Four more gold bracelets have been dished out in the 2023 WSOP Online on GGPoker since PokerNews’ last round-up for the online festival.
Paulius “redpillgame” Vaitiekunas, “EEewashu99”, Yurii “pumbiko_O” Olinyk and Terrence “fr33hongkong” Chan are the latest names to claim their own piece of WSOP hardware. The latter also denied 2022 Main Event champ Espen Jorstad his third bracelet after sending the Norwegian to the wrong side of the rail at heads-up play.
Day 1b of the $25 million guaranteed Main Event also played out with a further 325 players paying the $5,000 buy-in while China’s Xinwen Zhang sits in pole position for Day 2 of the $500 Ladies Championship.
Vaitiekunas Grabs Fifth Bracelet for Lithuania
Vaitiekunas got his hands around the fourth bracelet up for grabs after being the last player standing in #4: $840 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha. He topped the 706-entry field and secured the largest slice of the $564,800 prize pool. His run to the bracelet awarded him a final prize of $81,848, with $56,953 of that coming from bounties.
Vaitiekunas triumph marks the fifth bracelet winner to come from Lithuania, which puts the country on par with other nations such as Indonesia, Belarus, Switzerland, and the Republic of Korea.
Many of poker’s biggest names also took a shot, with a few making the money but falling short of a notable run. Felipe Ramos (95th – $1,144 + $200), David Peters (88th – $1,144) and Dario Sammartino (81st – $1,144+$200) were some of those famous faces to depart well before the final table.
#4: $840 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paulius “redpillgame” Vaitiekunas | Lithuania | $56,953 | $24,895 | $81,848 |
| 2 | “The Harvester” | Mexico | $23,003 | $24,839 | $47,842 |
| 3 | Dante Goya | Brazil | $5,138 | $19,808 | $24,946 |
| 4 | “TUL!” | Finland | $7,169 | $15,779 | $22,948 |
| 5 | “big pot boy” | Finland | $7,475 | $12,569 | $20,044 |
| 6 | “y Frankfurt” | Israel | $2,488 | $10,012 | $12,500 |
| 7 | Bernardo “GGeKKo” Dias | Brazil | $4,075 | $7,975 | $12,050 |
| 8 | “Riki_top” | Russia | $1,050 | $6,353 | $7,403 |
| 9 | “The Prestige” | China | $2,525 | $5,061 | $7,586 |
Teusl On Course For Second Ladies Championship
The first stage of the #5: $500 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship has also wrapped up proceedings with the 36 remaining players returning to the virtual felt on Saturday, September 2.
Leading the way is the aforementioned Zhang, who comes back with 96 big blinds, while the likes of the Tatiana Rangel and Zhanna Hodovanets are not too far behind.
Jessica Teusl also sits in the top ten chip counts and is looking to add a second Ladies Championship title to her list of accomplishments. Teusl took down the live version of this event at the 2022 WSOP for $166,975.
After late registration closed on Day 1, there were 167 confirmed entries that created a $79,325 prize pool. The money bubble will burst when just 27 are still in contention, and then anyone left will be battling out for the $16,613 set aside for the winner.
#5: $500 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xinwen Zhang | China | 288,046 | 96 |
| 2 | Tatiana Rangel | Brazil | 255,728 | 85 |
| 3 | Zhanna Hodovanets | Poland | 247,248 | 82 |
| 4 | Carla Di Marco | Argentina | 238,515 | 80 |
| 5 | Julia Bondarovich | Russia | 219,850 | 73 |
| 6 | Jessica Teusl | Austria | 206,457 | 69 |
| 7 | Maria Korableva | Russia | 202,348 | 67 |
| 8 | Jessica Pilkington | United Kingdom | 186,517 | 62 |
| 9 | Ann-Roos Callens | Belgium | 184,200 | 61 |
| 10 | Mary Dvorkin | Israel | 154,910 | 52 |
Vogelsang Pipped to Monster Stack Title
Aptly, #6: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em pulled in some behemothic numbers with 1,207 entries recorded in the registration period, resulting in a seven-figure prize pool of $1,719,975.
The unidentified “EEewashu99” overcame a tough final table that included tournament experts Shannon Shorr and Christoph Vogelsang. Shorr was the first to leave the final table, while Vogelsang bowed out in fifth place, meaning both players are still searching for their first bracelet win.
