Another celebratory day at the 2020 World Series of Online Poker [ international ] with Austria’s Gregor Muller “soulsntfaces” taking it to the limit at the WSOP #67: $500 Limit Hold’em. He became the 36th bracelet winner of the series. At the side events, Joao Simao “naturalMENTE” shipped the BIG 500 for a sizable payout and a ticket to the upcoming Main Event. Over at the nosebleed N8 cash games, another record breaking pot went down. Almedin Imsirovic collected $ 974.6K in a hand against tan4321. Read up on those stories below.
The next chance at a gold is at the WSOP #68: $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em [ Asia ] event. This is one of three Asia Time Zone events remaining to rack up points toward the WSOP Asia Player of the Series race. Flights for the WSOP #77: $ 5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event [ $25M GTD ] and WSOP #71: BIG 50 [ $1M GTD ] are also ongoing. Last night the BIG 50 breached its guarantee which means it is all icing from here.
The 2020 WSOP Online [ international ] opened July 19th on Natural8 – GG Network. Since then, 36 bracelets have been claimed and a cumulative $ 74.3 million paid out. 18 bracelets remain. The series runs until September 6th. For first timers, make sure to sign up on Natural8 to avail of their fantastic promos and incentives.
WSOP #67: $500 Limit Hold’em – Gregor Muller “soulsntfaces” – $ 45,101.52
The WSOP #67: $500 Limit Hold’em may not have been as popular as the other bracelet events with only 706 turning up for a low prize pool of $ 333,350, however for Austria’s Gregor Muller “soulsntfaces”, it was his moment to steal the spotlight. After nine hours of play, Muller locked up the coveted gold bracelet and a career high score $ 45,101.52. He also received a WSOP Europe Package worth $ 15,000.
Buy in: $ 500
Entries: 706
Prize pool: $ 335,350
ITM: 98 places
Running time: 9 hours and six minutes
Recapping Muller’s road to victory, he entered the final table in the middle of the pack while up top was Anmol Srivats “bemyfriend” (another Indian player making a strong bid for the gold). Srivats railed three players during the final 12 which included Ken Okada “diabloking” (9th). Busting just prior (at a separate table) was Wei Zhao “dugui777” (10th) to form the final table with only 8 in the round.
Also among the finalists were bracelet holder Davide Suriano “ElPapuGomez”, GGPoker Twitch streamer Michiel Van Elsacker “Easterdamnz” who has been running very hot with 8 cashes, yesterday’s WSOP Big 500 winner Hong Kong Nguyen “Fall Oh Gutz”, and Michael Schwartz “Blank0DMT” back for his second final table appearance this series.
First to kick it was Nguyen who lost it all to Elsacker on two separate hands. Srivats nearly surged further ahead, however, Suriano got lucky when the board ran 
to counterfeit Srivats’s 
in favor of Suriano’s 
. Elsacker stopped Schwartz in 7th place for his second victim. Suriano’s luck ran out on his next shove with Brunno Botteon De Albuquerque denying the Italian a second gold. Joining the action, Muller dragged in a big pot against Srivats with a set of Aces to two pair. Out next was Soik with Botteon raking it in.
More action followed with Srivats 
winning a big pot against Elsacker 
and Muller 
on a board 
. This sent Elsacker into the danger zone. Botteon tried to end the streamer however Elsacker caught a lucky river pair to survive. However, on the next push, Botteon succeeded to bring it down to three players. The next battle was between Srivats and Muller. Srivats doubled up on the first shove but met his end on the next with Muller’s 
pairing up the six at the flop to dust .
Heads up opened with Muller slightly ahead, Botteon quickly overtook, then the lead exchanged a couple of times until Muller was able to widen his lead from which Botteon could not bridge. One costly pot was Botteon’s 
missing the board for Muller’s 
to prevail. The final hand is pictured below with Muller 
railing the desperate Botteon 
. It was all in preflop. Botteon hit the flop, Muller won the turn, then Muller went on to the finish line for his first ever career victory.
