WSOP Online Experiences Ups and Downs in October
The World Series of Poker has been awarding gold bracelets online all fall long, as GGPoker hosted its WSOP Online series for players in many parts of the world outside of the United States, and the WSOP online sites in Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan hosted WSOP Online bracelet events in those parts of the US. There was also a series for Ontario players in Canada.
The results are located in various places – GGPoker’s blog for their events, WSOP website results section for the others, though some of the US tournaments are not yet completed. The results are a bit scattered and piecemeal, and often posted days after the events are completed. Major events or well-known winners receive coverage on large poker news websites, but that is subjective. So, the results summed up here are listed as available.
Let’s see what we have so far.
WSOP Online International on GGPoker
The international WSOP Online events offered numerous multi-flight tournaments, several prize pool guarantees, and a wide range of buy-ins. There was even a women-only tournament and a $5K buy-in Main Event.
GGPoker documents results in blog posts on its websites. In previous years, they were listed on the main WSOP website, but that changed this year, perhaps something to do with GGPoker’s parent company, NSUS Group, buying the World Series of Poker. With that noted, here are the results of the 33 bracelet events that started in mid-August and ran through the end of September:
- Event 1: $500 WSOP Kickoff Bounty – 3,369 entries / $1,600,275 prize pool / Lemonw won for $74,467.28 + $94,539.86 bounties
- Event 2: $300 Gladiators of Poker – 11,630 entries / $3,244,770 prize pool ($2.5M GTD) / R Celakins won for $409,886.44
- Event 3: $2,100 Bounty Championship – field and prize pool not listed / Bryn Kenney won for $94,635.24 + $131,421.89 bounties
- Event 4: $840 PLO Bounty – 881 entries / prize pool not listed / Uncapped won for $44,979.01 + $64,582.82 bounties
- Event 5: $500 Ladies Championship – 186 entries / prize pool not listed / RoThorlay_ won for $16,512.63
- Event 6: $1,500 Monster Stack – 1,437 entries / $2,047,725 prize pool / TiananmenSquare won for $263,716.93
- Event 7: $215 Mystery Millions – 52,452 entries / $10,375,005.60 prize pool ($10M GTD) / Vlad Darie won for $623,718.51 + $10,143 bounties
- Event 8: $2,500 Turbo Championship – 623 entries / $1,479,625 prize pool / AmassTeRoK won for $219,233.45
- Event 9: $320 Bounty – 3,610 entries / $1,074,336 prize pool / Maestro_10 won for $51,467.28 + $55,737.01 bounties
- Event 10: $1K 5-Card PLO – 709 entries / $673,550 prize pool / Hakuna@Matata won for $103,674.89
- Event 11: $100 Flip & Go – 7,436 entries / $1,228,920 prize pool ($1M GTD) / Michael Khan won for $165,549.73
- Event 12: $500 Mini Main Event – entries not listed / $4,379,500 prize pool ($3M GTD) / Shane Gillis won for $574,199.42
- Event 13: $5K 6-Handed Championship – 478 entries / $2,270,500 prize pool / SpicySausage won for $381,367.27
- Event 14: $500 Big Bounty – 2,784 entries / $1,322,400 prize pool / fakesuperuser won for $63,243.58 + $68,387.45 bounties
- Event 15: $800 Ultra Deepstack – 1,635 entries / $1,242,600 prize pool / JohanC-14 won for $156,230.48
- Event 16: $215 Beat the Pros Bounty – 7,708 entries / $1,524,642.40 prize pool / IcePokerGuild won for $65,218.42 + $52,384.11 bounties
- Event 17: $1,500 Millionaire Maker – 4,934 entries / $7,030.950 prize pool ($5M GTD) / Dennis Volz won for $1,287,142.95
- Event 18: $5K Short Deck Championship – 92 entries / $437,000 prize pool / Oliver Weis won for $113,950.34
- Event 19: $777 Lucky Sevens 7-Handed Bounty – 2,116 entries / $1,561,925.40 prize pool / Eurofold won for $87,216.49 + $72,111.86 bounties
