The international portion of the two-month-long World Series of Poker 2020 Online Bracelet series, hosted on GGPoker, is done and dusted.
The final numbers have been tallied and the results are astonishing.
54 WSOP gold bracelets were awarded in events that offered a wide variety of buy-ins and formats, and nearly $150 million in prize money was generated across these events, making it one of the industry’s most successful online tournament series.
Multiple long-established poker records were smashed including the largest prize pool ever for any online poker tournament as well as the biggest individual prize in online poker history.
The $5000 buy-in GG WSOP Main Event with a record-setting guarantee of $25 million, blew expectations out of the water, attracting 5802 entrants across 23 Day 1 flights to produce a breathtaking figure of $27.5 million.
The event was won by Stoyan Madanzhiev from Bulgaria, taking home $3.9 million – the largest single payout in the history of online poker.
Also, for the first time, a $50 buy-in bracelet event (BIG 50) was offered at the WSOP – the lowest ever to be offered in its history. It attracted over 44,000 entries to set a new record for the biggest turnout in the history of the WSOP.
As many as 45 events out of 54 (83%) produced seven-figure prize pools, with most of them ranging between $1 million and $3 million, despite only 13 bracelet events featuring guarantees.
The events that did carry guarantees generated nearly $85 million, with an average of a very impressive $4.7 million.
Total entries across the series added up to 239,754, with an average of 4440. A record number of 11 millionaires were created during the series.
In total, 166 nations were represented by participants in the GG WSOP series. Naturally, most entries came from Canada, Brazil, US, and UK.
List of Records GG WSOP Series created:
- GG WSOP Main Event is the biggest single online poker tournament ($27.5 million)
- The first-place prize in the GG WSOP Main Event is the biggest individual prize in online poker history ($3.9 million)
- Second largest online tournament series ($147.8 million across 54 events)
- BIG 50 attracted the biggest turnout in the history of the WSOP (44,576)
- Most nationalities participated in a single WSOP series (166)
- Most number of millionaires in a single tournament series (11)
- Ties with partypoker’s MILLIONS Online to create four millionaires in a single online poker tournament
- Most number of seven-figure prize pools in an online tournament series (45)
- GG WSOP Main Event became the 19th largest tournament in the history of poker (both live and online included)
- Biggest turnout for a $5k buy-in online tournament
- Biggest average prize pool in any tournament series ($2.7 million per tournament)
- GGPoker’s biggest online tournament series after GG WSOP Circuit series
Interesting Facts About the GG WSOP 2020 Series:
- GG WSOP Main Event produced a bigger prize pool than PokerStars’ PSPC event held in the Bahamas.
- As per WSOP.com, the average age of this year’s gold bracelet winners is 33.
- Nearly 55% of the Main Event seats were awarded through MTT satellites.
- GGPoker collected a whopping $7.4 million in tournament fees.
- 45 out of 54 bracelet events had generated at least seven-figure prize pools.
- 3 bracelet events were won by female players.
- Events with multiple Day 1s (9 bracelet events) generated 65% of the total series turnout.
- Five bracelet events attracted over 10,000 entries.
- Players from 30 different nationalities won a bracelet.
- 39 players made multiple final tables, with five players making three final tables.
- The United States won the most number of gold bracelets, followed by Canada and Brazil.
- Alek Stasiak from Canada is the only double bracelet winner this year.
- Arnaud Enselme from France cashed 21 times – most by any player.
- 33 players won the WSOP Europe Package worth $15,000 in addition to the first-place prize and gold bracelets.
- Over $22 million were paid out to first-place finishers.
- 203 players won at least $100,000 in cash.
- Over $350,000 amount was raised for Caesars Cares charity.
GG WSOP 2020 By the Numbers:
Total Bracelet Events: 54
Total Prize Pool: $147,787,511
Main Event Prize Pool: $27,559,500
Total Entrants: 239,754
Avg Entrant: 4440
Total Buy-ins: $137,623
Avg Buy-in: $2548.57
Total Rake Collected: $7,404,456
The series took place as the WSOP live series has been postponed in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A total of 85 bracelet events were scheduled between two networks – one for the US players at WSOP.com and another on GGPoker for players outside of the US.
It marked the first time that players outside the US were able to compete for the gold bracelet events online.
“Obviously the events of 2020 have been unprecedented, and hosting the WSOP Online series at GGPoker wasn’t in our plans at the start of the year,” said Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. “But going online has been a wonderful experience, with tens of thousands of new players all over the world able to experience some of WSOP magic that they might have been otherwise unable to – we’re delighted that the series has been such a resounding success!”
“For 50 years, the WSOP has been the gold standard in the industry,” said Steve Preiss, Head of Poker Operations at GGPoker. “By introducing features like SnapCam and day 2 staking, GGPoker’s entire team worked tirelessly to bring our players a fun, unique experience just like they’d expect at the live WSOP.”
“I’m personally very proud to be part of the effort that brought such a special WSOP series to the entire world,” said GGPoker ambassador, Daniel Negreanu. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and we even got to break a lot of poker records along the way!”
Between the GG WSOP series and the US leg of the WSOP online series held in July, over $175 million in prize money was generated across 85 bracelet events.
