The 2020 World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit is halfway through its plate of championship rings with nine of 18 already awarded. The newest players blinged were CallMeBatya, Carlos “Wtfisthis” Henrique, Seungmook “7high” Jung, & Urmo Velvelt. In nation breakdown, that’s now one each for Uruguay, USA, India, Luxembourg, Korea, Brazil, Estonia, and two rings for Russia. The US$ 400 CHRISTMAS PLOSSUS also wrapped up with the Final 9 players formed. Three bracelet champions heat up the line: Natural8 Team Bling pro Anson “Tara@0z” Tsang, Chris Moorman, and Tomas Ribeiro. Romania’s Cosmin-Ionut “cosmiNik89” Nica bagged the chip lead. That event resumes on January 3 @230am HKT.
The ongoing series kicked off on December 13 at online platform Natural8 and will run until January 10. A massive 100 Million Dollars is guaranteed. To date, US$ 17,179,948 in ring events and US$ 38,468,333 in side events have been paid out. With two weeks of games remaining, that means more rings and cash for the taking. Key events to mark down are the US$ 400 NEW YEAR COLOSSUS, and the star attraction, the US$ 1,700 MAIN EVENT US$ 10 Million guaranteed.
For players signed up on Natural8, exciting incentives are in store if you champion any of the ring events. Players can win from US$ 5,000 to US$ 50,000 in WSOPC LiveX Live Event Sponsorship. For new players, make sure to sign up on Natural8 to also avail of the new player incentives. We’ve got all the info below including recaps on the events tabled.
In addition to winning events, players that reach the money automatically earn points towards the WSOPC Player of the Series Leaderboard. The top 100 at the end of the series are awarded a piece of US$ 100,000 with the highest in points pocketing US$ 10,000. Currently in the lead is Germany’s Pascal Hartmann who recently placed 3rd at the WSOPC High Rollers US$ 2,500 Blade Mulligan for US$ 29,685.77.
EVENT RECAPS
Final 9: WSOPC #10: $400 CHRISTMAS PLOSSUS
After 31 starting flights, the US$ 400 CHRISTMAS PLOSSUS event drew a cumulative 3,638 entries for a smashing prize pool worth US$ 1,364,128. Day 2 opened with 446 players vying for a piece. With money kicking in at 400th place, the bubble quickly burst. Seven hours later, the final 9 was formed led by Romania’s Cosmin-Ionut “cosmiNik89” Nica.
Final 9 players
Cosmin-Ionut “cosmiNik89” Nica – Romania – 39,867,686 – 99.7 BB
Murilo “Fruble” Milhomem – Brazil – 21,262,547 – 53.2 BB
KING MC – San Marino – 21,135,225 – 52.8 BB
SHOOT_YOURFACE – Canada – 48.5 BB
Anson “Tara@0z” Tsang – Hong Kong – 14,645,804 – 36.6 BB
Kristof “ultrafish” Segers – Belgium – 10,447,481 – 26.1 BB
Chris Moorman – UK – 8,902,777 – 22.3 BB
Tomas Ribeiro – Portugal -5,905,218 – 14.8 BB
v_Nistelrooy – Russia – 3,349,784 – 8.4 BB
Brief recap at 14 remaining, Cosmin-Ionut “cosmiNik89” Nica took the lead after elminating Cyprus player “revigres” with pocket Kings over pocket Queens. Half an hour later, cosmiNik89 did the same to Canada’s Jesse “AAGenius88” Mercado (13th) to further distance from the rest. SHOOT_YOURFACE knocked out both Austria’s “15562” (12th) and Morocco’s Idris Ambraisse (11th), then Brazil’s Murilo “Fruble” Milhomem denied Israel’s “tavihakesef” in 10th place to form the final 9.
Chip leader cosmiNik89 will be joined by three WSOP bracelet holders: Chris Moorman, Tomas Ribeiro, and two time winner Anson “Tara@0z” Tsang. Both Ribeiro and Tsang have won their bracelets via a PLO event. For Moorman, he had a spectacular Day 2 run racing from just 10 BB to the final table. Another well known player in list is Belgium’s Kristof “ultrafish” Segers who has gone deep at nearly every PLO event in Taiwan where he currently resides.
When the game resumes, the final 9 are already guaranteed US$ 17,891 however, it’s the payout ten times that size that they will be gunning for, the US$ 178,921 first prize and of course the WSOP circuit ring.
