WSOP Ups Number of Online Bracelet Events to Nine
Believe it or not, this will be the fifth year in which the World Series of Poker will have online bracelet events. While they don’t get the attention that the traditional bracelet events do, the online tournaments have become more and more accepted over the years. And this year, they are going to explode, as the WSOP has announced that there will be nine online events for the 50th edition of the poker festival, the same number of online bracelet events in the last four years combined.
All of the tournaments will be held on WSOP.com, naturally, though right now it appears that only players in Nevada will be eligible.
“Eligibility for New Jersey players in WSOP.com online gold bracelet events has yet to be determined,” a press release stated.
The World Series of Poker has made participation in the internet events easy for players to plan, as seven of them will be held each Sunday from June 2nd through July 14th at 3:30 pm PT. The other two will be on Wednesday, June 19th and Wednesday, July 3rd, also at 3:30 pm PT.
Aside from the convenience of being online, one nice thing about the online bracelet events is that they are generally more affordable than most of the tournaments at the Rio this summer. Six of the nine events have buy-ins below $1,000, two cost exactly $1,000, and one, the High Roller No-Limit Hold’em Event, is $3,200.
The Short History of WSOP Online Bracelet Events
The decision to award bracelets online in 2015 was definitely controversial. Many loved the idea, figuring it only made sense to do so in the age of internet poker, but others didn’t believe it was real poker, lamenting the attack on the purity of the game. There was only one online bracelet event that year, a $1,000 event that fielded 905 players.
In addition to the novelty of holding a bracelet event online, that first tournament was also an oddball in that the six-handed final table was contested live at the Rio, likely to try to keep some tradition intact. The live portion was originally scheduled for the day after the final table was determined, but it was moved back a day to give players that were from farther reaches of Nevada time to travel to Las Vegas.
The formula was the same again in 2016, one online bracelet event with a live final table, but this time, re-entries were available.
The online bracelet schedule expanded to three events in 2017 and then four last year. The live final table was jettisoned in 2017, in favor of the complete tournament being played online.
“Just like the land-based WSOP, the annual summer series is also the best time for online poker players in the U.S. to chase big prize pools and WSOP gold bracelets,” said WSOP.com head of online poker Bill Rini in a press release. “WSOP.com is offering a consistent gold bracelet schedule this year, plus non-stop satellites to both the online and live events, giving players the best opportunity to participate in the 50th Annual WSOP.”
Per the press release, here are the eligibility requirements and online-specific rules for the nine events:
To participate on WSOP.com, players must be 21 years of age, and physically inside the borders of an eligible state. You do not have to be a resident of the state to register for play or participate, but all game action must be done while inside state borders. It is important to note the following in regards to WSOP.com online play:
• Players must be physically inside the borders of an eligible state at the time of the tournament.
• Pot-Limit Omaha events are not available on mobile version of software
• Tournament tickets cannot be used for re-entry
• Tournament tickets cannot be used for Knockout bounty tournaments
• Players have 30 seconds to re-enter re-entry events and must have enough funds in their account to do so at the time of re-entry
Though it says “inside the borders of an eligible state,” keep in mind, as mentioned earlier, that the eligibility of New Jersey players is still up in the air, even though they can play on WSOP.com and share tables with Nevada players.
All but two of the online bracelet events allow three re-entries. One permits unlimited re-entries (up until a certain point, of course), and one is a pure freezeout.
As one would expect, there will be loads of satellites on WSOP.com in the days and weeks leading up to each online bracelet event.
2019 World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Event Schedule
| DATE | EVENT | BUY-IN | CHIPS | LEVELS | RE-ENTRY | BB | TIME | LATE REG |
| 2-Jun | No-Limit Hold’em | $400 | 15,000 | 15 minutes | 3x | 300 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:15 pm |
| 9-Jun | 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha | $600 | 15,000 | 20 minutes | Unlimited | 150 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:15 pm |
| 16-Jun | Knock-Out Bounty No-Limit Hold’em | $600 | 20,000 | 15 minutes | None | 200 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:15 pm |
| 19-Jun | Turbo No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack | $500 | 40,000 | 8 minutes | 3x | 400 | 3:30 pm PT | 6:30 pm |
| 23-Jun | Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em | $1,000 | 30,000 | 15 minutes | 3x | 600 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:30 pm |
| 30-Jun | No-Limit Hold’em Championship | $1,000 | 15,000 | 20 minutes | 3x | 300 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:30 pm |
| 3-Jul | High Roller No-Limit Hold’em | $3,200 | 25,000 | 20 minutes | 3x | 500 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:30 pm |
| 7-Jul | 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em | $800 | 15,000 | 15 minutes | 3x | 300 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:30 pm |
| 14-Jul | Summer Saver No-Limit Hold’em | $500 | 20,000 | 15 minutes | 3x | 200 | 3:30 pm PT | 7:15 pm |
COMMENTS