- Event 20: $1K Double Chance – 1,288 entries / $1,223,600 prize pool / Eder Campana won for $160,051.04
- Event 21: $1,500 GGMasters Freezeout – 1,408 entries / $2,006,400 prize pool / JunoSunny won for $325,546.51
- Event 22: $400 Colossus – entries not listed / $4,943,272 prize pool ($4M GTD) / Pavels Spirins won for $1,736,809
- Event 23: $400 Plossus PLO Bounty – entries not listed / $1,457,000 prize pool ($1M GTD) / Stanimir Kolev won for $1,037,483 + $1,500 bounty (numbers don’t add up)
- Event 24: $10K PLO Championship – 157 entries / $1,522,900 prize pool / karma tova won for $317,941.30
- Event 25: $525 Superstack Turbo Bounty – 2,911 entries / $1,455,500 prize pool / Durdy won for $129,787.03 including $55,450.64 bounties
- Event 26: $10K Heads-Up Championship – 128 entries / $1,241,600 prize pool / Huang Wenjie won for $366,892.80
- Event 27: $1,050 PLO Mystery Bounty – 1,069 entries / $1,069,000 prize pool / anipantra won for $81,026.42 + $29,140 bounties
- Event 28: $5K WSOP Online Main Event – 6,146 entries / $29,193,500 prize pool ($25M GTD) / Moritz Dietrich won for $4,021,012
- Event 29: $25K GGMillion$ Super High Roller Championship – 230 entries / $5,635,000 prize pool / Bryn Kenney won for $667,265.33
- Event 30: $2,100 6-Handed Bounty – 1,230 entries / $2,460,000 prize pool / Simon Mattsson won for $328,149.90 including $179,924.52 bounties
- Event 31: $5K PLO High Roller – 280 entries / $1,330,000 prize pool / Rui Ferreira won for $245,482.95
- Event 32: $1,500 Closer Bounty Turbo – 2,159 entries / $3,076,575 prize pool / Paul Hong won for $359,144.89 including $195,464.19 bounties
- Event 33: $10,300 GGMillion$ High Roller – 1,433 entries / $14,330,000 prize pool ($10M GTD) / Sergio Aido won for $1,935,575
Note that GGPoker does not require players to compete under their real names and does not list their real names in the results unless they are well-known players. In addition, some blog posts noted the number of unique entries plus reentries or rebuys, while others simply listed the number of players in the event, the latter of which we assume meant total entries and not unique players, but it was usually not clear.
WSOP Online Ontario
The World Series of Poker has just one site dedicated to a singular Canadian province, and that is for players in Ontario. WSOP Online Ontario offered eight bracelet events from mid-August through September this year, and those results were listed on the WSOP website.
- Event 1: C$300 Gladiators Opener – 1,035 entries / C$288,765 prize pool / Andres Ojeda won for C$49,839
- Event 2: C$210 Mystery Millions – 1,711 entries / C$342,200 prize pool / Tamer Alkamli won for C$30,896
- Event 3: C$100 Mini Main Event – 2,555 entries / C$235,060 prize pool / Aaron Marissen won for C$36,519
- Event 4: C$1,500 Monster Stack – 205 entries / C$292,125 prize pool / Avery Grande won for C$54,418
- Event 5: C$400 Plossus – 554 entries / C$210,520 prize pool / Matwej Troitschanski won for C$14,680
- Event 6: C$400 Colossus – 939 entries / C$353,064 prize pool / Sebastian Amaya won for C$61,414
- Event 7: C$1K WSOP Ontario Main Event – 730 entries / C$693,500 prize pool / Jonathan Newman won for C$123,897
- Event 8: C$525 Closer – 687 entries / C$343,500 prize pool / Michael Farrow won for C$22,790
WSOP Online Pennsylvania Ongoing
Poker players in Pennsylvania have just four opportunities to win a WSOP gold bracelet online this fall. Two events have played out as of November 1, but only one result is listed on the WSOP results page:
- Event 1: $500 Mystery Bounty – 33 entries / $53,356 prize pool / Kyle Lorenz won for $11,931
The October 27 event has no results posted yet. The schedule still shows two more events to be played through the first two weekends in November.
