World Series of Poker Online 2020 to Offer 85 Bracelets
The good news is that there will be a World Series of Poker in 2020. It will be online for players in the US and in various other parts of the world. The bad news is that Australia is not one of those parts.
It’s a mixed bag for many Australian poker players this year, but the WSOP will happen. And players can travel to a variety of countries to participate online.
WSOP 2020 Announcement
The World Series of Poker had a tough year, starting with the coronavirus pandemic that forced it to stop all live WSOP Circuit events throughout the world. And as that situation failed to improve through March and April, the WSOP had to cancel its 2020 WSOP summer series in Las Vegas.
As the month of May shone more light on the situation, it became clear that it would be quite a few more months – at the least – before many Las Vegas casinos would be prepared to offer poker tournaments and accommodate large groups of people.
WSOP executives needed an alternative. And on the heels of a highly successful WSOP foray into global online poker via GGNetwork in May, the sole solution became clear.
Organizers announced the first-ever World Series of Poker Online.
The WSOP series will award 85 gold bracelet events, some in the US market and the majority of them in the broader global market. And it will play out from July 1 through September 6.
Somewhat Complicated Logistics
Offering bracelets via one schedule is standard, but splitting that schedule between two entirely different online poker sites in two wildly different markets is unique.
The WSOP 2020 Online will begin on July 1 in the US. Specifically, it will be available in only two states – Nevada and New Jersey. Both states offer poker on the WSOP.com website, and the players pools are linked.
- Players MUST be located within the borders of Nevada or New Jersey to play.
- Geolocation software will detect VPNs and other attempts to work around the IP sensors.
- Players can establish accounts before arriving in those states but must be within those borders to play real-money poker.
The US part of the series will run through July – one tournament per day July 1-31.
Midway through that month, the other part of the WSOP 2020 Online will begin on July 19 for a global audience. GGPoker Network will begin its part of the series with one tournament per day through September 6. This will overlap with the US-based series for the second half of July (July 17-31).
The sites on the network that will carry the series vary from one country to another, but the most common ones are GGPoker for players in Canada, Mexico, and parts of Europe and Natural8 for the Asia-Pacific region. Australia is on the list of prohibited countries for Natural8, but New Zealand players are welcome on the site.
WSOP 2020 Schedule, Part 1
The first 31 tournaments to be announced were the ones on WSOP.com, the ones on the calendar for the entire month of July and available in the US. They are as follows:
- July 1: $500 NLHE Kickoff (2 reentries)
- July 2: $1K NLHE 8-Handed Deepstack (2 reentries)
- July 3: $400 NLHE (2 reentries)
- July 4: $500 NLHE Super Turbo (2 reentries)
- July 5: $1K NLHE Freezeout
- July 6: $600 PLO-8 6-Handed (3 reentries)
- July 7: $800 NLHE Knockout Deepstack (2 reentries)
- July 8: $500 NLHE Freezeout
- July 9: $1K NLHE 6-Max (2 reentries)
- July 10: $600 NLHE Monster Stack (2 reentries)
- July 11: $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed (2 reentries)
- July 12: $500 NLHE Big 500 (3 reentries)
- July 13: $1,500 NLHE High Roller Freezeout
- July 14: $3,200 NLHE High Roller (2 reentries)
- July 15: $1K PLO 8-Max High Roller (3 reentries)
- July 16: $500 NLHE Turbo (2 reentries)
- July 17: $777 NLHE (2 reentries)
- July 18: $1K NLHE 8-Handed Turbo Deepstack (2 reentries)
- July 19: $400 NLHE (3 reentries)
- July 20: $500 PLO 6-Handed (3 reentries)
- July 21: $777 NLHE 6-Handed (2 reentries)
- July 22: $500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack (2 reentries)
- July 23: $500 NLHE Knockout
- July 24: $400 NLHE 8-Handed (2 reentries)
- July 25: $500 NLHE Summer Saver (2 reentries)
- July 26: $500 NLHE Grand Finale (3 reentries)
- July 27: $400 NLHE Freezeout
- July 28: $1K Omaha-8 6-Max (2 reentries)
- July 29: $600 NLHE Turbo Deepstack 6-Handed (2 reentries)
- July 30: $500 NLHE Seniors (2 reentries, players must be 50 or older)
- July 31: $1K NLHE Championship (2 reentries)
Times are listed as 3pm almost every day, though it is unclear what time zone is reflected. Structure sheets have yet to be released.
For those noticing the lack of variety on the above list, with Hold’em and Omaha as the only options, this is due to the US-facing WSOP site not operating with the capability to offer more poker variations and/or the state regulators putting limitations on such games.
WSOP 2020 Schedule, Part 2
GGPoker/Natural8 will likely release their part of the schedule sometime this week. At this point, there is nothing listed on the WSOP website except placeholders and a time of 12noon for each tournament. Again, though, the time zone is not noted.
If the May series that the WSOP Circuit hosted on GGPoker was any indication, the WSOP gold bracelet-awarding events will be a part of a larger series. There may even be guarantees on some or all of the tournaments.
GGPoker Head of Poker Operations Steve Preiss referred to that past series in his statement about the forthcoming one. “With over $100M in guarantees during the WSOPC Super Series in May and more than $134M in awarded prizes, it’s clear that GGPoker and the WSOP make a good pair. We’re excited to create bracelet events that the worldwide poker community will embrace.”
As for the WSOP, its organizers are happy to be able to offer 85 bracelet events online. “It wouldn’t be summer without WSOP,” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said. “While we are thrilled to be reopening our venues and optimistic about future offline events, we couldn’t be more excited about deepening our relationship with GGPoker and watching some history unfold online this summer.”
