The 2020 online WSOP rolled along on Wednesday as two notable pros – Kristen Bicknell at GGPoker and Nick Guagenti at WSOP.com – emerged from two large fields to take their respective gold bracelets. While capturing their new pieces of jewelry, the duo also picked up two of the larger paydays of the entirety of the WSOP to this point.
Bicknell Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in $2500 Six Handed Event
As has been the case during the 2020 online WSOP, the play in Event #44, the $2500 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament on GGPoker, was completed within one day. The 892 entries tossed up for the tournament were able to compile the largest prize pool of the 2020 WSOP to this point, $2,118,500. At around nine hours, however, it stayed true to form with other events on the schedule.
At the start of the final table, Bicknell was in a bit of trouble on the short stack but showed her tenacity in staying alive as others fell around her. Bicknell got a key double up – with quad Kings, nonetheless – and would eliminate Simon Higgins in fifth place to stay viable at four handed play. After taking down Dong ‘nuoyani’ Jiang in fourth place, Bicknell would rocket into second place but still faced a difficult challenge in Belarmino ‘Iseey0urcard’ De Souza after De Souza eliminated Ilya Anatsky.
Going to heads-up with a 2.5:1 chip disadvantage, Bicknell needed some luck to go her way. That came on arguably the hand of the tournament when, on a ten-high, three-heart board, De Souza would push all in on a six million chip pot. Bicknell agonized over the decision before making the call and putting her tournament life on the line with only a pair of Jacks. It turned out that the two-time GPI Female Poker Player of the Year had caught De Souza in a bluff as he turned up a K-6 for complete air.
Taking over the lead by three million chips, Bicknell slowly was able to vanquish De Souza. On the final hand, Bicknell limped in and De Souza checked his option to see K-2-5 rainbow flop. Bicknell fired a bet, only to be raised by De Souza, which she called. A second five on the turn slowed Bicknell down to a check-call of a De Souza bet, and a Jack on the river was seemingly innocuous. De Souza shoved, however, and Bicknell called the bet, showing her Q-5 for the turned trips as De Souza could only muster a K-9 for two pair to give Bicknell her third ever WSOP bracelet win and the biggest cash prize of the 2020 WSOP so far.
1. Kristen Bicknell, $356,412
2. Belarmino ‘Iseey0urcard’ De Souza, $261,249
3. Ilya Anatsky, $191,494
4. Dong ‘nuoyani’ Jiang, $140,365
5. Simon Higgins, $102,887
6. Jerome ‘gorgiAAs’ Finck, $75,416
Guagenti Earns Gold in Deepstack on WSOP.com
Heading into its final events, Nick ‘shadowjacker’ Guagenti ticked off arguably the one thing that he hadn’t done in poker – win a WSOP event – in earning the title in the $2000 No Limit Hold’em Deepstack tournament, Event #29 on the WSOP.com roster of poker tournaments.
580 players would gather for this event in either Nevada or New Jersey and they weren’t shy about pitching up some rebuys. 167 times the rebuy bell was rung, eventually creating a $1,419,300 prize pool. 90 players would be the beneficiary of that prize pool, with the eventual champion earning the second-biggest payday of the 2020 online WSOP of $305,433.
Matthew ‘EarvinMagic’ Parry came to the final table with the chip lead and continued putting on the pressure by eliminating James ‘DanFriel’ Gilbert in eighth place. Guagenti was content to quietly take chips as the players dropped, including Vinny ‘brownmagic’ Pahuja and Ari ‘philivey’ Engel. Once Parry took out Brian ‘BD_out’ Deutschmeister in fourth and Guagenti knocked off Engel in third, Parry entered heads up against Guagenti holding 9.2 million against Guagenti’s 13.1 million stack.
Befitting online play, the heads-up match only took roughly 15 minutes. On the final hand, the twosome saw a 4-7-6 flop that got the virtual chips flying. Parry pushed all in over a Guagenti bet and Guagenti called him off immediately. Parry had hit nicely with his J-7, but Guagenti had hit the world with his 5-3 for the flopped straight. Needing miracle running cards, Parry instead saw a King on the turn that left him drawing dead. After a needless five came on the river, the tournament was over and Nick Guagenti shook his membership in the “best player to have never won a WSOP bracelet” club.
1. Nick ‘shadowjacker’ Guagenti, $305,433
2. Matthew ‘EarvinMagic’ Parry, $189,193
3. Ari ‘philivey’ Engel, $130,292
4. Brian ‘BD_out’ Deutschmeister, $91,261
5. Ryan ‘toosick’ Tosoc, $65,004
6. Vinny ‘brownmagic’ Pahuja, $47,121
7. Rory ‘peeeeeeeeeno’ Brown, $34,773
8. James ‘DanFriel’ Gilbert, $26,115
9. Tom ‘.beast.’ Cannuli, $20,012