Day 10 of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online international leg running on Natural8 – GG Network was a moment for the world’s heavyweights and deep pockets. One very hot gold bracelet was up for grabs at the WSOP $43: $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship. After a hard fought four-hour heads up battle, Lev Gottlieb “LevMeAlone” defeated Mikita Badziakouski for a first WSOP title and his virtual wallet padded up $ 276,393.39. Have a read on our recap. Running alongside were WSOP Side Events and the High Rollers Super MILLION$. Those results are also posted below.
If you are just tuning in, the 2020 WSOP Online is running on two platforms with a combined 85 signature bracelets promised. Ongoing from July 1 to 31 is the USA series on WSOP.com exclusively for players geo-located in Nevada and New Jersey. 28 of the allotted 31 bracelets have been claimed. Make sure to check our recaps on that leg of the series.
For international players, the series opened on July 19 on Natural8 – GG Network running until September 6. Filling up the roster are 54 bracelet events. 10 have already been clasped and over $ 15.8 million paid out in completed bracelet events. Open events and highlight events still to come are listed below which includes the upcoming $ 1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER [ $5M GTD ] and the prestigious $ 5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event [ $25 Million GTD ]. For those tracking the WSOP Player of the Series race, current top 10 standings provided and Natural8 promos to boost your overall WSOP experience.
WSOP #43: $10K Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship – Lev Gottlieb – $ 276,393.39 – Mikita Badziakouski Runner-up
Three hours of late registration for the WSOP #43: $10K Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship pulled in a powerhouse field of 130 entries for a prize pool of $ 1,261,000. With a starting stack of 100,000, the game was certain to be a long one. Just shy of the fifteenth hour, Lev Gottlieb “LevMeAlone” closed it out to become the 10th WSOP Online champion of the international leg.
Not much is known of Gottlieb but after this golden victory, there will be no escape from the spotlight. Gottlieb denied a long list of esteemed pros the signature bracelet and the $ 276,393.39 first prize, using the maximum three bullets to get there. As the world watched, he delivered a crushing defeat to short deck beast Mikita Badziakouski in 2nd place. Unlike Gottlieb, Badziakouski is packed with a superb collection of poker achievements. Based on The Hendon Mob All Time Money List, Badziakouski is Belarus’s #1 ranked player with over $ 28 million in live earnings. However, out of all his wins, the WSOP gold was not one of them. After an epic four hour heads up battle against Gottlieb, it slipped away again.
Buy in: $ 10,000
Entries: 130
Prize pool: $ 1,261,000
ITM: 17 places
Running time: ~ 15 hours
Briefly recapping the action, the money was reached at the fall of Felipe Ramos who pushed 26 bbs holding 
and got called by button player wong1324 with 
. The flop 
granted an immediate straight to wong1324. Leading up to the final table, among the busts were Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador Danny Tang (12th), Yuri Dzivielevski (14th), and Jason Koon (15th). Badziakouski entered the final table as chip leader while Gottlieb was wedged in the middle.
Badziakouski brought his big stack to heads up with a 3:1 advantage despite Gottlieb knocking out Sergi Reixach in 3rd place. This was Reixach‘s second final table appearance of the international series. He finished 7th at the WSOP #35: $ 5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Fifteen minutes in, Badziakouski widened his lead to 7:1 and looked to be in fine shape to wrap it up. But not so. Gottlieb doubled up twice to steal the lead.
From there the top spot was unfaithful to both players, switching multiple times. Just before the second heads up break, the game paused for nearly 30 minutes to fix a time clock issue. At the time, both players only had below 10 seconds to act and requested for more time. Once the game resumed, Badziakouski commented on how “relaxed” it was then jumped out front while Gottlieb played catch up resulting in a double up. Gottlieb proceeded to widen the gap to 6:1 and it still didn’t stick with Badziakouski grinding back to even with an 
broadway straight to 
lower straight.
The final two shoves went Gottlieb’s way, first one was 
staying ahead of 
. The second called shove saw all the chips go in preflop. Gottlieb with a winning 
to Badziakouski’s with a final board of 
.
