World Series of Poker officials are telling online players to go get the bling.
The WSOP added 11 online gold bracelet events to this year’s schedule, bringing the total of bracelets that will be released into the wild this fall from 88 to 99. Ten of those bracelets will be fought over by players in New Jersey and Nevada, while one will be exclusively for players in Pennsylvania.
Although Pennsylvania lawmakers left the door open for the state to enter agreements with other states to share poker player pools — Nevada and New Jersey signed its Multi-State Internet Agreement in 2018 — players in the Keystone State are stuck with one another.
“Online Poker is an important form of tournament poker in 2021,” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said. “Our philosophy has always been to provide players the most options of any poker festival in the world. WSOP.com online bracelets have a strong track record of significant prize pools, making them a great option for players who want to multitable while in a live tournament, or play from the convenience of their home or hotel.”
Players have vied for bracelets online since 2015 when Anthony Spinella won his only bracelet in the $1,000 WSOP.com Online Championship. This was a hybrid tournament where the final six players finished the event in person at the Rio.
Online bracelets were won while the WSOP simultaneously ran live events since then.
2020 proved viability of online bracelet events
Since COVID nuked everything last year, the bulk of the 2020 WSOP was held online in July, attracting more than 40,000 players who generated a prize pool total of $26.8 million. Two $10,000 Main Events started online at the end of November in Europe (on GGPoker) and in the US, with the final nine of each tourneys played in person.
Joe Hebert of Louisiana won stateside while Damian Salas won the European event, both taking home $1.5 million. Hebert is a WSOP Circuit and WPT regular with nearly 100 cashes since 2009 for more than $2.2 million.
Salas, an Argentinian lawyer, won another $1 million and the title of WSOP World Champion by beating Herbert heads-up in person in January 2021. That win brought Salas’ WSOP winnings to $4.2 million spread across 31 cashes, and his total tournament winnings to $6 million.
Coverage was obviously limited last year, but one of the online WSOP’s highlights took place when Ron “MacDaddy15” McMillen of Iowa won the first online poker tournament he ever played when he took down the $1,000 six-max for $188,214. The 70-year-old, high-stakes cash game player outlasted 658 players. He has another $41,796 in WSOP live event cashes.
This is what it's all about ! pic.twitter.com/10UYvh8V1Y
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 10, 2020
2021 WSOP Online Bracelet Event Schedule
The WSOP’s online bracelet tournaments will all take place on Sundays.
| Time | Event | |
| Oct. 3 | 3:30 pm PST | $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout |
| Oct. 3 | 5:30 pm PST | $500 Big 500 (3x re-entry) |
| Oct. 10 | 5:30 pm PST | $400 Ultra Deepstack (2x re-entry) |
| Oct. 17 | 5:30 pm PST | $888 PLO Crazy 8s 8-Max (3x re-entry) |
| Oct. 24 | 5:30 pm PST | $1,000 Championship (2x re-entry) |
| Oct. 31 | 5:30 pm PST | $666 No-Limit Hold’em (2x re-entry) |
| Nov. 7 | 5:30 pm PST | $3,200 High Roller 8-Max (2x re-entry) |
| Nov. 14 | 3:30 pm PST | $7,777 Lucky 7s No-Limit Hold’em High Roller (2x re-entry) |
| Nov. 14 | 5:30 pm PST | $777 Lucky 7s No-Limit Hold’em |
| Nov. 21 | 5:30 pm PST | $1,000 Mini Main Event |
| Nov. 21 | 5:30 pm PST | $1,000 Mini Main Event (Pennsylvania) |
