WSOP ROUNDUP: Big 50 Turns Huge, Ireland’s Toby Joyce Wins Bracelet, Main Event Starts, & More

With three weeks left in the World Series of Poker Online at GGPoker, there’s still plenty of action in store for international players. The last week saw plenty of headlines including a big score for a World Poker Tour regular, another five-figure player pool, and much more.

Players will also be looking forward to Day 2 of the Main Event on Sunday. That event comes with a monster $25 million guarantee. The WSOP in Las Vegas may not be on, but there is plenty of betting and bluffing online.

Here’s a look at the news over the last week.

[cta id=1470 type=cta]

Entry field average ticks up; prize pool, payouts drop slightly

With the Big 50 bringing in massive numbers, the average field size saw a hefty increase over the last week. That moved up about 700 entries to an average of 4,363 per event.

Despite that, prize pools and winner payouts fell a bit over the week. The average prize pool dropped about $100,000 and winner payout fell by about $18,000.

Here’s a quick look at the current averages from the series overall as well as complete winners and statistics:

Tournament averages

  • Entries – 4,363
  • Prize pool – $2 million
  • Winner payout – $295,205

Series totals

  • Entries – 174,507
  • Prize pool – $79.1 million
  • Winner payout – $11.5 million

* Figures as of Aug. 26. For complete facts and information about the WSOP Online, including Twitch streams, click here.

EventBuy-inTotal entriesPrize poolWinner payoutWinnerCountry
#32: The Opener NLHE$10029,306$2,696,152$265,880Marcelo Jakovljevic PudlaBrazil
#33: Every 1 for Covid Relief$1,1112,323$2,580,853$343,204Alek StasiakCanada
#34: Super Turbo Bounty NLHE 6-Handed$5252,214$1,107,000$117,650Shoma IshikawaJapan
#35 Pot Limit Omaha Championship$5,000328$1,558,000$306,622Juha HelppiFinland
#36 FIFTY STACK NLHE$1,5001,342$1,912,350$297,496Michael ClacherSouth Africa
#37 Bounty Pot Limit Omaha$1,050971$971,000$161,887Hun Wei LeeAustralia
#38 Monster Stack NLHE 6-Handed [Asia Time Zone]$6002,007$1,143,990$171,389Aaron WijayaChina
#39: NLHE [Asia Time Zone]$1,500922$1,313,850$216,213Roberto RomanelloUnited Kingdom
#40: Pot Limit Omaha$2,500532$1,263,500$224,493Klas LofbergSweden
#41: COLOSSUS$40012,757$4,796,632$595,930Ranno SootlaEstonia
#42: PLOSSUS$4004,356$1,637,856$221,557Yuri DzivielevskiBrazil
#43: Short Deck NLHE Championship$10,000301$812,700$276,393Lev "LevMeAlone" GottliebUnited States
#44: NLHE 6-Handed$2,500892$2,118,500$356,412Kristen BicknellCanada
#45: Bounty NLHE$8402,382$1,906,500$245,448Patrick "Muddington" KennedyUnited Kingdom
#46: Deepstack NLHE$5002,307$1,095,825$189,098Sung Joo "ArtePokerTV" HyunSouth Korea
#47: Short Deck NLHE$1,000487$462,560$88,202Paul TeohMalaysia
#48 MILLIONAIRE MAKER$1,5006,299$8,976,075$1,489,289Daniel DvoressCanada
#49 Turbo Deepstack$5002,978$1,414,550$192,523Vladas "apuokos" BurneikisLithuania
#50: Bounty Championship$2,1001,168$2,336,000$327,319Enrico "GTOExploiter" CamosciItaly
#51: Pot Limit Omaha$4002,005$753,880$100,945Eoghan "DrRoche" O'DeaIreland
#52: NLHE$1,0002,006$1,905,700$273,505Alek StasiakCanada
#53: Double Stack PLO [Asia Time Zone]$800831$631,560$94,253Frank CrivelloUnited States
#54: Heads-Up Championship$10,000128$1,241,600$360,480David PetersUnited States
#55: NLHE Asia Time Zone ChampionshipHK$8,0003,247$3,184,074$458,261Luis Eduardo Assuncao GarlaBrazil
#56: GGMasters WSOP Edition$1502,153$3,068,025$444,869Seth FischerUnited States
#57: GGMasters WSOP Edition$1509,835$1,357,230$183,526Anatoly "Pohitrusha" SuvarovRussia
#58: NLHE 6-Handed Championship$5,000672$3,192,000$531,513Ravid "jerbi9999" GarbiIsrael
#59: NLHE Double Stack$2,5001,061$2,519,875$399,047Leonardo "Babaehduro" MattosBrazil
#60: $525 Bounty NLHE 6-Handed$5253,170$1,585,000$180,177Orhan "yirtil" AtesTurkey
#61: Monster Stack NLHE 6-Handed$3003,491$973,989$127,660Alexander "MightyWarior" StaceyUnited Kingdom
#62: Pot Limit Omaha$1,500990$1,410,750$220,160Bradley "DrStrange7" RubenUnited States
#63: Mini Main Event$50015,205$7,222,375$843,460Ivan "zufo16" ZuficCroatia
#64: Super Turbo Bounty NLHE$8402,207$1,765,600$131,461Kartik "Mandovi" VedIndia
#65: NLHE Deepstack$6002,911$1,659,270$227,906Dmytro "Too Bad" BystrovzorovUkraine
#66: Pot Limit Omaha$8001,281$973,560$139,453Toby JoyceIreland
#67: NLHE$500706$335,350$45,101Gregor "soulsntfaces" MullerAustria
#68: Deepstack NLHE [Asia Time Zone]$5002,315$1,099,625$150,460Yan Shing TsangHong Kong
#69: Marathon NLHE$1,5001,438$2,049,150$302,472Nick "rdcrsn" MaimoneUnited States
#70: NLHE Poker Players Championship$25,000407NANA* event not yet completedNA
#71: BIG 50 NLHE$5044,576$2,050,496$211,282Huahuan "F7588" FengChina
TOTALS174,507$79,083,002$11,512,996
Average (8/26/20)4,363$2,026,475$295,205
Average (8/19/20)3,641$2,134,553$313,654.00
Averages (8/11/203,830$1,997,347$299,896

