Even more gold bracelets are being shipped to all corners of the globe as the 2023 WSOP Online continues to tick over on GGPoker. Another handful of events have been completed on the platform which has seen the likes of Jessica “butfirstwine” Marks, Sergio “Nextgoal” Ballestin Mur, Leonid Yanovich, Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu, Peng “gaosinimen999” Zhou and Boris “Zivakov” Neykov walk away with the most sought-after prize in poker.
Gergely Kulcsar has also put himself in a great position to become the Main Event champion after bagging best in Day 1C. His stack of 2,276,337 is currently the biggest out of all the qualifiers, as he overtook Day 1A chip leader “krxlkrxl53” to put himself in pole position for the time being.
Marks Wins Ladies Championship
After a six-day break for the 36 Day 1 survivors, play in the #5: $500 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship resumed on Saturday, September 6, and saw Jessica “butfirstwine” Marks claim her first WSOP bracelet along with the $16,613 first-place prize. Marks was the last woman standing from the 167-entry field, which generated a $79,325 prize pool.
Some of the best female poker players around were still in contention on Day 2, with 2022 Ladies Champ Jessica Teusl and PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary winner Vanessa Kade all making it through to the final stage.
Teusl could not replicate her performance from last year, while Kade was the first to exit from the final table. Day 2 chip leader Xinwen “Chris Baby” Zhang was also unable to stay at the top of the chip counts and bowed out in sixth place.
Following the departures of Mary “KentaQ” Dvorkin and Zhanna “xeloruA” Hodovanets in fourth and third place respectively, Marks saw off Julia “Bulochka2022” Bondarov in heads-up play to seal the victory.
#5: $500 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jessica “butfirstwine” Marks | Germany | $16,613 |
| 2 | Julia “Bulochka2022” Bondarov | Russia | $12,458 |
| 3 | Zhanna “xeloruA” Hodovanets | Poland | $9,342 |
| 4 | Mary “KentaQ” Dvorkin | Israel | $7,005 |
| 5 | Emilia Riot | United Kingdom | $5,253 |
| 6 | Xinwen “Chris Baby” Zhang | China | $3,939 |
| 7 | Carla “MickChecker” Marins Assis Palma | Brazil | $2,954 |
| 8 | Suzie Williamson | United Kingdom | $2,215 |
| 9 | Vanessa Kade | Canada | $1,661 |
WSOP Online Series On GGPoker Will Feature 33 Bracelet Events From Aug. 20-Oct. 2
Ballestin Mur Becomes a Bracelet Winner
Bracelet events can always produce some surprising winners, and that’s exactly what happened in #9: $315 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em. The unknown Sergio “Nextgoal” Ballestin Mur, who resides in British Columbia, Canada, reigned supreme over the 2,856 entries to get the job done.
Ballestin Mur, who is an Assistant Marketing Coordinator at Next Goal Agency, scored $31,960 in bounties and was awarded $33,635 for the win to make a final payout of $65,595.
The top 368 players made the money, each sharing a slice of the $848,232 prize pool.
#9: $315 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergio “Nextgoal” Ballestin Mur | Canada | $31,960 | $33,635 | $65,595 |
| 2 | Ilya “twins_ilya” Marchenko | Ukraine | $21,739 | $33,551 | $55,290 |
| 3 | Rodrigo “NapoleOFF” Sollero | Brazil | $9,089 | $24,460 | $33,549 |
| 4 | Kayvan “Throatgoat” Payman | Canada | $5,924 | $17,810 | $23,734 |
| 5 | Diego “Dinh21” Costa | Brazil | $8,448 | $12,968 | $21,416 |
| 6 | Jianming “leng123” Li | China | $6,281 | $9,443 | $15,724 |
| 7 | Martin “AMPLERFAN86” Piik | Estonia | $4,712 | $6,875 | $11,587 |
| 8 | Joshua Hoesel | Mexico | $6,131 | $5,006 | $11,137 |
| 9 | Osmar Junior | Brazil | $3,928 | $3,645 | $7,573 |
Leonid Yanovich Beats the Pros for Six-Figure Payday
956 hopefuls took to the virtual felt for #10: $1,050 Beat the Pros Bounty NLH. The buy-in was split in half, with 50% going towards bounty payouts while the remainder was allocated for the regular prize pool. After late registration had closed, there was $956,000 in the prize pool, and Israel’s Leonid Yanovich was the player who received the first-place spoils. Along with the bracelet, $110,843 was also sent Yanovich’s way after he overcame Ireland’s Gary Thompson in the final showdown.
