On Thursday, the World Series of Poker released the schedule for this summer’s online bracelet events, to be hosted on WSOP.com. This is something like the thirtieth batch of events that the WSOP has revealed (subject to rounding error). Someone with more ambition than I can feel free to cobble together the complete schedule.
“We believe the 2020 offering of online gold bracelet events features our best schedule yet,” said WSOP.com’s Director of Online Poker Danielle Barille in a press release. “This year we offer a consistent schedule of Sunday events every week of the WSOP, plus a special selection of eight events from June 28 to July 5 to coincide with the biggest week of the live WSOP when most players are in town to play.”
Online game continues to grow
There are 14 online bracelet events this summer, up from nine last year. It is the largest number of online events for the World Series of Poker in the six years that they have been in existence.
Almost all of the events are of the No-Limit Hold’em flavor, but there is some variation within that game. Most are in the three-figure buy-in range, with most of those ranging from $400 to $600. The WSOP.com “Championship” costs $1,000. There are a few tournaments that are more expensive than the Championship, including the $3,200 High Roller and the $10,000 Super High Roller.
More than half of the online bracelet events come during an eight-day stretch from June 28 through July 5, when internet players will be treated to one such tournament per day. This is not an accident. As Danielle Barille said, the World Series of Poker Main Event starts at the beginning of July, so there will be a flood of poker players in town. Many players also show up to play in the massive array of cash games spread during the WSOP.
Players in both Nevada and New Jersey can compete in the online bracelet events. For the first few years of the online bracelet events, only players in Nevada could participate. This changed in 2018 because New Jersey players were finally able to sit at the same tables as Nevada players, thus people in both states were eligible.
New Jersey Should Thank New Hampshire
Last year, there was almost a big problem. The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued the opinion that the Wire Act made all interstate online gambling illegal, seven years after the OLC – then under the Obama administration – said that it only applied to sports betting. The deadline for sites to comply with the opinion was pushed to June 15, 2019, so the World Series of Poker said that players in New Jersey could compete in the two online bracelet events that fell before that date, but afterward, the tournaments were only open to people in Nevada.
Fortunately, the New Hampshire Lottery won a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, putting enforcement on hold, and the shared liquidity continued.
The very first online World Series of Poker bracelet event was introduced in 2015, much to the chagrin of poker purists. After all, the WSOP is the most famed live poker festival of all time. Awarding a bracelet online was blasphemy!
The $1,000 tournament drew over 900 entries. One quirk of the event was that the final table was played live at the Rio. The final table was originally scheduled for the day immediately after it was determined (remember, only people in Nevada could play in it at the time), but players complained that the travel was too difficult, so a one-day break was added.
The 2016 World Series of Poker also had just one online bracelet event.
The live final table was disposed of the following year, with everything being held completely online. The number of online bracelet events was also increased to three in 2017 and then four in 2018. It was last year that featured the most dramatic leap, as the number of internet events shot up to nine.
2020 World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Schedule
May 31 – $400 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em
June 7 – $777 WSOP.com Online Pot-Limit Omaha 7-Handed
June 9 – $800 WSOP.com Online Freezeout Knockout Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em
June 14 – $500 WSOP.com Online 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack
June 21 – $500 WSOP.com Online Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em
June 28 – $1,000 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Championship
June 29 – $500 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em
June 30 – $1,500 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed
July 1 – $3,200 WSOP.com Online High Roller No-Limit Hold’em 8-Handed
July 2 – $10,000 WSOP.com Online Super High Roller Championship
July 3 – $400 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em
July 4 – $500 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack
July 5 – $600 WSOP.com Online 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em
July 12 – $500 WSOP.com Online Summer Saver No-Limit Hold’em
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