A Champion Will Be Crowned in the 2020 GGPoker WSOP $5,000 Main Event
After a break of six days, the final 38 hopefuls out of field of 5,802 players in Event #77: $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event return to their seats to play down to a champion. The flagship tournament of the 2020 GGPoker World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Events set several records such as the biggest guarantee, $27,550,500 as the biggest prize pool for an online poker tournament and a top prize of $3,904,685.63 as biggest individual prize to be awarded in online poker.
It is not uncommon to have a break prior to the grand showdown as the live event in Las Vegas used to do just that in the November Nine format for several years, however, the current September Thirty Eight will not be patched up in the spotlight of the TV cameras. Instead, all of them will be sitting in the location off their choice in front of a computer screen and the rail will be a virtual one for anyone with access to the GGNetwork.
Leading the field into the final day atop the leaderboard is American poker pro Bryan Piccioli with a stack of 18,417,484 and he knows well how to run deep in the WSOP Main Event after finishing 6th in 2017. Second in chips is British pro Michael Kane with 15,907,969 followed by Stoyan Madanzhiev with 15,299,783. Other notables in the top 10 include Swiss pro Dinesh Alt (11,681,173), online poker streamer and Raise Your Edge coaching platform founder Benjamin "bencb789" Rolle (10,789,181 and China's Wenling Gao (10,553,281).
The Top 10 Stacks at a Glance
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryan Piccioli | United States | 18,417,494 | 92 |
| 2 | Michael Kane | United Kingdom | 15,907,969 | 80 |
| 3 | Stoyan Madanzhiev | Bulgaria | 15,299,783 | 76 |
| 4 | Kelly Wong | United Kingdom | 13,108,575 | 66 |
| 5 | Craig Timmis | United Kingdom | 12,809,181 | 64 |
| 6 | Dinesh Alt | Switzerland | 11,681,173 | 58 |
| 7 | Mariano Martiradonna | Luxembourg | 11,116,489 | 56 |
| 8 | Benjamin Rolle | United Kingdom | 10,789,181 | 54 |
| 9 | Wenling Gao | China | 10,553,281 | 53 |
| 10 | Joao Santos | Brazil | 10,433,786 | 52 |
Three WSOP bracelet winners will aim to double their tally including Jonas Lauck (6,118,751), Michael Lech (4,192,636) and Arkadiy Tsinis (2,394,386). Lauck and Tsinis earned their victory during the live festivals in previous years whereas Lech did so also on Nevada soil but during the WSOP.com online portion of this year's online competition.
Other notables still in contention include Dingxiang Ong (9,320,927), Samuel Taylor (8,635,342), Stefan Schillhabel (8,412,841), Joshua Mccully (7,906,110), Manuel Saavedra (5,847,283), the number one on Thailand's all-time money list Phachara Wongwichit (5,153,525), high stakes cash game player Chris Brewer (4,908,096), Samuel Vousden (4,241,694) and Julian Stuer (2,111,979) to name just a few.
Of the 38 survivors, 11 players qualified for the $5,000 Main Event through a satellite - eight of them invested $500 and three won their seat for just $250. They have already locked up a prize of $39,214.41 and the next pay jump awaits with 35 players remaining who will walk away with at least $55,789.64.
The action is slated to recommence at 6.30 p.m. GMT (8.30 p.m. CET, 2.30 p.m. EST) and the final day will be broadcasted with cards-up coverage on GGPoker.TV. The returning blinds will be 100,000/200,000 with a running ante of 25,000 and each level lasts 40 minutes until a winner has been crowned.
Stay tuned and check back often as the PokerNews live reporting team will provide all the action from start to finish as four players will walk away with more than $1 million for their efforts.