Remaining payouts
1st US$ 178,921.10
2nd US$ 134,170.23
3rd US$ 100,613.52
4th US$ 75,449.45
5th US$ 56,579.08
6th US$ 42,428.34
7th US$ 31,816.77
8th US$ 23,859.29
9th US$ 17,891.88
Event Details
Final 9: January 3 @230 HKT
Buy in: US$ 400
Guarantee: US$ 1,225,000
Cumulative entries: 3,638
Day 2 Qualifiers: 446
Prize pool: US$ 1,364,128
Payout distribution: 10%
ITM: 400
Day 2 running time: 7 hours
The Fallen
Day 2 opened with 446 players chasing a piece of the pot. WSOP decorated players Simon Lofberg and Jens Kyllonen were among the 46 players that walked away empty handed. Falling on the bubble was WSOPC #8: US$ 600 Marathon event 4th placer Bruno “wisechinese1” Borges. Once the cash was in flow, the race was on for a final 9 seat. WSOP decorated players missing the mark but in the top 100 were Jim “ruminramen” Collopy, Ivan Zufic, Fabrizio “UknowWhoIam” Gonzalez, Pulkit Goyal, CallMeBatya, Yuri Dzivielevski, and David Miscikowski. As for the Asian contingent, running deep were David Hsing Hsiung “David121888” Tai (20th), Edward “edyam1” Yam (34th), Sumit “rung00se” Sapra (131st), Yiming “linghao” Xiao (164th), Natural8 Team Hot pro Kosei Ichinose (177th), and Ho Bao “Yummers19” Qiang (180th).
WSOPC #6: $170 Mini Main Event – CALLMEBATYA – US$ 277,276.53
The three day US$ 170 Mini Main Event concluded with CallMeBatya hauling in a second ring for Russia. CallMeBatya entered the final table as chip leader, dropped rank and dropped in chips but held on to eventually face China’s asky86 at heads up and close it. CallMeBatya shipped the US$ 277,276.52 top prize and the sixth ring of the series.
CallMeBatya has been playing in the GG Network since last year however he hasn’t produced any significant results until this win. His only other cash to boast of was for US$ 5,971 which he earned at the recent WSOPC #1: BIG 50 for 17th place.
Buy in: US$ 170
Guarantee: US$ 2,000,000
Cumulative Entries: 17,478
Cumulative Day 2 qualifiers: 2,703
Prize pool: US$ 2,733,559.20
Payout Distribution: 10%
ITM: 1,800 places
Every player at the final table was on the hunt for their first ever WSOP ring. The player favored to win was Greek pro Ioannis Konstas who got close to a WSOP merchandise a couple times in his career. Action kicked off with L-Love doubling up off of the leader for second ranked Konstas to slide into the top spot. One hour later, Konstas delivered the first casualty by booting Robert robdag83” Glasspool in 9th place. From there, it was a tough battle the top spot with Alessandro Siena and asky86 joining the fight.
Siena won a big pot off Konstas then eliminated zopino {8th) to take the lead. This was quickly grabbed by asky86 upon railing L-love (7th). After eisbdh12 fell in 6th place, Vaatefingre was crippled by CallMeBatya then busted in 5th place to Siena with pocket Aces over AKo.
At four remaining, asky86 
amassed over half the chips in play by denying Konstas 
with a higher two pair on a board 
. Siena was out next with two pair not good enough against CallMeBatya’s set of Aces to bring about heads up facing asky86 who was sitting on a mountain of chips. Within the first minutes, CallMeBatya won a big pot and used the momentum to chip away at asky86’s stack. Several more hands in, CallMeBatya took the lead and widened to a 3:1 advantage. Asky86 managed to double up and retake command on a board 
showing 
straight over CallMeBatya’s 
. The lead didn’t last though. CallMeBatya retaliated with a straight over straight then went on to close it out by delivering a bad beat with 
two pair over 
pair on a final board 
.
Final table payouts
1st CallMeBatya – Russia – US$ 277,276.53
2nd asky86 – China – US$ 207,920.19
3rd Alessandro Siena – Italy – US$ 155,918.31
4th Ioannis Konstas – Greece – US$ 116,922.14
5th Vaatefingre – Norway – US$ 87,679.23
6th eisbdh12 – Hong Kong – US$ 65,750.11
7th L-love – Brazil – US$ 49,305.64
8th Robert “robdag83” Glasspool – Hong Kong – US$ 36,973.93
9th zopino – Israel – US$ 27,726.57
WSOPC #7: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em 6-Handed Championship – CARLOS “Wtfisthis” HENRIQUE – US$ 153,212.57
The seventh ring event was the No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed Championship which attracted 889 to the virtual felt. It was another guarantee crusher with a final prize pool of US$ 1,266,825. After a grueling 11 hours or so, the champion emerged in Carlos “Wtfisthis” Henrique who eliminated Argentina’s EDUARDO1957 at heads up. Henrique locked up his first WSOP Circuit ring, a first for Brazil this series, and a cool US$ 153,212.57. For the runner up, he earned a slightly higher pay of US$ 157,914.89 due to an ICM deal at the final showdown.