Final table payouts
1st Lev Gottlieb “LevMeAlone” – Mexico – $ 276,393.39
2nd Mikita Badziakouski – Croatia – $ 210,248.67
3rd Sergi Reixach – Mexico – $ 159,933.38
4th Nobuaki Sasaki “Sasa JHR” – Japan – $ 121,659.13
5th Daniel Shak “oiltrader” – Poland – $ 92,544.53
6th Chi Zhang – Cambodia – $ 70,397.34
7th Yin Nam Bjorn Li “wong1324” – Hong Kong – $ 53,550.25
8th Carl Schrader “Swetomir” – Germany – $ 40,734.96
9th Amichai Barer – Canada – $ 30,986.55
Up next: WSOP #44: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed
Buy in: $ 2,500
Date: July 29 @ 18:00 UTC / July 30 @ 02:00 HKT
Late registration: 180 minutes
Re-entries: 2 times
Open: WSOP #48: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER [ $5M GTD ]
The Millionaire Maker is one of the most sought after events of the series. Since its inception in 2013, the fields have been enormous with every player on mutual ambition to bag the $ 1,000,000 champion’s purse. 5 of 15 entry flights have been completed.
Buy in: $ 1,500
Guarantee: $ 5,000,000
Cumulative Entries: 1,630
Cumulative Day 2 Qualifiers: 237
Remaining Flights: 10
Day 2: August 2 @ 18:30 UTC / August 3 @ 02:30 HKT
Final Table: August 9 @ 18:30 UTC / August 10 @ 02:30 HKT – Live broadcast cards face up on GGPoker.TV
Top 10 in chips
Among the pros through are Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador Kosei Ichinose, Team NLH Fedor Holz, Michael Addamo, Daniel Dvoress, Preben Stokkan, Mike McDonald, Jason Koon, Isaac Haxton, Kristen Bicknell, Alex Foxen, Martin Jacobson, Leon Tsoukernik, Shawn Buchanan, Simon Klas Lofberg, Juha Helppi, Rodrigo Dos Santos Caprioli “PAPAI_PIG”, Syngis Satubayev “somebodyelse”, and Pablo Silva.
Update: WSOP Leaderboard
In addition to striving for the WSOP gold bracelet is the Player of the Series title. For the first time, three types of POS titles will be awarded. The ultimate leaderboard champion will win the WSOP Pure Gold Mouse, the WSOP Pure Gold Dragon will be awarded to the Asia Player of the Series – highest points accrued on the Asia Time Zone events -, and the exclusive Pure Gold Card to be given to leaderboard finishers 2nd to 5th. Current standings after 12 events.
High Rollers Super MILLION$ $10K, $2M GTD – LKS28 – $ 396,703.28
After a day break, the High Rollers Super MILLION$ $10K, $2M GTD returned to action. The final 9 players of the 210 total returned to chase the largest cut of the $ 2,037,000 prize pool. Just under three hours, the champion was determined. LKS28 defeated entering chip leader Holidaywer at heads up to bank the $ 396,703.28 first prize. The race was broadcast on GGPoker.TV.
Final 9 Payouts
1st LKS28 – Croatia – $ 396,703.28
2nd Holidaywer – UAE – $ 296,378
3rd Saquon – Canada – $ 221,424.95
4th Jason Koon – Canada – $ 165,427.21
5th Chris Fitzgerald – Mexico – $ 123,591.30
6th Pablo Silva – Brazil – $ 92,335.37
7th Darren Elias – Canada – $ 68,984.02
8th Andras Nemeth – Hungary – $ 51,538.34
9th Michael Watson – Canada – $ 38,504.39
WSOP SIDE EVENTS
WSOP Side Event: $5,000 Short Deck Encore – Isaac Haxton – $ 85,103.49
Buy in: $ 5,000
Date: July 28
Guarantee: $ 100,000
Entries: 42
Prize pool: $ 199,500
ITM: 5 places
Payouts
1st Isaac Haxton – Canada – $ 85,103.49
2nd IwillCallU – Poland – $ 50,283.53
3rd Jordi Urlings – Malta – $ 31.650.67
4th Seth Davies – Canada – $ 19,922.32
5th Michael Watson – Canada – $ 12,539.99
WSOP Side Event: $250 Deep Stack Turbo – Mustapaha Kanit – $ 23,636.75
Buy in: $ 250
Date: July 28
Guarantee: $ 100,000
Entries: 582
Prize pool: $ 133,860
ITM: 80 places
Winner: Mustapaha Kanit – $ 23,636.75
WSOP Side Event: $600 Monster Stack
Buy in: $ 600
Date: July 28
Guarantee: $ 200,000
Entries: 490
Prize pool: $ 279,300
ITM: 71 places
Winner: FreshLime – UK – $ 44,554.28 (heads up deal)
2nd Instaprincez – Poland – $ 41,445.60
KEY EVENTS
WSOP #77: $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event [ $ 25M GTD ]
Year after year, players flock to Las Vegas with dreams of winning a bracelet, however no gold is more desired than that of the WSOP Main Event. The hunt for the 51st champion begins on August 16 with entry flights running daily until August 30. Players are allowed only three bullets with no same day re-entry offered.
