At 3PM Wednesday afternoon Eastern Daylight Savings Time, the “online World Series of Poker” took off on its inaugural flight. For the next 68 days, the eyes of the poker world…well, let’s be honest, it is something that nobody has any clue about whether people will watch or even care. What we do know is that the first bracelet of the “online WSOP” has been awarded and Phil Hellmuth has added to his history at the event (yes, statistics from this do count towards WSOP accolades).
First Event Completes in Slightly More Than 12 Hours
The play in Event #1, the $500 No Limit Hold’em Kick-Off, started off promptly at 3PM on Wednesday. By the time the late registration period ended for the tournament, there were 1195 players who had entered the tournament and 520 reentries that had been posted, making a grand total of 1715 entries for the event. The $771,750 prize pool and the player numbers were comparable to similar events that had run in 2019.
Last year there were two online events that were quite similar to Event #1 on the 2020 calendar. In 2019 Event #7, the $400 online tournament drew in 2825 entries, while another online tournament, Event #46 ($500 Online Turbo NLHE) drew in 1181 entries. Event #88 on last year’s schedule, the $500 “Online Summer Saver” tournament pulled in 1859 entries, which is the closest comparison that can be made.
The most difficult thing about an online poker tournament is that nobody knows who anybody is (including those broadcasting the event). For their part, WSOP.com has tried to alleviate this issue and live reporting does try to pass on to poker’s denizens just what is going on. For Event #1, it was a person that isn’t a stranger to WSOP attention in the form of former World Champion and former WSOP Europe champion Phil Hellmuth.
Hellmuth, playing under the screen name ‘Lumestacken,’ got into the event just before the late registration period ended and was able to run up a large stack through his playing time. He would make his 155th official WSOP cash when Darren ‘darrenelias’ Elias was eliminated on the bubble after eight hours of play. Hellmuth, who also ran deep in another online event during the 2019 WSOP, was on the hunt for his 16th bracelet.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. Flipping for a four million pot, Hellmuth battled against Shawn ‘SayGoodNight’ Daniels. Hellmuth’s pocket Queens held the pre-flop edge against Daniels’ Big Slick, but the flop had different ideas for the “Poker Brat.” Coming down K-6-8 rainbow, Hellmuth was left looking for a lady that never came on the seven turn and the five river, sending the all-time leading WSOP bracelet winner out the door in 11th place ($7871.85).
Solid Final Table Battles for Two Hours
The final table featured a few familiar names for the Twitch broadcast of the event. Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner made some early waves as he took out ‘jwdh91’ in tenth place and Taylor ‘ZeroTo100’ Von Kriegenbergh in ninth place to take the chip lead. He was quickly challenged by Michael ‘DDSpade’ Balan and Daniels, however, as they took out ‘djp1006’ and ‘ChefSnap’ in seventh and sixth places, respectively. Down to five players, it was Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst and Jonathan ‘Art.Vandelay’ Dokler who were leading the way, though.
Dokler would make the move that would earn him the first “online WSOP” of 2020. Going up against Balan, Dokler saw a 10-K-4 two diamond flop that saw a third diamond, the deuce, join on the turn. This was enough to get Balan going as he moved all in for over two million chips. Dokler didn’t waste any time himself in hammering in his call and the cards were virtually turned up.
Balan’s Q-10 off suit (with a diamond Queen) was nearly drawing dead against Dokler’s K-4 (with a diamond King) as the duo waited for the river. Needing a ten to eclipse the flopped two pair of Dokler, Balan instead saw a black trey come that didn’t help him in any way. Balan was eliminated in fifth place ($30,947) as Dokler rocketed over 14 million in chips.
From there, Dokler would reign supreme over the remaining three players. Dunst would take care of Daniels, but then would fall to Turner to set up the heads-up match against Dokler. Down more than 3:1, Turner would fight for a bit before committing his final chips on the final hand. Turner’s jam was a steal attempt as he held only a 10-6, while Dokler woke up with a pocket pair of fours. Turner pulled out an early lead, catching on the 3-5-6 flop, but Dokler would redraw to his open ended straight when a deuce came on the turn. Needing one of the two fours remaining in the deck to chop the hand, Turner would instead see a second five fall to end the tournament and give Jonathan Dokler the victory in the first event of the “online WSOP.”
1. Jonathan ‘Art.Vandelay’ Dokler, $130,425.75
2. Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner, $80.416.35
3. Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst, $57,881.25
4. Shawn ‘SayGoodNight’ Daniels, $42,060.37
5. Michael ‘DDSpade’ Balan, $30,947.17
6. ‘ChefSnap,’ $22,998.16
7. ‘djp1006,’ $17,287.20
8. Mark ‘NostraDonkus’ Liedtke, $13,119.75
9. Taylor ‘ZeroTo100’ Von Kriegenbergh, $10,109.92