If you were concerned about a massive overlay in the WSOP Online Main Event on GGPoker, you can now relax. The biggest event of the summer, in the nick of time, surpassed its $25 million guarantee, setting an online poker record.
Through 15 Day 1 starting flights out of 23, the tournament had just $13,155,000 in the pot. During the final eight sessions, however, GGPoker saw a massive influx of players late registering for the $5,000 buy-in event.
Previously, the 2018 Parytypoker Millions Online tournament held the world record with a $21,385,000 prize pool. That record is no more — not after the WSOP Online Main Event, with 5,802 entries, hit $27,559,500 in prize money.
Day 2 of the major internet poker event kicked off Sunday. The tournament will run through the final table on Sep. 6, coinciding with the last day of the WSOP Online Bracelet Series, which began on WSOP.com in July before shifting to GGPoker.
WSOP Online Main Event a Surprising Hit
Many poker fans, including us here at CardsChat News, questioned if the WSOP Online Main Event would even come close to matching its guarantee. As it turns out, we were all wrong and the tournament can now be considered a rousing success.
With 930 players advancing to Day 2, the money bubble will burst fairly quickly on Sunday as 780 are to be paid. The winner of this event will receive $3,904,686, also one of the largest paydays in online poker history. Each player at the Sep. 6 final table will earn at least $230,395. Min-cashes are worth $11,834.
Through all 23 Day 1 starting flights, high-stakes crusher Kahle Burns bagged the largest stack at 1,387,282. Jonathan Dokler is the only other player to have surpassed the 1 million chip mark, and sits in second place with 1,021,967 chips.
Players were allowed to enter up to three flights before calling it quits. Daniel Negreanu, the top GGPoker ambassador, was called out on strikes after swinging and missing three times on Day 1. The six-time WSOP champion is running out of time to end his seven-year bracelet drought this summer, and to win his six-figure bracelet side bets.
Burns isn’t the only high-roller star to advance to Day 2. Ali Imsirovic (444,538), Dan Smith (421,653), Igor Kurganov (393,881), Rainer Kempe (371,292), David Peters (357,981), Sam Greenwood (344,355), Christoph Vogelsang (322,934), Ole Schemion (318,519), Brandon Adams (303,004), Adrian Mateos (294,227), and Manig Loeser (211,370) all bagged chips.
Phil Hellmuth, who holds the WSOP record with 15 bracelets, also advanced to Day 2. But his chip stack of 108,644 is on the small side. With the blinds at 2,500/5,000, the “Poker Brat” will need to start stacking chips soon.