2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess was just one of the notable players to put in a deep run. However, he had to settle for seventh place. His latest WSOP performance marks another close call for bracelet #2 as Riess fell short of seeing his name in lights once again.
At the 2022 WSOP, he finished in second and third place in Event #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop and Event #53: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em; Pot-Limit Omaha. During the summer, Riess made the podium again in another online bracelet event but couldn’t get over the finish line to prolong his 10-year bracelet drought.
#10: $1,050 Beat the Pros Bounty NLH Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Bounty | Prize | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonid Yanovich | Israel | $72,582 | $38,261 | $110,843 |
| 2 | Gary Thompson | Ireland | $11,055 | $38,166 | $49,221 |
| 3 | Oshri Lahmani | Israel | $15,820 | $30,339 | $46,159 |
| 4 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | $7,641 | $24,088 | $31,729 |
| 5 | “K1bosha” | Belarus | $2,031 | $19,124 | $21,155 |
| 6 | “ilargia” | Brazil | $13,703 | $15,184 | $28,887 |
| 7 | Ryan Riess | United States | $12,031 | $12,055 | $24,086 |
| 8 | “max77” | Canada | $250 | $9,571 | $9,821 |
| 9 | “asyASYJDAy | Thailand | $8,270 | $7,599 | $15,869 |
Nezer, Steves & Koliakov Pick Up First Bracelets from 2023 WSOP Online
Flip & Go Bracelet Breaks $1 Million Guarantee
#11: $100 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold’em was another tournament to come with a seven-figure guarantee, and like all those before, the players turned out in droves to break the $1 million barrier.
For those unfamiliar with the FLIP & GO concept, it’s fairly straightforward. The tournament is split into two parts. First up is the flip stage, which sees everyone forced all in. The winner at each table then advances to the Go stage, where everyone is already in the money and plays out as usual.
798 out of the 7688 entries made it through to the GO stage, where they had all locked up the min-cash from the $1,260,365 prize pool.
Yiannis “GreekFreaker” Liperis and Dawid Smolka were famous faces to make it through to the final table but neither could stop the title charge from Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu. The player based in China picked up their maiden piece of WSOP hardware along with the $122,587 set aside for the champion.
#11: $100 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu | China | $122,587 |
| 2 | “SuperSolid” | United Kingdom | $90,690 |
| 3 | Fabian Spielman | Austria | $67,128 |
| 4 | Eric “grownstacks” Hayes | Mexico | $49,687 |
| 5 | Erdene “Tsoomoo Venus” Ochir | Mongolia | $36,778 |
| 6 | Dawid Smolka | Poland | $27,223 |
| 7 | Yiannis “GreekFreaker” Liperis | United Kingdom | $20,150 |
| 8 | Dalton “morgota” Hobold | Brazil | $14,915 |
| 9 | “ShowMeThePeso” | Mexico | $11,040 |
Kulcsar Takes Top Spot in Main Event Chip Counts
The number of players through to the next stage of the $25 million guaranteed WSOP Online Main Event now stands at 123 as 54 more players booked their spot for Day 2. The third starting flight of the series’ showstopper saw another 456 entries to bring the current total to 1,024, meaning another 4,240 entries are needed to surpass the guarantee.
While breaching that target currently seems like a big ask, there are eight more starting flights scheduled, with Day 1D penciled in on Sunday, September 10. The remainder of the Day 1’s take place from September 17-25, with Day 2 also kicking off on the same day the Last Chance flight begins.
From the survivors in the latest Main Event qualifier, Gergely Kulcsar bagged the best and currently has the largest stack of any player through to Day 2 as it stands. His stack of 2,276,337 sees him join “krxlkrxl53” as the only player with more than 2 million.
Jans Arends, Yuri Dzivielevski and the aforementioned Reiss were just some of the bracelet winners to make it through from Day 1C.
