The first-ever WSOP Online Main Event, hosted on the GGPoker poker site, has a $25 million guaranteed prize pool. Half of the guarantee has been reached, but only five of the 20 Day 1 starting flights remain, making it likely there will be some overlay. Potentially, millions of dollars in overlay.
Following Thursday’s Day 1O and 1P sessions, the $5,000 buy-in tournament has seen 2,631 players enter. Without accounting for rake, that’s $13,155,000 in buy-ins, or 52.6% of the guaranteed prize pool. Thus far, 75% of all Day 1 sessions are complete, leaving GGPoker scrambling to account for nearly half the buy-ins over the final 25% of the total starting flights.
Covering may be unlikely, but it’s not impossible. The final starting flight on Aug. 30, the same day that Day 2 begins, is a turbo session. Players still on the fence may late register for the WSOP Online Main Event if they notice the overlay is so massive. There’s great value in joining a poker tournament late in registration if the event’s guaranteed prize pool is far from being met. In this case, a $5 million overlay isn’t out of the question.
WSOP Online Main Event Days 1O and 1P
Through 15 starting flights, Australian poker star Kahle Burns has the biggest stack by quite a bit at 1,387,282. He bagged that massive stack on Day 1L. Jonathan Dokler, who finished with 1,021,967 during the 1H session, is the only other player to reach 1 million chips so far.
On Day 1O, Thomas Eychenne, a French player, racked up that session’s largest stack at 791,634 chips. A player with the screen name “stamina22,” whose identity hasn’t been revealed, bagged the Day 1P chip lead at 994,190. During that session, 239 players registered and 44 advanced. Christoph Vogelsand and Ole Schemion were among the Day 1P players who made it through to Day 2.
In total, 474 players have advanced to the Aug. 30 Day 2 session. Players have until that same day to register for the Main Event. Everyone is eligible to enter up to three Day 1 starting flights. Those who bagged small stacks are also eligible to forfeit their chips and give it another shot in a different session.
The first-ever WSOP Online Main Event runs until the conclusion of the final table on Sep. 6, which also coincides with the final day of the 85-event World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Series. After that, we all sit and wait to find out if the WSOP will host a live fall series in Las Vegas.
