Heads-up play in the two opening events featured a player with more than one billion in chips—an amount rarely seen in the world of poker.
The first two international gold bracelet events of the 2021 WSOP Online on the GGPoker Network have concluded. More than $3 million in prize money has already been generated and the opening two tournaments attracted more than 32k entries.
Event #1: The Return was a convincing start to festivities, surpassing the $1 million guarantee by more than 40%. Likewise, the Caesars Cares Charity Event drew solid numbers even though it came significantly short of 2020 attendance.
International players can now compete for poker’s most coveted prize from the comfort of their home. The first two events kicked off on the same day as the domestic portion on WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey concluded, with action on GGPoker getting underway on Sunday, August 1.
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The first event featured a bargain buy-in of $50 with a massive $1 million guarantee. Dubbed “The Return,” it was a thorough success after attracting a massive 30,810 entries.
This number is higher than The Opener in 2020, which cost $100 to enter and attracted 29,306 entries for a prize pool of nearly $2.6 million.
With a price tag of $50, it is the most affordable tournament of the entire festival. Until September 12, players can compete for 33 gold bracelets in total. Another nine tournaments will include multiple flights and a dozen events feature a seven-figure guarantee.
The buy-in for the second tournament was identical to last year’s Event #33, the Every 1 for Covid Relief, but this time running as Event #2: $1,111 Caesars Cares Charity Event. This year it gathered 1,584 entries and the prize pool surpassed more than $1.75 million.
One year ago, the very same tournament was even more successful with a field size of 2,323 entries.
Heads-up play in the two opening events of the international 2021 WSOP Online featured a player with more than one billion in chips, an amount rarely seen in the world of poker.
| 2021 WSOP Online on GG | Buy-In | Entries | Incl. Re-Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: The Return | $50 | 30,810 | 6,223 | $1,417,260 |
| Event #2: Caesars Cares Charity Event | $1,111 | 1,584 | 509 | $1,759,824 |
Servers Stay Stable Despite Huge Turnouts
Both events ran without a hitch, unlike the previous year. In 2020, the opening day saw a critical bug that resulted in a widespread server crash.
The operator was forced to postpone the completion of both ongoing tournaments by one week. GGPoker opted to refund the $100 buy-in for The Opener and vowed to donate all of the $177,378 in rake collected from the COVID-19 relief charity event.
It first looked like these opening jitters might return this year: One day prior to the official start of the festival on the GGPoker network, the platform indeed experienced server issues once more.
Several ongoing tournaments were canceled and refunded, according to the official GGPoker Discord server, but no further problems emerged after successful server maintenance on short notice.
More WSOP Bracelet Event Highlights This Week
The next highlights of the 2021 WSOP Online schedule on GGPoker are just a few days away. On Sunday, August 8, Event #6 Flip & Go No Limit Hold’em will enter the Go Stage. The unique MTT format was introduced earlier in 2021 and the operator applied several changes recently, all of which will come into play for the gold bracelet edition.
Players can now enter multiple flip stages and if they qualify for the Go Stage on more than one occasion, the chip stacks will be combined. All survivors will be in the money and the tournament then plays out as a regular MTT all the way to the winner.
This upcoming Sunday will also feature the final day of Event #7 Millionaire Maker, which comes with a massive $5 million guarantee. The first starting days for the $1,500 buy-in have already wrapped up and plenty of Day 1s remain. A payday of at least $1 million is reserved for the eventual champion.
Beyond that, all eyes will certainly be set on the $5,000 Main Event, which boasts a massive $20 million guarantee. Players can enter up to three starting days as of August 22 and the biggest stack will be carried over. Each of the flights is played in a Freezeout format.
Plenty of other highlights await for poker enthusiasts from all over the world and satellites for each gold bracelet event are available. The schedule is rounded up by a wide array of side events.
Players can also earn a slice of $10 million in promotions on GGPoker in August, by far the biggest amount in history given away by the operator in a single month.
