Canadian online poker players will be firing up the laptops this week in preparation for GGPoker’s WSOP Online Series.
The WSOP 2023 Online Series already kicked off on the US-facing WSOP.com site, but from July 19, GGPoker will be hosting 54 online bracelets of their own. GGPoker is available in Canada among other countries, but not the United States under current gaming legislation.
That means that players in Canada will have a chance to sit down with the game’s most prominent names in events like Pot Limit Omaha, No Limit Hold’em, and the $3M GTD COLOSSUS event.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional World Series of Poker in Las Vegas was cancelled for the summer of 2023.
That didn’t deter the event organizers, however. WSOP has moved its bracelet events online, split between the US-licenced WSOP.com site and GGPoker.
WSOP.com has been running the early legs of the 2023 World Series of Poker since July 1. Tournaments have been available to players geo-located in Nevada and New Jersey only.
Understandably, the majority of bracelet winners so far have hailed from the United States, plus a handful of big pros who currently reside in Las Vegas. That will change on July 19 when GGPoker.com begins hosting bracelet events from #32 onward.
The $100 ‘The Opener’ will start GGPoker’s events in style, and it’s an event that carries a cool $2M guaranteed prize pool. The 2-day tournament allows 1 re-entry per player and should ensure a big crowd.
The same day, there will be a charity event scheduled – $1,111 ‘Every 1 for COVID Relief’. The $111 for the 2-day event will be donated to coronavirus charities.
The WSOP 2023 Online gets serious on July 26 with the first COLOSSUS of the series. The low-buy-in tournament smashed records in its live form at the World Series of Poker. And the $3M guarantee and $400 buy-in should ensure plenty of interest when it’s held online this time around.
Many of the familiar favourites from the WSOP have migrated to the Online Series. The $1,500 Millionaire Maker (August 2-4) carries a $5M guarantee. The winner will also take away a guaranteed prize worth at least $1 million.
And the high rollers haven’t been excluded this year, either. The $10,000 Short Deck No Limit Hold’em Championship takes place on July 28, while the $10,000 Heads Up NLHE Championship starts on August 8.
With GGPoker’s roots in Asia, local players are also being catered for. The WSOP 2023 Online Series features a handful of tournaments played on the Asia Tim Zone. These include an $800 Double Stack PLO, a $300 Monster Stack NLHE event, and the $1,500 Marathon.
Two showpieces of the annual World Series of Poker remain in this year’s online schedule. The $25,000 NLHE POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP returns with a huge $10M guarantee attached.
This 2-day event usually attracts the world’s best pros, but it will be interesting to see how many big US names take part.
WSOP 2023 Online Series Highlights
GGPoker.com
July 19-September 6, 2023
Event #33: $1,111 Every 1 for Covid Relief (Caesars Cares)
Event #35: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship
Event #41: $400 COLOSSUS ($3M GTD)
Event #48: $1,500 MILLIONAIRE MAKER ($5M GTD)
Event #55: HK$8K NLHE Asia Championship (HK$8M GTD)
Event #63: $500 Mini Main Event ($5M GTD)
Event #70: $25,000 NLHE POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP ($10M GTD)
Event #77: $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event ($25M GTD)
While poker players make the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas each year for the WSOP, players’ travel plans have been thrown into chaos this year.
The COVID-19 outbreak has badly hit the US, and there are numerous travel restrictions in place for anyone trying to come in and out of the US.
That spells bad news for US poker pros wanting to take part in GGPoker’s online WSOP tournaments. Canada has effectively closed its borders to casual travellers from the United States. That looks certain to remain in place for the remainder of the WSOP.
Travel restrictions in Canada don’t apply to Canadian citizens or permanent residents. That means US-based poker pros may have to head to Mexico – itself experiencing major COVID-19 outbreaks – if they want to log on to GGPoker and play.
Canadian pro, Daniel Negreanu, has already intimated he may travel to Mexico to take part. However, air travel into Mexico seems to be the only way for US travellers to make the trip this month.
For now, “DNegs” has contented himself with playing the first half of the WSOP Online Series on WSOP.com.
But it hasn’t been plain sailing for Canada’s greatest ever player. Negreanu live-streamed his experiences playing in Event #10: $600 Monster Stack No Limit Hold’em event. But the pro was left fuming following a series of disconnections.
Negreanu had calmed down by the next day, tweeting:
As a GGPoker ambassador, Negreanu will be hoping that there aren’t too many disconnect issues on July 19 when the site takes over WSOP-hosting duties.
Negreanu has also been railing at the US banks during this summer’s World Series of Poker. As a US resident playing online, the Canadian has been moving lots of cash in and out of his poker accounts.
However, the transactions have drawn the attention of Bank of America, who have confirmed their notorious reputation for declining legal online gambling payments.
Despite being one of the world’s most famous poker pros, Negreanu had his Bank of America account closed without warning.
Tweeting last week, Negreanu warned his fellow pros in Las Vegas:
The Canadian professional will be hoping his banking woes are fixed before GGPoker’s online WSOP games.
