If you're outside the United States and have an extra $5,000 to spend, now might be a good time to register for the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event. Not only is the tournament's host, GGPoker, guaranteeing at least $25 million in prize pool money. It now appears the biggest event of the summer is destined to have an overlay potentially as high as $5 million.
The structure for this year's Main Event is drastically different compared to the previous 50 years, and not only because the 2020 version is being played online instead of at the casino in Las Vegas. Players can enter the $5,000 buy-in event up to three times during the 20 Day 1 starting flights.
But despite allowing multiple reentries, the online version of the Main Event is struggling to meet its lofty guarantee. With 15 starting flights in the books, the tournament has seen a total of 2,631 entries, which may seem like a huge amount, and it is. But with $25 million guaranteed, that's barely more than half of the prize pool ($13,155,000). And GGPoker only has five more starting flights to catch up or they'll be stuck covering potentially millions of dollars in overlay.
Two more sessions in the books
Day 1o and 1p are now in the books, making it 15 of the 20 Day 1 starting flights complete. On Day 1o, France's Thomas Eychenne finished the session with the largest stack (791,634). Later in the evening, on Day 1p, "stamina22," whose real name isn't publicly known, nearly hit the 1 million-chip mark, and bagged 994,190.
On Day 1p, 239 players paid the $5,000 admission price, but only 44 of them still had chips when the session concluded. Among those lucky individuals are high stakes greats Ole Schemion and 2017 Super High Roller Bowl champion Christoph Vogelsang, both Germans.
Martin Jacobson, the 2014 WSOP Main Event champion, entered Day 1p but was unable to bag a stack. Mustapha Kanit, Shannon Shorr, and Dan Shak were also among those who failed to advance to Day 2.
Speaking of Day 2, those who have advanced will come back to the poker site to continue on in the Main Event on August 30. Thus far, 474 players have been fortunate enough to have a guaranteed spot in Day 2. The tournament, along with the entire WSOP Online Bracelet Series, is scheduled to conclude on September 6.
Kahle Burns still holds the overall chip lead in the Main Event. The Australian high roller bagged 1,387,282 chips on Day 1l. And no one has yet come close to matching that stack. Jonathan Dokler has just over 1 million chips and is the closest.
