WSOP Weekly: Series Comes to a Close With Three First-Time Bracelet Winners

The World Series of Poker Online came to a close over the weekend at WSOP.com for players in the New Jersey and Nevada markets. Three first-time bracelet winners were awarded some new hardware.
Those included 2014 Main Event final table qualifier Dan Sindelar along with Brad Zusman and Drew O’Connell.
The action has now shifted to Pennsylvania in the US and to GGPoker for international players. The PA series features eight bracelets on the line and awarded the first bracelet on Sunday.
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 31: $500 NLHE Summer Saver (July 30)
The Summer Saver brought a field of 917 entries on Friday night. In the end, Brad “1badcajun” Zusman took down the title for $79,683 and his first bracelet. Mark “victb” Loli finished runner-up for $49,270.
The total prize pool for the event was $412,650 and included 285 rebuys. Several former bracelet winners were in the field and grabbed some cash. This included Kathy “Luckygal” Liebert, Jeff “NedrudRelyT” Madsen, and Joseph “biuberry” Cheong.
It was a particularly good week for Madsen. He scored runner-up in the $3,200 High Roller for $40,003 last Tuesday. On the same day, he also finished runner-up in the $1,000 Summer Circuit High Roller for the sme amount.
Event 32: $1,000 NLHE Championship (July 31)
New Jersey grinder Drew “dudeguydrew” O’Connell shipped his first ever bracelet in this event on Saturday night. O’Connell overcame an 821-player field that produced a total prize pool of $738,900.
O’Connell won $146,893 for his efforts and faced some tough competition at the final table. That included New Jersey regular in Jason “jayriv” Rivkin, who took runner-up for $90,811.
Alex “OrcinusOrca” Foxen, currently in the GPI Player of the Year race, also finished fourth for $45,147.
Event 33: $500 Grand Finale (Aug. 1)
The final event of the series came on Sunday night with a $1 million guarantee. At the end of the day, 2014 Main Event final table qualifier Dan “feeltheflow” Sindelar finished first and scored $159,100.
After coming close before, including a second-place finish in an an earlier $500 Turbo Deepstack, he finally scored a bracelet. The event produced 2,024 entries.
Twitch streamer Drew “casualcarl” Gonzalez was among those at the final table, finishing fifth for $38,800. He was pleased with a deep run to close out the series.
Other notable cashes included Mike “Mouth123” Matusow, Shankar “burgersssss” Pillai, Darren “darrenelias” Elias, amd podcaster Brian “CounterfeitKKs” Keane.
Gold rush continues at GGPoker
Players who missed out on July’s bracelet events will still be able to win gold in August. GGPoker poker is hosting online bracelet events all August for international players.
Also in the US, WSOP.com is running bracelet tournaments in Pennsylvania from Aug. 1-8. Players must physically be located in PA to play in the bracelet events.
For a complete preview and schedule of the WSOP Pennsylvania series, click here.
Players looking to find updates on the GGPoker half should check out PokerScout throughout August.
Catena Media standings
The end of the series also bright about the final standings among the Catena Media Poker Team. After taking the lead last week, USPoker editor and site runner Sean Chaffin closes out the series in the top spot.
Content manager Valerie Cross finishes in second and contributing writer Anthony Cicali brings up the rear. Here’s a look at the final standings:
- Sean Chaffin – $307,159
- Valerie Cross – $271,142
- Anthony Cicali – $44,305