Poker kings like Phil Hellmuth are migrating online, giving more cred to the digital games. The WSOP’s first online event attracted thousands of players including “Poker Brat” Hellmuth, who’s bagged a record 15 WSOP bracelets.
The first results are in for online events at the World Series of Poker and it looks like the 2019 online sessions are going to be a rousing success.
The first online event of the WSOP — actually Event 7 on the full WSOP schedule—attracted 1,965 players and another 860 re-buys. The total prize pool was just north of $1 million.
The winner was Yong Keun Kwon, who goes by the online moniker LuckySpewy1. He won $165,263 for the $400 buy-in event.
Also on the list of winners was poker superstar Phil Hellmuth, (screen name lumestackin) who placed fifth and won $39,460. Helmuth playing online kind of makes a big statement about the WSOP’s online future.
Also, New Jersey player Steven Cicak came in eighth and won $17,086. (We’re not sure if Cicak was actually in New Jersey when he played, but the point is he could’ve been; for the second year in a row the WSOP is sharing players with its New Jersey site for these live events.)
Again, you don’t have to be from Jersey to play in the state—just within the state’s borders—but Cicak was the only player among the leaders with a verifiable East Coast address (though winner Kwon also reportedly has ties to the Garden State).
Game Plan
The next online event is scheduled for Sunday, June 9, a $600 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha game. The event is also a six-max.
Pot Limit Omaha doesn’t draw the crowds of traditional Hold’em contests, but it’s still a full blown WSOP live online event awarding a WSOP bracelet to the winner.
As for the rest of the WSOP schedule, there’s at least one online event scheduled for every week. For the time being, it looks like New Jersey players will continue to participate despite concerns about the federal Wire Act (FYI, it’s a mess). We’ll keep you posted.
Meanwhile, the WSOP has announced a new line-up of online satellites to live WSOP events. That means winners of seats will have to travel to Las Vegas to play—but hey, winning a free seat to something like the $10,000 WSOP Main Event is a pretty good incentive to cash in those airline miles.
The WSOP is offering more than 10 satellites every day through June for WSOP events and more than 15 on each Sunday in June. That includes satellites to many of the online events on the schedule as well.
Most events offer up $1,000 for WSOP entries, but main event satellites for the big one are liberally sprinkled throughout the schedule.
Check out the full schedule at WSOP.com.
