The WSOP ran two of its online bracelet events over the weekend.
The two events in question were at very different price points. Event #1 was a $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold'em freezeout, which ultimately went to Martin Zamani. Meanwhile, Event #2 was the Big 500, with a $500 buy-in and multiple re-entries.
The 2012 WSOP.com (NV/NJ) Online Bracelet events, as they are succinctly known, can only be played by Nevada and New Jersey residents. Despite this limitation, turnout for the Big 500 was pretty good. The software counted 742 players and 325 rebuys by the time registration closed. This made for a prize pool of $480,150 and $89,356 up top.
"Today in Nevada and New Jersey you can play for TWO @WSOP Online Bracelets," wrote the WSOP.com Twitter account. "$5,300 NL Freezeout [and] $500 The BIG 500 NL Hold'em"
This is to be weighed up against the fact that many of the players in Nevada who fancied a $500 game were blowing their cash live in The Reunion event at the Rio. Or at least they were stuck in queues, waiting to sign up for The Reunion.
In the end, The Reunion managed to get around 13k entries, an impressive test of the WSOP's post-pandemic infrastructure. A test which it (mostly) passed.
Big 500's final hours
By the time play got down to the last few tables, the field was impressive for a $500 online event.
Some of the big names who hit the rail in the tourney's closing act included: K L Cleeton (121st - $768, on his "first NV online grind"), Daniel Negreanu (54th - $$1,536), Kevin Rabichow (29th - $2,113), Brent "Uncle Ron" Hanks (24th - $2,593), David ODB Baker (14th - $3,985), and Ryan Reiss (11th - $5,042).
The final table saw some fast action, going from nine players to one bracelet winner in just under 2 hours. It ended with a short heads-up battle between "NJ_AcesmarkA" and "Skullkid."
"Skullkid" took down $55,217 for his second-place finish.
Despite having won a WSOP event, "NJ_AcesmarkA" remains anonymous for the moment. The very few available details on Sharkscope suggest that the player may not be much of an MTT regular at all.
No doubt once the WSOP knows where to send the bracelet, it'll let the world know who won what.
2021 WSOP.com (NV/NJ) Online Bracelet $500 NL Hold’em BIG 500 complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | "NJ_AcesmarkA" | $89,356 |
| 2nd | "Skullkid" | $55,217 |
| 3rd | "DrDonkitoff" | $39,084 |
| 4th | "SwaggyK" | $28,041 |
| 5th | Jeremy "Thekid101" Pekarek | $20,358 |
| 6th | Jesse "Patient0" Yaginuma | $14,981 |
| 7th | Melissa "LuckMgmt" Bryne | $11,187 |
| 8th | Giovanni "John7012" Balistreri | $8,451 |
| 9th | "BDub0927" | $6,482 |
Featured image source: Twitter