WSOP Online NV/NJ/MI Ongoing
This series is commensurate with the GGPoker 33-event schedule. This is the largest US-based market for WSOP bracelets online, combining players in Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan into one player pool. Quite a few of the WSOP Online 33-tournament schedule of events have played to their conclusions thus far, but only some of the results are listed on the WSOP website, as follows:
- Event 1: $500 Deepstack – 714 entries / $321,300 prize pool / Paul Scaturro won for $52,468
- Event 2: $1K Mystery Bounty – 513 entries / $461,700 prize pool / Sandeep Mathai won for $43,50
- Event 3: $777 Lucky 7s – 423 entries / $296,100 prize pool / Tyler Hirshfeld won for $54,157
- Event 4: $400 NLHE – 695 entries / $250,200 prize pool / Joshua Remitio won for $40,858
- Event 5: $600 6-Max – 503 entries / $271,620 prize pool / Anthony Huntsman won for $46,991
- Event 6: $500 Ultra Deepstack – 717 entries / $322,650 prize pool / Dylan Linde won for $60,336
- Event 7: $2K Big PKO – 162 entries / $299,700 prize pool / Dave Alfa won for $28,786
- Event 8: $3,200 6-Max High Roller – 170 entries / $510,000 prize pool / Dylan Destefano won for $110,925
- Event 9: $500 PLO 6-Max – 363 entries / $163,350 prize pool / Matthew Davis won for $31,445
- Event 10: $600 Monster Stack – 534 entries / $288,360 prize pool / Scott Eskenazi won for $54,500
- Event 11: $500 Mystery Bounty – 545 entries / $380,250 prize pool / Gerald Morrell won for $35,643
- Event 12: $888 Fall Crazy 8s – 468 entries / $374,400 prize pool / Maria Konnikova won for $68,478
- Event 13: $5,300 High Roller – no information listed
- Event 14: $500 Freezeout – 348 entries / $156,600 prize pool / Jason Obinger won for $30,146
- Event 15: $500 PKO – 426 entries / $191,700 prize pool / Kevin Ruscitti won for $15,125
- Event 16: $1K NLHE – 422 entries / $394,570 prize pool / Daniel Cosner won for $74,969
- Event 17: $500 PLO 6-Max Mystery Bounty – 466 entries / $209,700 prize pool / Alex Foxen won for $20,064
- Event 18: $333 Triple 3s Tip Off – 780 entries / $234,000 prize pool / Jacob Kolbicz won for $43,758
- Event 19: $1K 6-Max – 311 entries / $290,785 prize pool / Kristen Foxen won for $56,703
The most recent results have yet to be posted on the website. There are more events on the calendar through November 12.
Big Bracelet Wins for Women
There are some well-known players in the aforementioned list of US WSOP Online bracelet events. One of the most known is Maria Konnikova, the best-selling author and writer who took up poker several years ago under the tutelage of Erik Seidel. Since her first live tournaments in 2017, she has accumulated more than $750K in earnings, including a WSOP Circuit Online Main Event ring in January 2024 and a PokerStars Caribbean Adventure National title in 2018. Her big finishes include final tables around the world, from the PokerStars Festival Dublin in 2017 to the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau in 2018, EPT events in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and numerous events in Las Vegas.
As of this WSOP Online series, Konnikova now has a WSOP gold bracelet and another $65K to add to her earnings. Celebrations around poker ensued. But amidst this, she also handled the fallout from Norman Chad choosing to make a point about reentry tournaments on the back of her momentous victory.
Another milestone for women in poker happened in this series as well. Kristen Bicknell Foxen won a bracelet in this series, and it happened to be her fifth career World Series of Poker bracelet. Her first came in 2013 in the WSOP Ladies Championship, and her second came a few years later in the 2016 WSOP No Limit Hold’em Bounty event. During the pandemic, the Canadian native played on GGPoker and won a NLHE 6-Handed tournament for her third piece of WSOP gold. She then won a US WSOP Online bracelet in 2023, followed by this year’s win.
That puts Foxen up to five bracelets from 91 cashes at the WSOP. And it made it all that much sweeter that her husband, Alex Foxen won a bracelet days before in another WSOP Online event. In total, she is nearing the $9M lifetime live earnings mark, not yet including her most recent win. And Foxen is now the all-time female bracelet leader with five, beating the record of three each by Nani Dollison, Vanessa Selbst, and Barbara Enright.
WSOP Online Controversy
Kevin Ruscitti may be a familiar name to online poker players in Michigan because he plays from there often on the WSOP site. He has results. He has won several WSOP Online Circuit rings and was leading the Michigan Player of the Year WSOP leaderboard. However, all of that fell by the wayside when a number of poker players accused him of using the GTO Wizard software to cheat.
A group of investigative players had been suspicious of his action for some time. And it appears that the WSOP detected something, too. The result was Ruscitti being disqualified from the bracelet event he won. He was also suspended from playing on WSOP’s Michigan site for the foreseeable future. Even so, the final payouts for the tournament Ruscitti won remain on the WSOP updates page. And Cherish Andrews, who finished second in that event, awaits a response from the WSOP with the possibility that she takes Ruscitti’s bracelet.
It’s important to note that the WSOP doesn’t have staff members that interact with players on social media. Therefore, the only response from the World Series of Poker pertaining to Ruscitti was in the form of a statement. It was a mostly general rundown that indicates the seriousness with which the WSOP team takes fair play and site security.
Since that October 25 statement, there has been no further word from WSOP Online about the incident or the tournament that awarded a bracelet to Ruscitti, who plays under the not-at-all-suspicious screen name of Gr4nd_theft.
