The 2020 World Series of Poker Online has been running on WSOP.com since the start of July with Events 1 to 31 exclusively meant for poker players in Nevada and New Jersey, USA. 20 bracelets have already been awarded. For international players, the series opened on 19th July on GGPoker Network and will run all the way till 6th September. There are 54 bracelet events on the GGPoker schedule with two already completed. The second bracelet event, Event #35 $5,000 PLO Championship, crowned a champion on Tuesday. It was Juha Helppi, a high stakes poker legend from Finland, who topped a 328-entry field to claim his second gold bracelet and a massive $290,286 in the top prize.
Currently ranked #2 on Finland All Time Money list with nearly $ 8 million in live tournament earnings, Helppi had taken down his first at the WSOP $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship (Event #72). His best score came in 2015 when he ended up as runner-up in the EPT Malta € 25,000 + 750 #16 NLH High Roller – 8 Handed for $ 399,261. Now he is a proud owner of two gold bracelets.
The first elimination from the final table came in Alex ‘rubbherducky’ Difelice who was followed by Serbia’s Marija ‘Maj Chenzie’ Andrijasevic in eighth place. Sergi Reixach exited in seventh place and Yuri Dzivielevski followed him. After Belarmino ‘Iseey0urcard’ De Souza going out in the third place, it finally came down to the heads-up between Jesus Cortes (1 million chips) and Juha Helppi (6 million chips). Taking advantage of massive chip lead, Helppi eventually took down the coveted title. On the final hand of the tournament, Helppi moved all-in on the flop 10h 9s 5d and Cortes made a the call.
Cortes: 9h 7s 5s 3d
Helppi: 10s 10c 7d 3h
The turn Kd and Kc on the river gave Helppi the coveted title, the top prize and his second bracelet.
With a total of 328 entries, the tournament accumulated an impressive prize pool of $1.55 million that was eventually shared by 47 players. Brian Green ended up as the unfortunate bubble boy and following him were 47 players, including India’s ‘pokermafiaa’ whose run finally ended in 26th place.
Other notable ITM finishers included the likes of Natural8 Ambassador Thai Ha (11th for $20,872), Gavin Cochrane (15th for $17,680), Anson ‘Tara@0z’ Tsang (19th for $14,976), George Wolff (22nd for $14,976), partypoker Ambassador Isaac Haxton (33rd for $12,685) and former bracelet champion’s Dario Alioto (37th for $10,745), and Stephen Chidwick (44th for $10,745) to name a few.
Final Table Payouts
- Juha Helppi – $290,286
- Jesus Cortes – $213,270
- Belarmino ‘Iseey0urcard’ De Souza – $156,688
- Mike Watson – $115,117
- Jens ‘98snaeJ’ Kyllonen – $84,576
- Yuri Dzivielevski – $62,137
- Sergi Reixach – $45,651
- Marija ‘Maj Chenzie’ Andrijasevic – $33,540
- Alex ‘rubbherducky’ Difelice – $24,641
Event #21: $777 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed (WSOP.com)
Taking place on WSOP.com, the 21st bracelet event, Event #21: $777 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, drew a field of 1,361 entries, generating a $952,700 prize pool. After 11 hours of play, it was WPT commentator Tony Dunst who shipped it to capture a $168,342 in top prize and his second bracelet.
In 2016, Dunst had taken down WSOP Event #63: $1,000 NLH for $339,254. In 2019, he then came close to winning second bracelet but lost to Carl Shaw in WSOP Event #89: $5,000 NLH for $374,886.
Dunst began the final table as the chip leader and by the time it came down to four players, he had more than 13 million. With Alec ‘Tango_Bravo’ Parslow exiting in third place for $72K, it eventually came down to heads-up battle between ‘paymycollege’ and Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst. The latter then won a crucial hand with a flush, leaving his opponent with less than 116k. Finally, ‘paymycollege’ ran six-three into aces of Dunst who shipped it to claim the top prize and his second gold bracelet.
Final Table Payouts
- Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst – $168,342
- ‘paymycollege – $103,940
- Alec ‘Tango_Bravo’ Parslow – $72,215
- ‘ilosestackz’ – $50,779
- Krista ‘Pollux’ Gifford – $36,203
- Jon ‘havuuuuuc’ Turner – $26,199