Jonathan 'Art.Vandelay' Dokler Wins First Bracelet of 2020 WSOP Online Series

The first World Series of Poker bracelet of 2020 has officially been awarded. Jonathan “Art.Vandelay” Dokler outlasted a field of 1,715 total entries to take down the WSOP Online $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘kick-off’ event. The Ohio native earned his first bracelet and the top prize of $130,425.75 after defeating Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner heads-up for the title. This was Dokler’s second big victory in an online event this year, having won a WSOP Circuit Online gold ring in late March for $77,910. he also won a $5,100 buy-in event at the Borgata Winter Poker Open earlier this year for $100,829, which was his largest recorded score prior to capturing this title.

With 1,195 players and 520 re-entries made in this event, the prize pool soared to $771,750. The top 248 finishers made the money, with a min-cash being worth $772 while the top nine finishers all earned at least five-figure paydays.

There were plenty of big names who made deep runs in this event, including four-time bracelet winner Mike ‘mouth123’ Matusow (44th – $2,623.95), 2012 WSOP main event runner-up Jesse “MrJesseJames” Sylvia (137th – $1,003.27), two-time Card Player Poker Tour main event winner Jon “havuuuuuc” Turner eliminated (12th – $7,872), and all-time WSOP bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, who held the chip lead at one point with just two tables remaining.

Hellmuth lost two massive pots with pocket queens after taking the lead, and eventually hit the rail in 11th place ($7,871.85). He first ran queens into the pocket kings of Jim ‘aggie69’ Agate with 18 players remaining to fall back down the counts a bit.

He then got all-in with QQ up against the AK of Shawn ‘SayGoodNight’ Daniels. Daniels hit a king on the flop and held from there to end Hellmuth’s run at winning his record-furthering 16th bracelet.

World Poker Tour champion Taylor ‘ZeroTo100’ Von Kriegenbergh was the first elimination at the final table. He got all-in with K-10, but ran into the A-K of Michael "DDSpade“ Balan and was unable to come from behind. He took home $10,109.92 as the ninth-place finisher.

Eliminations came fast and furious at the final table, with Dokler knocking out two of the next four players to take a sizable chip lead into four-handed action. Two-time WSOPC ring winner Shawn ‘SayGoodNight’ Daniels was the next to hit the virtual rail. He got all-in with A10 up against the KK of Tony ‘Panoramic’ Dunst. The 986 flop gave Daniels outs to an ace, a flush or a straight. The turn was the 6, leaving him behind with one card remaining. The J on the end was no help and Dunst’s pocket kings held to knock Daniels out in fourth place ($42,060.37).

Dunst was also involved in the next big confrontation. The WPT host and main event winner was only two knockouts away from securing his second WSOP bracelet, but his momentum came to a halt when he got all-in with 99 up against the AK of Dokler. The Q5210 board kept Dunst in the lead through the turn, but the K river game Dokler the winning pair. Dunst had to settle for $57,881.25 as the third-place finisher.

With that Dokler took nearly a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Justin ‘MadTitan’ Turner. Turner ultimately shoved his last chips in from the button with 106 and got called by Dokler’s 44. Turner took the lead on a 653 flop, but the 2 turn gave Dokler a straight. The 5 on the river was no help to Turner, and he was eliminated in second place. He earned $80,416.35 for his strong showing in this event.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Dokler photo via Borgata / PokerNews.

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