2020 WSOP Online – Natural8: Kristen Bicknell wins 3rd WSOP bracelet at the $2500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed

While many players dream of scoring just one of those signature gold bracelets, Canadian pro Kristen Bicknell has now captured her third at the recently concluded WSOP #44: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed event. In a tweet by Natural8, after her win, Bicknell had this to say,

“I’m shaking right now! I;m celebrating with some Uber Eats orders for a buffet lol.”

Bicknell crushed the hopes of runner up Belarmino De Souza “Iseey0urcard” who was on his second final table appearance at the ongoing series. Read up on her spectacular finish via our recap. Bicknell joined Vanessa Selbst, Barbara Enright, and Nani Dollison with three WSOP bracelets each, the most any female has ever won. For those tracking the WSOP Player of the Series race, De Souza slid into the top rank, Bicknell to 4th rank. Top ten in standings provided inside. 

If you are just tuning in, the 2020 WSOP Online is running on two platforms with a combined 85 signature bracelets for the taking. The USA series on WSOP.com – exclusively for players geo-located in Nevada and New Jersey – is nearing its end. 28 of the allotted 31 bracelets have been claimed. The last of the games takes place on July 31. Make sure to check our recaps on that leg of the series.

Join Natural8 – $100 in Free tickets with your 1st Deposit

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. As of today, 11 days of games have already completed, 11 bracelets clasped, and $ 17.9 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 ].

WSOP #44: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed – Kristen Bicknell – $ 356,411.68

There are many reasons why Canadian Kristen Bicknell is GPI’s top female player for the past two years. Her inspiring scroll of career cashes and titles tell the tale. And the story continues. Earlier today, Bicknelll added a third career WSOP bracelet to her poker display case after shipping the WSOP #44: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed event. She pocketed $ 356,411.68 which is now her largest WSOP score.

Bicknell’s first WSOP win was back in 2013 at the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Ladies Championship. It was also her first-ever live tournament victory and six-figure paycheck. Three years later arrived a second career win, this one too at the WSOP. Bicknell won the $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em Bounty for a much larger six-figure payout. Since then her live stats grew with deep runs recorded around the world including a victory in Asia at the 2018 APPT Macau National High Roller event. Her largest career score was earned at the 2019 Poker Masters where she triumphed at the $ 25,000 No Limit Hold’em for $ 408,000. Today’s win was her second largest career takedown. Based on The Hendon Mob, Bicknell has accumulated over $ 5 million in live tournament earnings.

Buy in: $ 2,500
Entries: 892
Prize pool: $ 2,118,500
ITM: 116 places
Running time: 9:09

After three hours of late registration, the event drew 892 for a prize pool of $ 2,118,500 that paid out the top 116 players. Recapping the action at the final table, every player except Bicknell was hunting down their first bracelet. Three players were on their second final table appearance for this series – Ilya Anatski, Paul Barnes “Doduckduck”, and chip leader Belarmino De Souza “Iseey0urcard”. Bicknell was running sixth in chips and nearly met her end holding against De Souza’s when an ace fell on the flop. However, the board completed a straight , to save Bicknell and split the pot.

At five remaining, De Souza surged further with half the chips in play at his disposal. Bicknell climbed to second rank after railing Simon Higgins (5th) and Dong Jiang (4th). De Souza would have soared even higher if not for Anatski’s lucky catch, pairing up on a board to outdraw De Souza’s . Instead, for the first time at the final table, De Souza was the shortest stacked and Bicknell the leader.

The next showdown it was De Souza’s turn to get lucky. His dominated to Bicknell’s found four diamonds for a saving grace flush. He regained the lead dwarfing the stacks of both opponents. To reach heads up, Bicknell made up some of the lost chips off Anatski who was then drained out by De Souza.

Heads up

Heads up ran for nearly 30 minutes. De Souza strutted in with a 2.5:1 advantage. Six minutes in, Bicknell tank-called for all her chips that in turn exposed De Souza’s bluff (hand pictured below). The hand opened with a raise by Bicknell that was limp-called by De Souza. On the flop, Bicknell’s c-bet was called. On the turn it switched up, Bicknell checked, De Souza bet, Bicknell called. The river was checked again by Bicknell, De Souza shoved, Bicknell tanked for three minutes, then called for all her chips.

From there, De Souza battled to regain the lead. He reclaimed it, though briefly, when Bicknell tank-called a river bet with just mid pair to his top pair. Once Bicknell grabbed it back, she didn’t relinquish, instead pulled away to a 3:1 advantage. The final hand arrived. Progressive bets throughout led to De Souza shoving on the river with two pairs, Bicknell had a winning trip fives.

Final table payouts

1st Kristen Bicknell – Canada – $ 356,411.68
2nd Belarmino De Souza “Iseey0urcard” – Brazil – $ 261,248.54
3rd Ilya Anatski – Belarus – $ 191,494.18
4th Dong Jiang “nuoyani” – China – $ 140,364.81
5th Simon HIggins – UK – $ 102,887.07
6th Jerome Finck “gorgiAAs” – Hong Kong – $ 75,415.84
7th Patrick Semrau “Pepsi_zero” – Austria – $ 55,279.71
8th Paul Barnes “Doduckduck” – $ 40,519.91
9th Nikita Kalinin – Russia – $ 29,700.94

Notable players in the money: Ben Affleck (15th), Danny Tang (21st), Martin Zamani “FuTimReilly” (33rd), Sean Winter (37th), David Kitai (42nd), Darren Elias (47th), Mike Leah (49th), David Peters (59th), MJ Gonzales (75th), Alex Di Felice (76th), Shyngis Satubayev “somebodyelse” (84th), Matthias Eibinger (85th), and Mike McDonald (86th)

WSOP Side Event: $600 Monster Stack

Buy in: $ 600
Date: July 29
Guarantee: $ 200,000
Entries: 685
Prize pool: $ 390,450
ITM: 98 places
1st F7588 – China – $ 47,483.24
2nd waransan – Japan – $ 57,085.09
3rd zonagdola – Israel – $ 46,367.80
*Final three deal

Up Next: WSOP #45: $840 Bounty No Limit Hold’em

Buy in: $ 840
Date: July 30 @ 18:00 UTC / July 31 @ 02:00 HKT
Late registration: 180 minutes
Re-entries: 2 times
Bounty reward: $ 200 minimum per head

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. 7 of 15 entry flights have been completed.

Buy in: $ 1,500
Guarantee: $ 5,000,000
Cumulative Entries: 2,301
Cumulative Day 2 Qualifiers: 333
Remaining Flights: 8
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 15 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”, Matthias Eibinger, Andras Nemeth, Yuri Dzivielevsk, Stephen O’Dwyer, Pablo Silva, Simon Burns “Fireburns”, and Vincent Kwun Ngai Li “Peleus34”.

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 13 events.

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. Alek Stasiak “astazz” won 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. 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.

Join Natural8 – $100 in Free tickets with your 1st Deposit