WSOP Big 50 goes gargantuan at GGPoker

Another week, another huge-field event at the GGPoker WSOP Online. This week it was the Big 50, with a fitting $50 buy-in and $2 million guarantee.

The event produced a Herculean 44,576 entries, the biggest number of the series. The tournament beat the guarantee and ultimately paid out $2.1 million.

The WSOP and GGPoker have announced a new summer online bracelet series.

When the dust settled, it was China’s Huahuan Feng coming out on top of the fifty-buck bonanza. For his efforts Feng took home a bracelet and $211,282

Feng has just over $391,000 in live tournament winnings. The biggest of that was an event in Korea, where he finished runner-up for $176,985.

The Big 50 became the fourth event with a player pool reaching five figures. The others were the Opener, Colossus, and Mini Main Event. Here’s a quick look at all these events.

  • $100 Opener – 29,306 entries, $2.7 million prize pool
  • $400 Colossus – 12,757 entries, $4.8 million prize pool
  • $500 Mini Main Event – 15,205 entries, $7.3 million
  • $50 Big 50 – 44,576 entries, $2,050,496 guarantee

Massive run continues for Toby Joyce

It’s been quite a year for Toby Joyce. He now has 12 cashes in the series on GG and the 11th was quite special.

In the $800 Pot Limit Omaha, Joyce won his first bracelet for $139,453. He also scored a 13th-place finish in the $5,000 PLO Championship for $20,872.

The PLO results show the versatility in this player originally from Galway, Ireland. In December, Joyce finished runner-up in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1.1 million.

WSOP Online bracelet winner Toby Joyce

Joyce also scored 12th and 14th-place finishes on the tour this season. He now sits in fourth in the WPT Player of the Year standings. 

