHE Eight-Max (Event 5, July 5)
- $2,000 NLHE Deepstack (Event 6, July 6)
- $777 NLHE Lucky 7’s (Event 7, July 7)
- $888 NLHE Crazy Eights (Event 8, July 8)
- $400 NLHE Six-Max (Event 9, July 9)
- $333 NLHE (Event 10, July 10)
- $400 NLHE Ultra Deepstack (Event 11, Sun July 11)
Look for USPoker’s WSOP updates on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the series.