In yet another massive coup, fast-growing online poker network GGPoker has extended its partnership with the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to host official WSOP gold bracelet events on its online poker platform.
This means that for the first time, WSOP bracelet events will be available online to players outside the US in the dot-com market.
In addition, WSOP.com will also be running online bracelet events for its New Jersey and Nevada players.
The first online bracelet event will kick off on Wednesday, July 1 on the WSOP.com network.
“It wouldn’t be Summer without WSOP” said Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. “While we are thrilled to be reopening our venues and optimistic about future offline events, we couldn’t be more excited about deepening our relationship with GGPoker and watching some history unfold online this summer.”
This year, the premier live poker festival was postponed until the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. These online bracelet events will act as a supplement to the live WSOP 2020, allowing “players to chase WSOP glory from their homes.”
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85 WSOP Online Bracelet Events Up for Grabs on Both WSOP.com and GGPoker Networks
As per the press release, a total of 85 official WSOP bracelets will be awarded in the online series on both WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey and on the GGPoker network for the international players.
Select online bracelet events will be streamed with cards up on a delay on PokerGO. Lon McEachern and Norman Chad are expected to be involved in the live streams. The schedule for the streams has not yet been released.
“With over $100M in guarantees during the WSOPC Super Series in May and more than $134M in awarded prizes, it’s clear that GGPoker and the WSOP make a good pair,” said Steve Preiss, Head of Poker Operations for GGPoker. “We’re excited to create bracelet events that the worldwide poker community will embrace, as well as innovative programming with PokerGo.”
WSOP online bracelet events on the GGPoker network (whose main poker rooms include GGPoker itself and Natural8) will begin on July 19 and run through September 6 for a total period of 50 days.
GGPoker will be deploying the schedule for its online bracelet events “on a rolling basis” featuring a wide range of buy-ins and formats.
It is expected that there will be at least 50 gold bracelet events offered on GGPoker.
For players living in the US states of New Jersey and Nevada, there will be one bracelet event every day from July 1 until July 31, with buy-ins ranging from $400 to $3200.
To accompany the online bracelet events, WSOP.com will be running various special promotions including a leaderboard giving away $100,000.
Satellites to the WSOP.com bracelet events will start as low as $1.
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Key Points to Note:
- A total of 85 online bracelet events will run on both the GGPoker network for international players and WSOP.com for New Jersey and Nevada players
- At least 50 online bracelet events will run on the GGPoker network from July 19 through September 6
- 31 bracelet events will be offered on WSOP.com running every day from July 1 to July 31
- Select online bracelet events will be streamed with a delay on PokerGO
- Schedule for online bracelet events on GGPoker network will be deployed “on a rolling basis”
- WSOP.com will offer plenty of special promotions including a $100K leaderboard to accompany the bracelet events schedule
Partnership Between WSOP and GGPoker
The announcement comes following the successful run of the $100 million guaranteed WSOP Super Circuit Series on GGPoker that ended up paying a monstrous $134 million across over 500 events. This made it the second-biggest tournament series in the history of the online poker in terms of prize money awarded.
The series also included 18 WSOP official ring events, each giving away official gold ring to the winner besides the top prize. It was the first time that the WSOP Circuit tour has gone online outside the US.
The biggest highlight of the series was the $5 million guaranteed Main Event. It almost doubled its guarantee to pay out $9.2 million after pulling in nearly 10,000 entries across all its starting flights.
The $25,000 buy-in WSOPC Ring event: High Roller Championship was the star performer of the series. Boasting a massive $10 million guarantee, the tournament smashed its guarantee by another $2.3 million as 505 total entries created a final prize pool of $12.3 million — the biggest ever on GGPoker and the second largest in the industry this year.
The series was held after GGPoker – still a relative newcomer – took the industry by surprise by striking a deal with WSOP in early April, a first of its kind partnership. This remarkable partnership unsurprisingly drew a lot of media attention.
The partnership resulted in the first online tournament series to guarantee a combined nine-figure prize pool — something that had never been done before.
And yet again, GGPoker makes big headlines by offering players the chance to compete in prestigious WSOP events from home.
Last month, the organizers of the WSOP, while announcing the news of the postponement of the summer series, had said that “official WSOP competitions” will be hosted this summer on both WSOP.com and “through partnership with international operators.”
Online poker room partypoker had aspirations along with other operators to host the WSOP online series during the summer. This was indicated by Rob Yong, partner of GVC Holdings and owner of Dusk Till Dawn in a podcast with partypoker Team Pro member, Jeff Gross.
But the success of the recently concluded $100 million guaranteed WSOP Super Circuit series may have led the organizers of WSOP to stick with GGPoker.
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History of WSOP Online Bracelet Events
It is not the first time that a WSOP bracelet event is being held online.
In the US regulated markets where WSOP.com operates, the site has been offering WSOP bracelet events on its online poker platform to its New Jersey and Nevada players for years.
Last year, these online bracelet events generated nearly $10 million in prize money across 9 events that were also part of the WSOP 2019 schedule.
The $1000 buy-in Championship online bracelet event hosted 1750 entrants (1187 unique players and 563 rebuys) to amass a total prize pool of $1.66 million — the largest in its five-year history.
The $3200 High Roller online bracelet event set a new record for the largest tournament in US regulated online poker history, attracting 593 entries (434 players and 159 rebuys) for a total prize pool of $1.8 million.