WSOP Online Main Event Day 1C Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gergely Kulcsar | Austria | 2,276,337 |
| 2 | Daniel “Tourmination” Petersen | Faroe Islands | 1,577,536 |
| 3 | Mikhail Zavoloka | Russia | 1,514,660 |
| 4 | Artem Kobylynskyi | Ukraine | 1,304,592 |
| 5 | Aleksei “Ha KoJleHu” Vandyshev | Russia | 1,161,197 |
| 6 | “DNTS” | Cyprus | 1,125,195 |
| 7 | “J-Dubya” | Mexico | 928,214 |
| 8 | “Real Nickname” | Denmark | 892,835 |
| 9 | “Sitacuisses” | Austria | 892,362 |
| 10 | “Karma is a Cat” | Canada | 826,459 |
2023 WSOP Online: Main Event Champ Espen Jorstad Denied Third Bracelet
Zhou Bags Another Bracelet for China
While the Main Event is still in its infancy in deciding its winner, Peng “gaosinimen999” Zhou took down the younger sibling version of the event. Zhou was the victor in #12: $500 Mini Main Event to put another bracelet on the board for China.
The Mini Main Event had a plethora of starting flights, with 8,709 entries turning out for the 17 qualifying heats. The $2.5 million guarantee was obliterated, with $3,565,350 being the final prize tally.
#12: $500 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peng “gaosinimen999” Zhou | China | $326,692 |
| 2 | “Sjaakfcg” | Netherlands | $242,030 |
| 3 | Ermo “PublicEnemy7” Kosk | Estonia | $179,412 |
| 4 | Leonard “Sheogorath” Mendes | Mexico | $133,002 |
| 5 | Bráulio Bianchetti | Brazil | $98,606 |
| 6 | Leandro Sousa | Brazil | $73,113 |
| 7 | Thomas Saterne | France | $54,219 |
| 8 | Matthias “SeverusSnap” Nachtigal | Germany | $40,215 |
| 9 | “BadProbBet” | Russia | $29,837 |
Neykov Gets Biggest First-Place Prize So Far
The latest bracelet event to wrap up was the #13: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship and featured several big names. Daniel Negreanu (19th – $20,644) and Ethan Yau (15th – $23,998) put in commendable runs to make the latter stages of the tournament to see a decent return on their $5,000 investment.
But at the end of the day, it was Boris “Zivakov” Neykov who was a cut above the rest. The Croatian overcame a field of 487 to win the honors and $426,171, which is the biggest first-place payout of the series so far.
#13: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boris “Zivakov” Neykov | Croatia | $426,171 |
| 2 | Battulga “GodsofMongols” Byambaa | Austria | $308,130 |
| 3 | Sean “EEewashu99” Boyle | Austria | $222,784 |
| 4 | Chin Wei Lim | Malaysia | $161,078 |
| 5 | Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | $116,462 |
| 6 | Jeromy “PureApple” Bynum | Austria | $84,205 |
2023 WSOP Online Bracelet Winners Table
| EVENT | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1: $108 Bankroll Builder Bounty NLHE | 7,619 | $761,900 | Or “Nezer21” Nezer | $58,884 |
| #2: $300 Gladiators of Poker Opener, $2.5M GTD [Final Day] | 9,488 | $2,647,152 | Vinicius Steves | $234,707 |
| #3: $2,100 Bounty NLH Championship | 667 | $1,354,000 | Sergei “Meruemu” Koliakov | $158,345 |
| #4: $840 Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha | 706 | $564,800 | Paulius “redpillgame” Vaitiekunas | $81,848 |
| #5: $500 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship | 167 | $79,325 | Jessica “butfirstwine” Marks | $16,613 |
| #6: $1,500 MONSTER STACK No-Limit Hold’em | 1,207 | $1,719,975 | Sean “EEewashu99” Boyle | $231,821 |
| #7: $210 Mystery Millions – $1M Top Bounty, $10M GTD [Day 2] | 51,211 | $10,242,200 | Yurii “pumbiko_O” Olinyk | $360,139 |
| #8: $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship | 124 | $294,500 | Terrance Chan | $64,021 |
| #9: $315 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em | 2.856 | $848,232 | Sergio “Nextgoal” Ballestin Mur | $65,595 |
| #10: $1,050 Beat the Pros Bounty NLH | 956 | $956,000 | Leonid Yanovich | $110,843 |
| #11: $100 FLIP & GO No-Limit Hold’em, $1M GTD [Go Stage] | 7,688 | $1,260,365 | Jinlong “yiliuqi” Hu | $122,587 |
| #12: $500 Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold’em, $2.5M GTD | 8,709 | $3,565,350 | Peng “gaosinimen999” Zhou | $326,692 |
| #13: $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship | 487 | $2,313,250 | Boris “Zivakov” Neykov | $426,171 |
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.