WSOP Winter Online Circuit Series
WSOP Winter Online Circuit 2020
In December 2020, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and GGPoker once again joined forces for the WSOP Winter Online Circuit Series, which featured a massive $100,000,000 in guarantees. The online poker festival, which ran December 13, 2020 through January, 10, 2021, offered 18 circuit ring events and a full schedule of side events.
Over the course of the 18 ring events, a combined 85,965 entrants participated and $38,712,269 in prize money. Among those to capture rings during the course of the series were Joaquin Melogno, Christian Jeppsson, Anson “Tara@0z" Tsang, Niklas Astedt, Yuri Dzivielevski, Michael Addamo, and Samuli “BeastsSag_A" Sipila.
Highlights from the WSOP Winter Online Circuit Series 2020
The series kicked off in a big way when the $50 buy-in Event #1: BIG $50 attracted 31,291 entrants who created a $1,439,386 prize pool. Russia’s Aleksey “ImLuckPads” Savenkov finished as the last player standing to win a $168,810 top prize.
The next tournament on the schedule was the $10,300 buy-in Event #2: Super MILLION$, which drew 511 runners and offered up a $5,110,000 prize pool. Uruguay’s Joaquin Melogno was the victor to claim a $636,072 top prize and his second WSOP Circuit ring. His first fame came after taking down the 2018/19 International Circuit $2,500 GRAN FINAL MILLONARIA at Enjoy Punta del Este in his home country for $505,606.
To celebrate the winter holidays, players turned out in force for the $400 buy-in Event #10: Christmas PLOSSUS, which had 3,628 runners and a $2,733,559 prize pool. Two-time bracelet winner Anson “Tara@0z” Tsang added more WSOP jewelry to his hand, this time the first gold ring of his burgeoning career.
In the $10,000 buy-in Event #13: Heads-Up NLHE, 94 runners competed for a $1 million prize pool. Sweden’s Niklas Astedt, largely regarded as one of the best online poker players of all time, won the tournament for $348,250, which brought his lifetime GGPoker winnings up to nearly $6 million. Finally, the $400 buy-in Event #15: New Year Colossus saw 8,725 entrants create a $3,280,600 prize pool. On Day 2, 1,356 players returned to action to battle down to a winner. The last player standing was Australia’s Michael Addamo claiming the title for $374,604 and his first ring. The hardware complimented the two WSOP gold bracelets he won back in 2018.
Paulius Plausinaitis Wins Main Event
The 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Winter Online Circuit culminated with the $1,700 buy-in Main Event, which surpassed its $10 million guarantee by attracting 6,395 entrants (including 974 re-entries) and offered up a $10,327,925 prize pool.
The top 700 finishers got paid a minimum of $4,107, and among those to make deep runs were Drew “BigPavelski” Soik (11th – $48,908), Philippe D’Auteuil (16th – $37,681), Danny Tang (24th – $29,033), Kenny Smaron (27th – $25,483), and Brian “LeBadeGr” Ganon (36th – $22,368).
The final table was filled with accomplished players like Alexandru Papazian, Joni Joukimainen, and former WSOP November Niner Joseph Cheong, but in the end the title went to Lithuania’s Paulius Plausinaitis. Plausinaitis, a Macau-based high-stakes cash game player, began the final table as chip leader and went wire-to-wire to claim a $1,236,361 first-place prize and his first circuit ring. It marked the biggest MTT top prize for any Lithuanian poker player in the history of online poker.
Check out the full 2020 schedule here.
