Same bracelets, different venue
In an alternate timeline, likely created if George McFly knocked Biff Tannen on ass, since we are clearly now in the timeline in which Biff won, the 2020 World Series of Poker would be in full swing right now. But alas, In Loving Memory George Douglas McFly. The massive convention halls of the Rio are devoid of poker tables. And while we do not know when the next live WSOP will be, the WSOP did announced on Monday that it will still award 85 gold bracelets this summer via the newly-created World Series of Poker Online.
The WSOP has already held online events to take the place of live tournaments with both WSOP.com and GGPoker this spring, so naturally the World Series of Poker Online will span both internet poker platforms.
In the USA: WSOP.com
The events on WSOP.com will run the entirety of July, no more, no less. One tournament each day, culminating with the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship on July 31.
Unfortunately, only players in New Jersey and Nevada can compete in the bracelet events, as those are the only two jurisdictions on Earth that have access to WSOP.com for real money. For players in those two states, this is probably the most convenient a shot at a gold bracelet will ever be. Not only can they just sit at home and go for it, but compared to most World Series of Poker events, the tournaments of the WSOP Online are fairly inexpensive. Most cost three figures to enter. A bunch cost $1,000, including the Championship. A couple cost more than that.
The WSOP.com bracelet schedule will also feature a leaderboard in which players will jockey for $100,000 in total prizes by earning points in the 31 events.
“It wouldn’t be Summer without WSOP,” said Ty Stewart, Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, in Monday’s news release. “While we are thrilled to be reopening our venues and optimistic about future offline events, we couldn’t be more excited about deepening our relationship with GGPoker and watching some history unfold online this summer.”
Poker Central will also broadcast WSOP content online. No, there’s no live event to stream, but Poker Central does plan on coming up with various features to try to make it feel like the real thing.
In the rest of the world: GGPoker
So that’s 31 of the 85 events. The other 54 will be on GGPoker, which is for players in other countries, but not America. GGPoker will begin its portion of the World Series of Poker Online on July 19 and will continue it through September 6.
GGPoker, unlike WSOP.com, has not released its schedule yet, opting to do so on a “rolling basis.”
WSOP and GGPoker, of course, just finished up the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series, which took the place of cancelled WSOP Circuit events just like the WSOP Online seems to be taking the place of the postponed 2020 World Series of Poker. It had an insane 595 tournaments and $100 million guarantees, which it beat by almost $35 million.