#6: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “EEewashu99” | Austria | $231,821 |
| 2 | Hristo “icho” Anastassov | Austria | $173,841 |
| 3 | “Moose is Loose’ | Cyprus | $130,362 |
| 4 | Guilherme Carmo | Brazil | $97,758 |
| 5 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | $73,308 |
| 6 | Vitalijs “chegochego” Zavorotnijs | Austria | $54,973 |
| 7 | “fer_90_1” | Ecuador | $41,224 |
| 8 | “GodsofMongols” | Austria | $30,914 |
| 9 | Shannon Shorr | United States | $23,182 |
Liszewski Bags Best in Day 1B of Main Event
The second qualifying flight for the Main Event has also taken place within the last week, with 325 players taking their shot at the big one. Poland’s Arkadiusz “Noksukow” Liszewski bagged best from Day 1B, ending the session with 1,441,156.
The esteemed Ole Schemion was also in attendance and cruised through to Day 2 and will resume the Main Event with a 913,947 stack.
2020 runner-up of the International Leg of the Main Event Brunno Botteon and Bruno Volkmann were also apart of the class of 39 players to advance.
So far, there have been 568 entries into the Main, with 69 of those still with chips.
#28: $5,000 WSOP Online Main Event Day 1B Top Ten Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkadiusz “Noksukow” Liszewski | Poland | 1,441,156 |
| 2 | “loafabread” | Canada | 1,201,310 |
| 3 | “KeepControl” | Brazil | 984,507 |
| 4 | Ole Schemion | Germany | 913,947 |
| 5 | “Eleon” | Russia | 836,202 |
| 6 | Itai “PokerSmart” Drory | Israel | 814,976 |
| 7 | “caballou44” | Guatemala | 726,379 |
| 8 | Zhao Fu Zhang | Austria | 665,705 |
| 9 | “muck4fcKK” | Croatia | 644,012 |
| 10 | Miguel “kryingkid10” Silva | Romania | 630,321 |
Mystery Bounty Eclipses $10M Guarantee
The first eight-figure prize pool of the online festival has also come around with #7: $210 Mystery Millions breaching the $10 million guarantee. The final tally ended up at $10,242,200.
A gigantic 51,211 entries were seen across the wave of starting flights, with just 4,472 of those making it through to the Mystery Bounty stage, which featured a $1 million top bounty prize. “John Milly”, a rightly fitting name, pulled the jackpot bounty within the first five minutes of play restarting.
Ukraine’s Yurii “pumbiko_O” Olinyk was the one to take it down and saw $360,139 go into their GGPoker purse after he defeated Simon “23 Savage” Gilles in heads-up play.
#7: $210 Mystery Millions – $1M Top, $10M GTD
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yurii “pumbiko_O” Olinyk | Ukraine | $5,488 | $354,651 | $360,139 |
| 2 | Simon “23 Savage” Gilles | Austria | $1,978 | $255,055 | $257,033 |
| 3 | “Crayola8” | Ukraine | $6,271 | $183,847 | $190,118 |
| 4 | “Flash_ua” | Ukraine | $423 | $132,523 | $132,946 |
| 5 | “sixsett” | Russia | $6,474 | $95,529 | $102,003 |
| 6 | “Sens @[-_-]@” | Indonesia | $2,747 | $68,864 | $71,611 |
| 7 | “ungkangkang” | Singapore | $2,422 | $49,645 | $52,067 |
| 8 | “carter66” | Canada | $486 | $35,792 | $36,278 |
| 9 | “AK9696” | Malaysia | $1,828 | $25,807 | $27,635 |
Chan Ends 18-Year Bracelet Pursuit
The most recent online bracelet event to reach its conclusion was #8: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship, which saw 124 entries generate a $294,500 prize fund.
Bryn Kenney, who recently returned to the top spot on the All-Time Money List, was unable to add to his winnings and crashed out well before the money in 65th. Daniel Negreanu, who has had two consecutive losing years at the series, saw his WSOP woes continue after his run ended in 31st place.
Limit Hold’em maestro Terrence “fr33hongkong” Chan ended his long-awaited bracelet drought after beating Jorstad in the final showdown. Chan’s first-ever WSOP cash came all the way back in 2005, and he has made seven WSOP final tables since then. After a few close calls, Chan finally etched his name in the WSOP history books, much to the delight of the wider poker community.
#8: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terrence “fr33hongkong” Chan | Canada | $64,021 |
| 2 | Espen Jorstad | Norway | $48,330 |
| 3 | Kostya Holskiy | Ukraine | $35,485 |
| 4 | “Ramsau” | Austria | $27,542 |
| 5 | “JESUISYAAZY” | Austria | $20,792 |
| 6 | Jesse Lonis | United States | $15,696 |
| 7 | Timothy “JoeExotic69” Rutherford | Canada | $11,849 |
| 8 | Samuel “vivaegipto” Bernabeu | Mexico | $8,945 |
| 9 | Ben “RumpelTiltSkin” Underwood | Canada | $6,753 |
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.