There are just a few major events left on the schedule for the 2020 online WSOP at GGPoker (more on that in a minute), but one of them is being completed today. Event #54, the $10,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold’em Championship, has come down to its Final Four and the players have been champing at the bit for the past week to complete the tournament. The matchups on Saturday present three well-known pros and a stunning amateur, which should make for a great series of matches.
Addamo/Zhang, Peters/MacDonald to Decide Champion
On one side of the bracket will be the matchup between two Michaels, Addamo and Zhang. Addamo will be looking to add a new piece of WSOP jewelry to the other two bracelets in his wardrobe, while Zhang will be seeking his first. The two players had distinctly different tracks to the Final Four, with Addamo rolling through his quadrant of the bracket fairly easily while Zhang had to fight through Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu just to reach the Elite Eight.
On the other side of the bracket is a definitive “David versus Goliath” matchup. David Peters, who routinely plays in the highest stakes tournaments and cash games around, will face off against the surprise “Cinderella story” of the tournament, Canada’s Alyssa MacDonald. To demonstrate the yawning chasm in high stakes experience between the players, Peters has earned over $33 MILLION in his tournament poker career; MacDonald biggest cash prior to the 2020 online WSOP was for $5959 and made up virtually all of her $6171 in live career earnings.
The biggest question of this event is how much the week-long break has affected the players. Everyone gets into a certain zone when in a poker tournament and, when the conclusion of an event is postponed (for whatever reason), it can change the dynamic of a tournament. Therefore, predicting a champion from these final four players is virtually impossible. What is known is what the eventual champion will receive: the WSOP bracelet, $360,480 into their GGPoker account and a package to the WSOP Europe.
Several High Dollar Entry Events Still on Schedule
With roughly three weeks left on the GGPoker schedule for the 2020 online WSOP, there are still several high dollar tournaments left on the roster. Along with the Heads-Up Championship, Sunday marks the start of a $1500 Pot Limit Omaha event. Along with that PLO battle, the $500 “Mini-Main Event” Final Day will play out with its $5 million guaranteed prize pool.
The next big event is the disappointing online version of arguably poker’s most prestigious tournament. The $25,000 Poker Players’ Championship will only feature No Limit Hold’em in 2020 (a huge disappointment, as the usual schedule would feature an Eight-Game mix at the minimum) but, with its $10 million guaranteed prize pool, should draw a fairly large contingent of players. This event will take place on August 23.
Limit Hold’em will make its play on August 25 as their biggest event in some time, a $1500 buy in tournament, takes place. The $5000 Main Event will feature its second day of action on August 30, while the $10,000 WSOP Super MILLIONS – with a $5 million guaranteed prize pool – finishes off the schedule on September 6. That event will be joined by a smaller version that features a $2 million prize pool and a $100 buy-in.
It might be the best that we get in 2020, these online tournaments under the auspices of the WSOP. Caesars Entertainment has made the most out of the current international situation and, for the most part, it has been entertaining. It shouldn’t by any means be considered as a permanent fixture for the future, however.