Buy in: $ 5,000
Guarantee: $ 25,000,000
Entry Dates: August 16 to August 30
Entry Flights: 22 offered
Final Day: August 30 [ 3-Day Freezeout Flights ]
WSOP #55: HK$ 8,000 No Limit Hold’em Asia Championship [ HK$ 8M GTD ]
Buy in: HK$ 8,000 (~ US$ 1,000)
Guarantee: HK$ 8,000,000 (~US$ 1,032,000)
Entry Dates: August 3 to August 9
Entry Flights: 14 offered
Final Day: August 9 @ 20:00 HKT
WSOP #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYER CHAMPIONSHIP [ $10M GTD ]
Buy in: $ 25,000
Date: August 23 @ 18:00 UTC
Guarantee: $ 10,000,000
Notes: 2 day event
WSOP #71: BIG 50 [ $1M GTD ]
At the 50th anniversary of the WSOP held last year, the BIG 50 event was introduced. Due to its massive draw of 28,371 entries, it is back in the roster. With the buy in lowered to a very affordable $ 50, players can expect a monstrous field.
Buy in: $ 50
Guarantee: $ 1,000,000
Entry Dates: August 16 to 23
Entry Flights: 15 offered
Final Day: August 23 @ 18:30 UTC
Other Games
For those looking to enter bracelet events for cheap, the WSOP Silk Road is your route. Daily tickets can be won running until August 31. For non- bracelet events, several WSOP side events are scheduled with buy ins from $125 to $800.
Natural8 promos
For players signed up on Natural8, expect generous promos for a more enjoyable and profitable WSOP experience. WSOP champions Shoma Ishikawa “pp_syon” and Marcelo Jakovjlevic Pudla ” Marolo” already capitalized, each awarded one of the WSOP Winner’s Circle Sponsorship packages. 45 chances left to be a winner!
WSOP Winner’s Circle Sponsorship Packages
Main Event = $100,000 Natural8 Sponsorship*
Win the WSOP Main Event and you’ll not only become a part of Team Bling, you’ll be the CAPTAIN of the team. This exclusive package includes:
12 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$15,000 Las Vegas Package ($10,000 to cover your buy-ins and $5,000 for expenses)
$25,000 for live event sponsorships
T$60,000 in online sponsorships, paid out over 12 months
Buy-ins of $1,000 and above = $15,000 Natural8 Sponsorship*
Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $1,000 and above, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:
6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$15,000 Las Vegas Package ($10,000 to cover your buy-ins and $5,000 for expenses)
Buy-ins from $50 to $999 = $7,500 Natural8 Sponsorship*
Win a WSOP Bracelet from any event with a buy-in of $999 and below, and you’ll get a Team Bling package that includes:
6 month Team Bling Sponsorship
$7,500 Las Vegas Package ($5,000 to cover your buy-ins and $2,500 for expenses)
WSOP First Deposit Bonus
First time depositors on Natural8 can expect a special bump in the load. For a minimum deposit of $20 are gifts worth up to $ 100 over six consecutive days. The initial $ 60 in WSOP tickets – WSOP Satellite and WSOP Spin & Gold, another $ 40 in WSOP tickets for those that complete all 6 AoF challenges of 100 AoF hands per day.
WSOP Silk Road
The WSOP Silk Road Micro Series has been ongoing since July 1st and will run until August 31st. This is for players looking to enter bracelet events for cheap. And seriously, who wouldn’t want to win a multi million event for as low as $ 1.08? Via this route, buy ins only go as high as $ 21.60. Top the Natural8 Silk Road Leaderboard to win an instant ticket to the WSOP #77: $5,000 Main Event [ $25M GTD ].
Plenty of action still to come so stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you daily updates on the ongoing 2020 WSOP Online on Natural8.
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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