Final table payouts
1st Gregor Mueller “soulsntfaces” – Canada – $ 45,101.52 + $ 15,000 WSOP Europe Package
2nd Brunno Botteon De Albuquerque – Brazil – $ 41,854.99
3rd Anmol Srivats “bemyfriend” – India – $ 30,679.59
4th Michiel Van Elsacker “Easterdamnz” – Belgium – $ 22,488.06
5th Drew Soik “BigPavelski” – Austria – $ 16,483.65
6th Davide Suriano “ElPapuGomez” – Italy – $ 12,082.49
7th Michael Schwartz “Blank0DMT” – France – $ 8,856.42
8th Hong Kong Nguyen “Fall Oh Gutz” – Canada – $ 6,491.70
Notables in the money: Ken Okada “diabloking” (9th), Wei Zhao “dugui777” (10th), Anson Tsang “Tara@0z”, Connor Drinan (14th), Rui Ferreira (16th), Ray Chiu “23457” (20th), Matthew Silas Vengrin “DNSFD” (21st), Craig Timmis (28th), Erik Seidel (52nd), Preben Stokkan (58th), Juha Helppi (77th), and Eoghan O’Dea “DrRoche” (95th).
Natural8 High Stakes: Almedin Imsirovic ships a record $ 974.6K pot
The Natural8 high stakes games keeps getting juicier and nuttier. Last week, the talk of the town was the online record cash pot of $842K won by Wiktor Malinowski against Michael Addamo. Earlier today, another insane pot went down to break that record. The gutsy Almedin Imsirovic hero-called “tan4321” at every stage to drag in an enormous $ 974.6K. See the hand breakdown below.
Next: WSOP #68: $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em [ Asia ]
Buy in: $ 500
Date: August 22 @ 20:00 HKT
Late registration: 240 minutes
Re-entries: 2 times
Notes: $15,000 WSOP Europe Package added to 1st place
Open: 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. This year’s edition guarantees a staggering $ 25 Million, the largest ever in online poker. The hunt for the 51st champion has begun with five flights completed. 166 advanced out of 844 players. Freezeout entry flights run daily until August 30. Players are allowed only three bullets with no same flight re-entry offered.
Last night, Vlad Martynenko “CheckEtoFold” overtook Samuel Vousden for the chip lead. Christopher Brewer and Stephen Chidwick were also among the latest to qualify joining previous qualifiers Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador Pete Chen, Natural8 Team NLG Stefan Schillhabel “Schilli33”, Wei Guo Liang “SPARK1207”, Sung Joo Hyun “ArtePokerTV”, Gab Yong Kim “genbenglee”, Xuming Qi “scplayer”, Kilian Loeffler “Birdie Power”, Preben Stokkan, Fedor Kruse, Nicolas Chouity, Mark Radoja, and Dan Smith.
Buy in: $ 5,000
Guarantee: $ 25,000,000
Entry Dates: August 16 to August 30
Cumulative Entries: 844
Final Day qualifiers: 166
Entry flights: 18 remaining
Day 2: August 30 @ 18:30 UTC [ play down to final 40 players ]
Final Day: September 7 @ 18:30 UTC
Top 15 in chips
Open: WSOP #71: BIG 50 [ $1M GTD ]
Guarantee breached! As expected, the budget bracelet event – WSOP #71: BIG 50 [ $1M GTD ], with its very affordable $ 50 buy in, surpassed its guarantee. A roaring 23,604 entered across 9 flights for a cumulative pot of $ 1,085,784. Six flights remain to join the action.
The BIG 50 event was introduced at last year’s WSOP 50th anniversary. Due to its incredible draw of 28,371 entries, it was given a spot at this year’s roster. With thousands entering every flight, it is well on its way to smashing both last year’s turnout and the 29,306 entries of The Opener.
Buy in: $ 50
Guarantee: $ 1,000,000
Cumulative Entries: 23,604
Cumulative prize pool: $ 1,085,784
Final Day qualifiers: 2,120
Entry Dates: August 16 to 23
Entry Flights: 6 remaining
Final Day: August 23 @ 18:30 UTC / August 24 @ 02:30 HKT
Top 15 in chips
Upcoming: WSOP #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYER CHAMPIONSHIP [ $10M GTD ]
For high rollers and deep pocketed no title is more coveted than this one, the No Limit Hold’em Poker Player Championship. Expect the biggest names in poker in attendance. 43 have already signed up. If you have $ 25,000 to burn, this is the event to wage your skills against the creme de la creme. If not, you can also buy some action on your favorite players.