Date: December 23 @0200 HKT
Buy in: US$ 1,500
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Entries: 889
Prize pool: US$ 1,266,825
Payout Distribution: 15%
ITM: 143 places
Running time: 11 hours and 7 minutes
Scattered all over the entry list were numerous WSOP decorated players that fired multiple bullets however only some turned a profit: Elio Fox (106th), Brian Green (38th), Christian Jeppsson (33rd), Brock Wilson (24th), David Peters (23rd), and Arkadiy “Kamsky” Tsinis (22nd). At this point, the chip lead bounced around. Giovanni “HEIZENBERG_G” Zanette held it for a time after railing both xllllll (16th) and Vincent “Peleus34” Li (15th) but as it inched closer to one table, it was HLXDERRRR jumping ahead after a triple up. The final table was formed when Jon “Marklanders1” Garde denied HEIZENBERG_G in 10th place with 
over . Marklanders1 entered the final table as chip leader.
Final table action set off with every player hailing from different nations. With average stack at 41.2 BB, it took over an hour and a half of chips being exchanged before the first player went down. USA player Mike Rossitto’s pocket Jacks couldn’t overcome Indonesia player Elcorneto’s pocket Kings to fall in 9th place. Twenty minutes later, Tunisia’s Luigi “shadinho94” Shehadeh risked it all with 
but China’s HLXDERRRR had better with 
to steal the lead and bring the field down to 7 players. Out next was Latvian player Aleks Ponakovs railed by Argentina’s EDUARDO1957. From there, it was all EDUARDO1957 who went on a slashing spree. He knocked out the next four players to face Wtfisthis at heads up. After just one hand, both players reached an ICM deal. EDUARDO1957 was guaranteed the larger payout for his bigger stack then play resumed for the ring. Six minutes later it was all over, Wtfisthis grinded to the lead then closed it out with 
straight over 
on a final board 
.
Final table payouts
1st Carlos “Wtfisthis” Henrique – Brazil – US$ 153,212.57 (heads up deal)
2nd EDUARDO1957 – Argentina – US$ 157,914.89 (heads up deal)
3rd Elcorneto – Indonesia – US$ 101,811.61
4th Roland “Gwriden” Rokita – Austria – US$ 77,234.56
5th Jon “Marklanders1” Garde – Morocco – US$ 88,590.26
6th HLXDERRRR – China – US$ 44,446.67
7th Aleks Ponakovs – Latvia – US$ 33,717.37
8th Luigi “shadinho94” Shehadeh – Tunisia – US$ 25,578
9th Mike Rossitto – USA – US$ 19,403.61
Notable players in the money: Sriharsha “Upswinger” Doddapaneni (39th). Ryan Reiss (48th), George Wolff (56th), Blaz Zerjav (57th), Ivan Zufic (68th), Mark Radoja (69th), Simon Lofberg (79th), Daniel “BaccaratKing” Neilson (88th), Alexandros Kolonias (108th), Mark Herm (137th).
WSOPC #8: $600 Marathon No Limit Hold’em – SEUNGMOOK “7high” JUNG – US$ 96,713.80
More happy players as yet another pot ballooned way past its guarantee. With 1,264 signing up for the $600 Marathon No Limit Hold’em event, the prize money jumped from US$ 500K to a a sweeter US$ 720,480. This was the second Asia time zone friendly event of the series. Over five and a half hours in, the bubble burst, then another seven hours or so past that, Korea’s Seungmook “7high” Jung defeated triple bracelet champion Adrian Mateos to capture his first ever tournament win and first ever WSOP circuit ring. This win comes just after he finished 9th at the WSOPC #4: $800 Monster Stack No Limit Hold’em.
Korea’s Seungmook “7high” Jung is a recognizable player in the Asian circuit. Although his live stats are minimal, the young hotshot reached two final table majors in 2019 at the Asian Poker Tour Philippines. His online stats are also one to commend. This past summer, Jung cashed at 9 WSOP Online events, reaching the final table at the US$ 1,000 Six Handed (Event 73) for US$ 43,040. It was his largest known score up until his victory at the ongoing series.