After several years devoted to online poker, Joyce transitioned to traveling the world playing poker over the last few years. He likes the travel and interactions with new people that go with life on the poker circuit.

“For the first few years I played kind of by myself in an isolated way and didn’t really know anybody else in poker,” he told WPT.com in December. “I then came a bit fed up with poker. I was kind of over it. I’d won a bunch of money and didn’t feel great. I didn’t get what I expected from it.

“I then started traveling more to play live and met a lot of friends in poker and traveled with them to different places. It would be great to get a big score live after putting in so much work.”

[cta id=1470 type=cta]

Another bracelet adds to series-leading US total

As the WSOP Online marches on, the US added to its total lead among all countries in the series. Nick Maimone took down the $1,500 Marathon for his first bracelet and $302,472.

Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Maimone has $2.2 million in live tournament winnings. That includes a deep run in the WSOP Main Event in 2009, finishing 15th for $633,022.

The Marathon win added to the American success in the competition for which country could win the most bracelets. The US has a total of six bracelets, now a two-tournament lead.

Huahuan Feng’s win in the Big 50 added a second bracelet to China’s total. Here’s a look at the standings as of Aug. 26.

Bracelets by Country

  • US – 6
  • Canada – 4
  • Brazil – 4
  • United Kingdom – 3
  • China – 2

Canadians score top spots on leaderboard

A pair of Canadians continue to dominate the top two places in the GGPoker WSOP Online leaderboard. Daniel Dvoress, winner of the Millionaire Maker, remains in the lead.

Canada’s Alek Stasiak also keeps his spot in second place. Mini Main Event winner Ivan Zufic moved to third last week but hasn’t added to that total since then.

Here’s a look at the complete leaderboard:

  • 1st – Daniel Dvoress (Canada), 6,326.03
  • 2nd – Alek Stasiak (Canada), 6,174.40
  • 3rd – Ivan Zufic (Croatia), 5,719.69
  • 4th – Ranno Sootla (Estonia), 5,021.13
  • 5th – Belarmino De Souza (Brazil), 4,962.18

The winner receives a solid gold mouse trophy (the computer type). Players finishing second through fifth earn a solid gold playing card.

A golden dragon is awarded to the player winning the WSOP Asia Time Zone leaderboard. Brazil’s Luis Assuncao currently leads that race.

WSOP Online week ahead at GGPoker

Plenty of interesting events remain on the schedule over the next week including the first People’s Choice events. GGPoker ambassador Daniel Negreanu announced the first of these this week.

A $25,000 Head-Up tournament is set for Tuesday, Sept. 1, with a field capped at 128. Two more People’s Choice events are planned for next Wednesday and Thursday, but those specifics haven’t yet been announced.

A few more smaller buy-in events dot the schedule this weekend. The $300 Double Stack is set for Saturday and the $400 Forty Stack on Sunday. These should produce some nice results for weekend warriors.

Sunday also brings Day 2 of the $5,000 Main Event after numerous starting flights and satellites. It may not be the real championship in Las Vegas, but plenty will be out for some online glory.

The $25 million guaranteed prize pool only adds to the prestige. Here’s a look at the remaining events on the schedule.

2020 GGPoker WSOP Online

DateEvent NumberTournamentBuy-inPrize GuaranteeNotes
Wednesday, September 02, 202048People's Choice Event [Pros Vote]TBATBATBA by Vote
Thursday, September 03, 202049People's Choice Event [Spin the Wheel]TBATBATBA by Vote
Saturday, September 05, 202050People's Choice Event [Most Popular]TBATBAAsia Time Zone, TBA by Vote
Saturday, September 05, 202051$1,050 Beat the Pros [Bounty]$1,050
Sunday, September 06, 202052$10K WSOP Super MILLION$, $5M GTD$10,000$5,000,0002-Day Event
Sunday, September 06, 202053$100 WSOP MILLION$ [Final Day], $2M GTD$100$2,000,0002-Day Event, 1-RE Flights
Sunday, September 06, 202054$500 The Closer [LAST CHANCE]$500

For a complete review of GGPoker including exclusive GGPoker bonuses, click here.