As they prepare to kick off the second weekend of the 2020 online WSOP after some eventful occurrences, a trio of bracelets have been awarded. Among those crowned was the first World Champion of the World Poker Tour, who surprisingly demonstrated his skills on the virtual felt to capture his first ever WSOP bracelet, and a septuagenarian working his way through the internet wunderkind to show the “old guard” still have some skills.
Joon ‘jykpoker’ Kim Earns Event #7 Bracelet
It was one of the bigger tournaments to date on the 2020 online WSOP schedule, the $800 No Limit Hold’em Knockout Deepstack (Event #7), and it was a change from earlier tournaments. In every event to this point, the tournaments had featured multiple reentries. This was one of the few events that was a “one shot” deal – no reentries or rebuys allowed. In the end, 989 players came out for the tournament, setting up a $731,660 prize pool for the 143 eventual cashers to divvy up.
While PokerGo host Jeff ‘mavsusc’ Platt came to the final table with the chip lead, it was a tightly packed field that saw several players take the top mantle at points in the event. Platt himself was a victim of the early carnage, finding himself at risk to Joon ‘jykpoker’ Kim with a K-2 against Kim’s Q-J in a battle of the blinds. The fates were not with Platt as a Queen came on the flop, ending his tournament in seventh place.
Another familiar name at the final table had a bit better run. Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Eric Baldwin made it down to the final three players, but he would suffer a cooler as his pocket sevens were crushed by Kim’s pocket Aces to eliminate Baldwin in third place. Starting heads-up with a 5:1 lead over Stephen ‘bunsamillion’ McManus, Kim would put a rapid end to the 12 hour tournament, his K-9 improving to a pair of Kings against McManus’ inferior Q-7 to end the tournament and crown Kim the champion.
1. Joon ‘jykpoker’ Kim, $103,127
2. Stephen ‘bunsamillion’ McManus, $63,767
3. Eric ‘CircleBall’ Baldwin, $44,914
4. Jason ‘Gunner_Q10’ Gunn, $32,044
5. Ian ‘APokerJoker2’ Steinman, $23,178
6. Lee ‘smallmytable’ Gale, $16,983
7. Jeff ‘mavsusc’ Platt, $12,657
8. Jonathan ‘fan_sawyer21’ Love, $9560
9. Joseph ‘thehoffx’ Hoffman, $7316
Alan Goehring Takes Down First Bracelet in Freezeout
The $500 No Limit Hold’em Freezeout, Event #8 on the 2020 online WSOP schedule, was popular with the players, to say the least. Without the benefit of reentry, 1479 people put up their buy in for a singular shot at capturing the WSOP gold. The $665,550 prize pool was shared amongst 207 players, but the final one was perhaps the most deserving.
Alan ‘GladiusIII’ Goehring was, prior to Wednesday night, arguably one of the best players to have never won a WSOP bracelet. The two-time World Poker Tour champion – and they were two of the biggest events on the circuit, the inaugural World Championship event and the L. A. Poker Classic – had come close previously, finishing as runner up to Noel Furlong in 1999, but he never captured the gold bracelet. That all changed on Wednesday night.
Although he came to the final table on the lower end of the ladder, Goehring gradually was able to build his stack. When the field was down to four-handed, in fact, Goehring had captured half of the chips in play. After Ross ‘BlueTang’ Gottlieb dumped 2020 online WSOP bracelet winner Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn in fourth place and Goehring eliminated start of table chip leader Randy ‘StayAlive’ Ohel in third, the Goehring/Gottlieb heads up battle started roughly heads up. That would not last very long, only a few hands, and it would end in a dramatic manner.
Gottlieb opened the action to 680K and Goehring called to see a very wet 10♣ Q♥ J♣ flop, which set off the fireworks. Gottlieb made a continuation bet and Goehring didn’t believe him, pushing the betting up to 1.72 million. Gottlieb wasn’t going anywhere, however, three-betting all in for his final eight million chips. Goehring called and, once the cards were on their backs, the stage was set:
Gottlieb: K-9 (flopped King-high straight)
Goehring: A♣ 3♣ (four to a flush, gut shot straight draw)
With 11 outs (Gottlieb’s nine was a club), Goehring was in decent shape going to the turn. The turn card ended the tournament, coming down with a 6♣ to give the unbeatable nut flush to Goehring and earning the ever-elusive first bracelet for the former WPT World Champion.
1. Alan ‘GladiusIII’ Goehring, $119,400
2. Ross ‘BlueTang’ Gottlieb, $73,942
3. Randy ‘StayAlive’ Ohel, $52,511
4. Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn, $37,803
5. Brendan ‘clembutt’ Torrejon, $27,620
6. Drew ‘dudeguydrew’ O’Connell, $20, 365
7. Timothy ‘aceviper’ Sterns, $15,307
8. Scott ‘miamicane’ Davies, $11,580
9. Louie Anthony ‘xlLoUielx’ Torres, $8918
70-Year-Old Ron ‘MacDaddy15’ McMillen Wins Six-Max
Battling it out in the pressure cooker of the six-max No Limit Hold’em arena, 70-year-old Ron ‘MacDaddy15’ McMillen outlasted the “whippersnappers” in taking down the championship of Event #9, the $1000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max tournament.
The 658 players who showed up for the event would have built a nice prize pool on their own but, with a rebuy in effect, 368 more $1000 contributions came in. The final prize pool came up just short of $1 million – $974,700, to be exact – which was shared among the final 143 survivors. The prize for the champion was one of the largest of the 2020 online WSOP so far – $188,214 and the gold bracelet.
McMillen would assert his strength from the start of the final table, knocking off Ian ‘apokerjoker2’ Steinman in sixth place to solidify his position. His major competition was ‘Im.Sorry,’ who was a one-man wrecking crew in eliminating the remainder of the final table to get to heads up against McMillen holding a 2:1 lead. The duo would battle back and forth for some time until a race situation would change the fortunes.
Getting their money in pre-flop, McMillen’s pocket tens were at risk against ‘Im.Sorry’s’ A-Q, but the flop ended any discussion. Coming down 5-7-10 to give McMillen a set, ‘Im.Sorry’ was looking for runner-runner diamonds or straight cards, but instead saw a deuce of hearts on the turn to leave him drawing dead. Two hands later, McMillen would finish the deal in hitting a flush to best ‘Im.Sorry’s’ flopped pair of Kings to earn the WSOP online bracelet.
1. Ron ‘MacDaddy15’ McMillen, $188,214
2. ‘Im.Sorry,’ $116,379
3. ‘WillowG23,’ $81,972
4. Ruth ‘crazeelf666’ Ruffman, $58,482
5. ‘moodeez,’ $42,301
6. Ian ‘apokerjoker2’ Steinman, $30,995