Date: December 26 @2000 HKT
Buy in: US$ 600
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
Entries: 1,264
Prize pool: US$ 720,480
Payout distribution: 15%
ITM: 215 places
Running time: 12 hours and 52 minutes
Leading up to the final table, at 16 remaining, ring winner TheMadQueen (16th) fell to Bruno “wisechinese1” Borges, Roman “prororo” Ro cleaned out influencer Mario Mosboeck (15th), valterzao denied ring winner Shyngis Satubayev (14th), then Borges also took down Joe “DietrichFats” Serock (13th). The next three to depart – Vlad Martynenko (12th), SpewSolver (11th), and yoyoc (10th) – were booted by 7high to form the final 9 players. At the other table, triple bracelet winner Adrian Mateos eliminated Silvio “valterzao” Costa (9th) for the final table to see only 8 stacks.
It was a high powered lineup at the final table with bracelet winners Mateos, Ajay “Ross_Geller” Chabra, and Jonas Lauck in the round. While 7high carried in the largest stack it was Mateos who dominated, knocking out every player before facing 7high at heads up. After Mateos ousted Jie “TwoBeatSix” Zheng (8th), he bad beat Lauck (7th) with AQo pairing both cards to defeat AKs. Mateos’s final knock out was China’s ZoZoQ with 
dominating 
.
Facing 7high for the ring, chip leader Mateos turned down a look at the numbers. Action then proceeded with 7high successfully clawing his way up to leader position, giving Mateos a difficult time trying to regain it. The Spanish pro Mateos did reach the top again however he couldn’t ward off the attacking 7high and dropped back down while 7high surged. When 7high built up a big lead, the final hand arrived with a winning 
over 
on a board 
.
Final table payouts
1st Seungmook “7high” Jung – Korea – US$ 96,713.80
2nd Adrian Mateos – Spain – US$ 72,524.14
3rd ZoZoQ – China – US$ 54,385.41
4th Bruno “wisechinese1” Borges – Brazil – US$ 40,783.31
5th Roman “prororo” Ro – Lithuania – US$ 30,538.21
6th Ajay “Ross_Geller” Chabra – USA – US$ 22,934.13
7th Jonas Lauck – Germany – US$ 17,198.18
8th Jie “TwoBeatSix” Zheng – China – US$ 12,896.84
Notable players in the top 100: Brian Green (19th), Nicolo Molinelli (24th), Senthuran “Prodigal Sen” Vijayaratnam (27th), Ho Bao “Yummers19” Qiang (42nd), Sylvain Loosli (57th), Jessice Teusl (92nd), Joaquin Melogno (98th).
WSOPC #9: $315 BOUNTY GIANT No Limit Hold’em – URMO VELVELT – US$ 115,035.73
The first head hunter event on schedule was the $315 Bounty Giant No Limit Hold’em and it was just as its name stated. It was a giant of an event, drawing a thunderous 4,582 into the virtual arena. This huge turnout crushed the guarantee for a much richer US$ 1,455,600 prize pool. 584 players eventually profited with Estonia’s Urmo Velvelt shipping it for a lion’s share US$ 115,035.73 and the WSOP circuit ring. This past summer, Velvelt nearly won a bracelet at the 2020 WSOP Online US$ 5,000 No Limit Hold’em 6 Handed Championship, finishing 4th for his first six figure payout of US$ 214,051.
Date: December 28 @0200 HKT
Buy in: US$ 315
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Entries: 4,582
Prize pool: US$ 1,455,600
Payout distribution: 12%
ITM: 584 places
Running time: 11 hours and 33 minutes
It took nearly nine hours to reach the final table. Leading up to it, notable players in the top 100 were Gianluca “Tankanza” Speranza, Gediminas “NeverGambol” Uselis, Joaquin Melogno, Shawn Daniels, Abhinav “OBellaCiao” Iyer, and Timur Margolin.
Down to two tables, Poland’s GROSZEK 5 eliminated Roger Tondeur (11th) and Michael “girfabanger7” Schmalnauer (10th) to form the final table ahead in the count. Wedged in the middle was Brian Green, the only WSOP decorated player in the group, and bringing up the rear was Urmo Velvelt.
Velvelt’s rise from the shortest stack to champion started by doubling up with pairing the ace to overtake Jerome “gorgiAAs” Finck’s pocket twos. This was enough ammo for Velvelt to send Poland’s FlamurALB out in 9th place. Green tumbled next, booted on a three way showdown of Kings vs Queens vs AQo. The Ace partnered up for a triple up to Yuratom and Green the exit. After Dexman1 finished off Finck (7th), Velvelt went on a rush, claiming multiple pots to take the lead. GROSZEK 5 joined the action by railing Kojaque (6th) and BornToFlip (5th). Short stacked Yuratom doubled up off Velvelt but still fell in 4th place to Dexman1 with pocket Jacks unable to stick against AQo that paired the Ace.
