Just about every poker tournament is taking place online these days. The coronavirus has not shutdown poker. However, it has radically effected the way it is played these days. The focus of this popular card game has shifted online. This is especially true for Texas Holdem Tournaments. It has also impacted the World Series of Poker event schedule overall.
What Was The Record Prize Pool For The 2020 Online World Series Of Poker Event?
A recent WSOP event came to a close over the Labor Day weekend. The online tournament covered a total timeframe of two months. Interestingly, it also offered the largest prize pool for an online poker event.
The grand prize for the online main event was $3.9 million. It was won by Stoyan Madanzhiev of Bulgaria. He needed to get past more than 5,800 online players that opted in. He outlasted China’s Wenling Gao to claim the title. The second-place pool won by Gao was $2.7 million.
The top online poker player from the US was Tyler Rueger. He finished in third place to take home $1.9 million. Thomas Ward was fourth on the list at $1.35 million in prize money. That player is from New Zealand.
Biggest WSOP Tournament Event Win In History
This event paid at least $100,000 to 203 different players. Overall, 54 contestants earned a WSOP bracelet for their poker playing efforts. This tournament drew a total of 44,576 entries. This was most ever for any WSOP tournament event.
One of the players in the field was Avi Rubin. He is a Johns Hopkins University professor in the field of computer science. He is also the technical director of the John Hopkins Information Security Institute.
He was able to sail his boat from Maryland to New Jersey. He docked in the Garden State so he could compete in a couple of WSOP events awarding bracelets. He added the following insight:
“It is not surprising that this year’s WSOP was the largest online event ever. After all, poker players want to play. And this year, that was the only option. Once things get back to normal, I expect that we’ll see a shift back to in-person live poker, especially for cash games .”
Rubin was quick to add that security issues with online poker are “much more serious for cash games than tournaments.”
The coronavirus pandemic raised the need for “much higher quality online systems and greater user acceptance. So I think that even after safe live games return, we will see a permanent increase in the presence of online poker.”
The WSOP Online bracelet series ran from July 1 through July 31. It was held on WSOP com for players in Nevada and New Jersey. Another event ran from Aug. 1 through Sept. 7 on GGPoker. This was open to players outside the US. Geographic areas included were:
Between the two online sites, there were a total of 239,754 tournament entries. The in-person WSOP held annually in Las Vegas had to be postponed. It was set to be held at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.
