WSOP Online Festival Begins, Deals In Two New US States

Posted on: August 7, 2022, 05:05h.

Last updated on: August 8, 2022, 12:24h.

Corey Levitan Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas.

For the first time, Michigan and Pennsylvania residents can join Nevada and New Jersey residents in hands of the World Series of Poker’s (WSOP) online tournament, playing Sept. 10 through Oct. 18 on WSOP.com.

WSOP 2022 Main Event champ Espen Jorstad — Espen Jorstad won $10 million as the Main Event champ in the 53rd World Series of Poker at Bally’s. The WSOP just announced its third online festival, kicking off Sept. 10 for residents of four US states. (Image: Screenshot via PokerGo)

Billed as “the largest online poker festival in the world,” the third annual US event will translate to more entries for next year’s WSOP Tournament of Champions. That’s because each WSOP gold bracelet winner will also earn a seat in the in-person tournament returning to Las Vegas in the summer of 2023.

No one wanted to see this year’s WSOP come to an end,” said Ty Stewart, Senior Vice President and Executive Director of the World Series of Poker, in a statement. “However, in many ways, the return of WSOP Online is even more exciting.”

The 53rd WSOP on the Strip awarded $347.9 million in prize money to nearly 200,000 entrants, including $10 million to Main Event winner Espen Jorstad of Norway.

“Online bracelets are just as prestigious as live tournament bracelets,” said Daniel Negreanu, winner of six WSOP gold bracelets. “I’m glad that we’re creating a new tradition to celebrate the online game, and I’m striving to add my first WSOP Online bracelet to my collection.”

Online Poker’s Tangled Legal Web

In May this year, Michigan joined Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association (MSIGA). This allows for player liquidity pooling across state lines, making for bigger tournament fields and prizes. But it’s still early days; for now, Michigan players will be ring-fenced within state borders.

So far, Pennsylvania has declined to join the MSIGA compact, and its tournaments will be intrastate only.

In the WSOP online tournament, Michigan and Pennsylvania players can compete in six weekly bracelet tournaments each. Nevada and New Jersey residents can vie for 33 bracelets. No specific guarantees were announced. However, more than $25 million in prize pools were awarded to Nevada and New Jersey residents in 2020 and 2021.

Upcoming Schedule

International residents can join the tournament series on GGPoker.com from Aug. 14 to Sept. 27.

Buy-ins will range from $365 to $10,000, with WSOP.com’s online championship set for $1,000 on Oct. 16. This is scheduled to coincide with a series of notable Las Vegas tournaments. Out-of-state players are invited to participate in the series if their devices are geolocated within Nevada’s borders. (WSOP encourages players to test their account and geolocation services before joining any online tournaments.)

Scheduled highlights include the following tournaments:

$500 Monster Stack: Sunday, Sept. 11 (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan)
$400 PLOSSUS 6-Max: Saturday, Sept. 24 (Nevada and New Jersey only)
$365 No Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack: Thursday, Sept. 29 (Nevada and New Jersey only)
$777 Lucky 7’s: Sunday, Oct. 2 in (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan)
$1,500 No Limit Hold’em: Tuesday, Oct. 4 (Nevada and New Jersey only)
$500 Big 500 No Limit Hold’em: Sunday, Oct. 9 (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan)
$1,000 WSOP Online 2022 Championship-Sunday, October 16 (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan)
$10,000 Super High Roller [1x Re-entry]: Tuesday, Oct. 18 (Nevada and New Jersey only)