If you didn’t know that the 2020 online WSOP Main Event was going on right at this moment on GGPoker, you could be forgiven. To Saturday, there have been six “Day Ones” played out, with the plan to play 22 “Day Ones” to get the numbers for the online Main Event. In addition, the players have three chances at the tournament, with an original entry and two reentries making it possible for a player to spew $15,000 towards getting their piece of the $25 million guaranteed prize pool.
First Three Flights Feature Top Pros, Online Wizards
In the first three flights, the numbers were exceptionally good, at least for the first “Day One.” On that day of action on Monday, 464 players decided to fire their first bullet (at the minimum) and enter the battlefield. Over 15 levels at 30 minutes per level, the carnage was quite evident as only 99 players emerged with chips. Samuel Vousden racked up 717,497 chips on “Day 1A,” with WSOP bracelet holder Julien Martini (576,965) also punching his ticket to Day 2 (we’ll get to when that is).
The outpouring of players didn’t continue for “Day 1B” or “Day 1C,” however. Only 114 showed up for the second flight, while 110 ponied up the entry field for the third day of action. On those days, Xuming ‘scplayer’ Qi earned the “Day 1B” chip lead with 620,372 in chips (and has Dan Smith on his heels with 421,653 in chips) and Karim ‘elhareefff’ Khayat was the largest chip stack of “Day 1C” with his 656,260 in chips (and the ever-dangerous Ali Imsirovic in pursuit with 444,538 in chips).
Second Three Flights Continue Sparse Entry Trend
The sparse entry trend would continue for the next three flights of the 2020 online WSOP Main Event. On Thursday, only 68 players came out for business, with only seven of those players making it through the 15 levels of play for the day. Stuart ‘bigdad’ Wallensteen captured the lead with his 625,267 in chips for “Day 1D” over the seven remaining players, one of which was two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Radoja (375,909).
Only 83 entrants were recorded for “Day 1E,” with a grand total of 16 of those players virtually bagging and tagging their effort for the day. Vlad ‘CheckEtoFold’ Martynenko earned the biggest stack so far for the flights, with 819,099 chips finding their way in front of him. For Saturday’s “Day 1F,” there was a bit more action as 129 players would come to the virtual felt for action. Mikalai Vaskaboinkau took the chip lead for the day with his 796,176 in chips, while one of the first notable names in Christopher Kruk (who has ranked as high as #48 in 2018 in the Global Poker Index) fired and missed with his third bullet and is out of the tournament.
Still Time to Bust the Guarantee
To this point in the 2020 online WSOP Main Event, there have been 968 entries into the tournament, with 185 of those players potentially(if they aren’t happy with their chip stacks, they can sacrifice them and try another entry) moving on to “Day 2” that will begin on August 30 (a week from Sunday). With the $25 million guarantee in place, they would need 5000 entries (roughly) to bust that guarantee. There are another 16 flights waiting to take off (with two flights a day beginning on Monday) and each of those flights would have to average 252 entries to meet the guarantee. With the three buy-in allowance, it is quite likely that, especially in the later flights, that the money will be flying as people try to earn their way into the “Day 2” action on August 30.
When the play resumes with the survivors a week from Sunday (after two final flights to make “Day 2”), the plan will be to play down to the final 40 players in the tournament. After that, there will be a slight break in the action until September 5, when those final 40 players will reconvene and crown the champion of the 2020 online WSOP Main Event. The eventual champion will pick up the WSOP bracelet and a multi-million-dollar payout for being the victor.