At three remaining, Dexman1 was in charge but that switched up when GROSZEK 5 was given the boot by Velvelt with 
over 
. This brought about heads up with Velvelt up 4:1 in chips. It was a tough battle for Dexman1 who witnessed his stack plunge to just 8 BB. Before the final hand, Dexman1 managed to double up an incredible four times to take the lead but the rise was short lived. Velvelt quickly retaliated with a straight over two pair. Back on top, the final hand arrived. On a board 
, Dexman1 had two pair, Velvelt won it with 
trips. Impressively, Velvelt collected nearly as much as the first prize payout in bounty rewards.
Final table payouts
1st Urmo Velvelt – Estonia – US$ 58,309.64 + US$ 56,726.09 bounties = US$ 115,035.73
2nd Dexman1 – Brazil – US$ 58,161.85 + US$ 15,204.25 bounties = US$ 73,366.10
3rd GROSZEK 5 – Poland – US$ 40,784.89 + US$ 23,780.62 bounties = US$ 64,565.51
4th Yuratom – Ukraine – US$ 28,564.09 + US$ 1,357.03 bounties = US$ 29,921.12
5th BornToFlip – Russia – US$ 20,005.09 + US$ 9,888.89 bounties = US$ 29,893.98
6th Kojaque – Ireland – US$ 14,010.77 + US$ 8,524.84 bounties = US$ 22,535.61
7th Jerome “gorgiAAs” Finck – Hong Kong – US$ 9,812.52 + US$ 5,993.57 bounties = US$ 15,806.09
8th Brian Green – USA – US$ 6,872.28 + US$ 4,509.39 bounties = US$ 11,381.67
9th FlamurALB – Poland – US$ 4,812.99 + US$ 4,587.88 bounties = US$ 9,400.87
UPCOMING KEY EVENTS
Open: WSOPC #15: $400 New Year COLOSSUS
Starting Days: ongoing since December 28
Final Day: January 4 @0230 HKT
Buy in: US$ 400
Guarantee: US$ 2,021,000
Cumulative Entries: 538
Day 2 Qualifiers: 74 players
*Natural8 Team Hot Pro Pete Chen advanced to Day 2 with a 25.5 BB stack
Top 15 in chips
WSOP#18: $1,700 Main Event
Starting Days: Begins January 4
Final Day: January 11 @0230 HKT
Buy in: US$ 1,700
Guarantee: US$ 10,000,000
UPCOMING EVENTS
WSOPC #11: $1,050 Bounty Hunters Championship
Date: December 30 @2am HKT
Buy in: US$ 1,050
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
WSOPC #12: $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em
Date: January 2 @8pm HKT
Buy in: US$ 500
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
WSOPC #13: $10,000 Heads Up NLHE [128 cap]
Date: January 3 @2am HKT
Buy in: US$ 10,000
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
WSOPC #14: $800 FIFTY STACK No Limit Hold’em
Date: January 4 @2am HKT
Buy in: US$ 800
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Exclusive Natural8 Promo: WSOPC LiveX – Live Event Sponsorship
Play in the WSOP Winter Online Circuit on Natural8 for a chance to win BONUS WSOPC live event sponsorships worth up to $50,000.
Main Event = $50,000 LiveX Crew Sponsorship
Win the WSOPC Main Event to win $50,000 and become a member of the LiveX Crew. Sponsorship package includes:
•12-month LiveX Crew Sponsorship
•$15,000 Las Vegas Package ($10,000 to cover your buy-ins and $5,000 for expenses)
•$35,000 for live event sponsorships over 12 months
Buy-ins of $1,000 and above = $10,000 LiveX Sponsorship
Win a WSOPC Ring from any event with a buy-in of $1,000 and above, and you’ll get a LiveX Crew package that includes:
•6-month LiveX Crew Sponsorship
•$10,000 Las Vegas Package ($7,500 to cover your buy-ins and $2,500 for expenses)
•Buy-ins from $999 and below = $5,000 LiveX Sponsorship
Win a WSOPC Ring from any event with a buy-in of $999 and below, and you’ll get a LiveX Crew package that includes:
•6-month LiveX Crew Sponsorship
•$5,000 Las Vegas Package ($2,500 to cover your buy-ins and $2,500 for expenses)
Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you recaps of the 2021 WSOP Winter Circuit Online Series as it unfolds.
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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