The 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Events got underway on WSOP.com on July 1. Almost a week into the series, multiple events are already in the books, and the winners of the first three events are all first-time bracelet winners. They’ve managed to soar past top competition after long hours of intense action at the virtual tables.
Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler drew first blood after winning the first event of the festival for $130,426. Phil Hellmuth was a favorite to take down the event but he eventually fell short of making the final table after exiting in 11th place. Runner-up Justin “MadTitan” Turner earned $80,416.
Louis Lynch Wins Event #2
The second event of the WSOP series played out after 11 hours of play, it was Louis “PokeThese” Lynch who emerged victorious, defeating Ryan “KOVID19” Ko heads-up to win $168,586 in first-place prize and his first gold bracelet. The player, who hails from Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania managed to outclass a huge field of 919 entrants, which included some of poker’s most prominent names like Daniel Negreanu.
The final table of the $1,000 buy-in NLH Deepstack 8-Max began with Daniel “IntoTheRiver” Fischer holding the chip lead, but the action was ignited early by Sean “bahbababa” Prendeville who was responsible for the first two eliminations – first, he busted Matthew “Michmeister” Mich with king-nine against ace-jack, and then went on to finish off Jon “jonnyg93” Gisler with pocket queens against Big Slick.
Both Mich and Gisler walked away with $15,628 and $20,691 for finishing eighth and seventh respectively. Lynch ended Jason Somerville’s bid for a second gold bracelet after winning a race with pocket tens against ace-king. Somerville finished sixth for $27,763.
Prendeville, who had showed a lot of momentum since the start of the final battle, eventually lost his luster and bowed out of the game in fifth place after losing a hand against Kevin “GoneBananas” Garosshen. Prendiville walked away with $37,890 in winnings.
Fischer became the next player to bust after losing his king-ten against KOVID19’s jack-ten. He finished fourth for $52,383. Fischer was followed by Garosshen who settled for third for $73,424. Afterwards it became a one-on-one match between Lynch and KOVID19. Lynch’s victory became official when his pocket sixes held against KOVID19’s queen-six. The runner-up finisher earned $104,242 for his efforts.
Robert “bustinballs” Kuhn Captures Event #3
The following day, Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold’em also concluded, with Robert Kuhn being crowned the champion. The player from Barnesville, Ohio topped a massive field of 2,091 entries (including 641 rebuys) to win his first gold bracelet, alongside the top prize of $115,850. Ronald “rlksaces” Keren finished second for  $71,587.
The eight-handed final table kicked off with Kuhn as the chip leader and “AndrewFreund” as the short stack. The latter eventually became the first player to bust, finishing ninth for $9,560. He was followed in eighth place by Roland “prngls12” Israelashvili who won $12,345. Israelahvili currently leads the cash race, having cashed three-times since the start of the festival.
The next player to leave the table was “pokerher2014” who finished seventh for $16,184. “Doc33” ran hot and was responsible for the next three eliminations – Evan “Escott121181” Scott (sixth, $21,454); Max “ndirish50” Huster (fifth, $28,605); and “klubot” (fourth, $38,466). But Doc33’s was unable to sustain his momentum as he was also sent out of the game, finishing third for $52,242.
Kuhn went into heads-up play against Keren with an almost 5:1 chip advantage, and he was able to reinforce his dominance throughout the battle which ended up in Keren settling for second place with $71,587 in winnings. Kuhn has done well at the WSOP in the past. His record coming into the 2020 WSOP showed that he had won 19 WSOP cashes and one WSOP Circuit gold ring. This WSOP bracelet win is the icing on the cake for Kuhn.
Meanwhile, with three events down, Daniel Negreanu hasn’t come close to winning a seventh bracelet. He had a deep run in Event #2 though, getting a cashout after finishing in 18^th place.