Buy in: $ 25,000
Date: August 23 @ 18:00 UTC / August 24 02:00 HKT
Guarantee: $ 10,000,000
Notes: 2 day event
Update: WSOP Leaderboard
In addition to striving for the WSOP gold bracelet is the esteemed 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 34 completed events.
WSOP 2020 Online Leaderboard – Top 10
WSOP 2020 Online Leaderboard [ Asia Time Zone Events ] – Top 10
WSOP SIDE EVENTS
WSOP Side Event: BIG 500 – Joao Simao “naturalMENTE” – $ 52,245.12
Early in the series, Joao Simao “naturalMENTE” placed 6th at the WSOP #38: $600 Monster Stack NLHE 6 Handed for $ 47.5K. Last night, Simao added another bigger score to his virtual wallet after shipping the BIG 500 side event for $ 52.2K. Combined, he has collected nearly $ 100K in winnings. In addition, Simao was awarded a seat to the Main Event.
Buy in: $ 500
Date: August 20
Guarantee: $ 250,000
Entries: 629
Prize pool: $ 298,775
ITM: 89 places
Winner: Joao Simao “naturalMENTE” – Brazil – $ 52,245.12 + WSOP #77: $ 5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event ticket
2nd Parker Talbot – Canada – $ 38,295.06
WSOP Side Event: $126 Bounty Six Shooter – Thiago Grigoletti “grigopoker” – $ 21,001.36
Another big score for Thiago Grigoletti “grigopoker” at the side events. A week prior, Grigoletti finished 2nd at the WSOP $500 FIFTY STACK for $ 30,869.
Buy in: $ 126
Date: August 20
Guarantee: $ 100,000
Entries: 1,096
Prize pool: $ 131,520
ITM: 152 places
Winner: Thiago Grigoletti “grigopoker” – Brazil – $ 21,001.36
2nd Dlhun – China – $ 11,208.70
WSOP Side Event: $210 Super Turbo Bounty – PAPHITI – $ 14,358.06
Buy in: $ 210
Date: August 20
Guarantee: $ 75,000
Entries: 437
Prize pool: $ 87,400
ITM: 62 places
Winner: PAPHITI – UK – $ 14,358.06
2nd Augusto Hagen “Betylafea” – Argentina – $ 10,102.02
WSOP Side Event: $300 Marathon
Buy in: $ 300
Date: August 20
Guarantee: $ 100,000
Entries: 502
Prize pool: $ 140,058
ITM: 71 places
Winner: IGotaSecret – Canada – $ 24,885.41
KEY EVENTS
WSOP #84: $100 WSOP MILLIONS [ $2M GTD ]
Buy in: $ 100
Guarantee: $ 2,000,000
Entry Dates: August 31 to September 6
Entry Flights: 26 offered
Final Day: September 5 @ 18:00 UTC / September 6 @ 02:00 HKT
WSOP #83: $10K WSOP Super MILLION$ [ $5M GTD ]
Buy in: $ 10,000
Date: September 6 @ 18:00 UTC / September 7 @ 02:00 HKT
Guarantee: $ 5,000,000
Notes: 2 day event
Other Games
For those looking to enter bracelet events for cheap, the WSOP Silk Road is your route. Daily tickets can be won until August 31. Alek Stasiak “astazz” earned his seat to WSOP #33: $1,111 Every 1 for Covid Relief via a $10 qualifier which bought him a seat in the $100 satellite to the above-mentioned bracelet event which he shipped for $ 343.2K. If you are interested in 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 fantastic player incentives. WSOP Online champions Luis Assuncao Garla “Xapilskinha”, Daniel Dvoress, Hun Wei Lee, Teoh Ming Juen “Paul Teoh”, Shoma Ishikawa “pp_syon”, and Marcelo Jakovjlevic Pudla “Marolo” have already won a Team Bling Sponsorship package for their incredible achievement. Other promos are the First Deposit Bonus and WSOP Silk Road leaderboard race. 18 days left to avail of the promos!
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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