Jeremy Ausmus, Jesse Lonis, and Soheb Porbandarwala Among Early World Series of Poker Online Winners On WSOP.com

The domestic segment of the 2022 World Series of Poker Online kicked off on WSOP.com last week, and there have already been eight bracelets awarded for players located in Nevada and New Jersey. Almost $2.4 million in prize money has been paid out thus far, with nearly 3,800 entries through the first eight events.

Several big names were among the eight champions decided already in the U.S.-facing segment of the series. Below we take a closer look at the results so far.

Event 1 – $400 No-Limit Hold’em

The first event on the agenda was a $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament that kicked off on Sept. 10. A total of 755 entries were made by the time registration came to a close, creating a total prize pool of $271,800. The top 90 finishers made the money in this event, but only one would end the day with the bracelet and the top prize of $58,491, and that player was Ori Hasson.

This was the first bracelet win for the Israeli player and the fourth-largest recorded tournament payday of his career. The score increased his lifetime tournament earnings to more than $660,000.

A number of big names made deep runs in this event, including bracelet winner Alex Foxen (37th), bracelet winner Todd Brunson (30th), six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (15th), Adam Hendrix (10th), four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (5th), and bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger (4th).

Photo credit: Danny Maxwell / PokerStars.

Event 2 – $500 No-Limit Hold’em MonsterStack

Next up on the schedule was the $500 buy-in ‘MonsterStack’ tournament, which drew 722 total entries for the largest field of any of the WSOP.com events that have yet been completed this series. The strong turnout built a prize pool of $324,900. The largest share of that was ultimately secured by Benjamin Garrick. The Gold Beach, Oregon resident earned $64,590 and his first gold bracelet for the win.

This was Garrick’s largest recorded score yet, more than doubling the $30,000 he earned as the runner-up in a $600 buy-in event at the Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series II last fall.

Notables among the 126 in-the-money finishers in this event included kickoff event winner Ori Hasson (75th), Jeff Madsen (49th), three-time bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Nick Schulman (31st), and Daniel Buzgon (28th).

Event 3 – $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em

The price of poker went up considerably for the third event on the schedule. The high roller event cost $3,200 to enter. When all was said and done, 124 entries were made to create a prize pool of $376,960. Drew O’Connell emerged victorious in the end, earning his second career gold bracelet and the top prize of $96,087.

O’Connell’s first WSOP victory came in the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em online championship last fall. That win saw him beat out 821 entries to earn a career-high payday of $146,893. O’Connell now has more than $530,000 in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

Other big names to make it deep in this tournament included three-time bracelet winner Shankar Pillai (18th), Alex Foxen (17th), two-time bracelet winner and WPT champion Tony Dunst (15th), Andrew Lichtenberger (11th), Jeff Madsen (7th), bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (4th), and two-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson (3rd).

Photo credit: Borgata Poker Blog.

Event 4 – $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Six-Max

Six-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner Soheb Porbandarwala finally broke through to win his first bracelet in the $1,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha six-max event. The Stamford, Connecticut resident outlasted a field of 273 total entries to secure the gold and a payout of $57,125.

This was the fifth-largest score of Porbandarwala’s career, increasing his total earnings to more than $1.6 million.

The top 24 finishers cashed in this PLO event, with recognizable names like bracelet winner Ian Steinman (24th), Jesse Yaginuma (21st), two-time bracelet winner Martin Zamani (9th), Stanley Lee (4th) and bracelet winner Tristan Wade (3rd) among those who ran deep.

Photo credit: Borgata Poker Blog.

Event 5 – $500 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo DeepStack

The fast-paced $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em turbo deepstack event attracted 515 total entries, building a prize pool of $231,750 that was paid out among the top 60 finishers.

The race to accumulate all of the chips was ultimately won by Christopher Castiglia. This was the first recorded score ever for the Jersey City, New Jersey resident, earning him $44,705 and the coveted WSOP gold bracelet.

There were plenty of big names joining Castiglia at the final few tables of this event, including the likes of bracelet winner and WPT champion Ryan Tosoc (24th), Shannon Shorr (16th), three-time bracelet winner RyanLeng (14th), two-time bracelet winner Ari Engel (12th), four-time bracelet winner Ben Yu (10th), and 2013 WSOP main event champion Ryan Riess (7th).

Event 6 – $800 No-Limit Hold’em Ultra DeepStack

Next up on the agenda was the $800 buy-in ‘ultra deepstack’ no-limit hold’em event. A $282,960 prize pool was created when 393 entries were made, with that money split among the top 48 finishers. The largest share was captured by Vito Distefano of Chicago, Illinois.

This was the largest cash of his career, topping the $54,438 he earned as the 17th-place finisher in the $1,500 buy-in ‘millionaire maker’ event at this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas. He now has nearly $470,000 in recorded earnings thanks to this latest victory.

Notable who made it deep in this event included Ryan Riess (30th), Tony Dunst (17th), and Katie Lindsay (8th).

Photo credit: Seminole Coconut Creek blog.

Event 7 – $365 No-Limit Hold’em

Despite a relatively modest buy-in of just $365, the seventh event of this series ended up with one of the most stacked final tables yet. In the end, it was high-stakes tournament regular Jeremy Ausmus who emerged victorious from the field of 571 entries. For the win, Ausmus earned $51,807 and his fifth WSOP gold bracelet.

This was Ausmus’s second bracelet win of the year and fourth in the past two years. He came into 2021 with just one bracelet to his name, which he won back in 2013 in a WSOP Europe €1,650 pot-limit Omaha event.

Ausmus now has roughly $12.8 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

As previously mentioned, there were plenty of big names who joined Ausmus in making the business end of this event, including Poker Hall of Fame member David Oppenheim (13th), Daniel Negreanu (8th), and Nick Schulman (2nd).

Schulman came within one spot of securing his fourth bracelet, but he ended up getting all-in with an open-ended straight draw facing the flopped top and bottom pairs of Ausmus. Schulman failed to improve on the turn or river and was sent to the virtual rail with $37,792 for his efforts.

Event 8 – $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

The winner of event no. 8 played Ausmus heads-up for a bracelet at the start of the 2021 series. Ausmus came out on top that time, but in this tournament, it was rising star Jesse Lonis who emerged victorious.

Lonis beat out a field of 384 entries in the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em six-max event, earning $73,370 and his first gold bracelet. As a result of this win, the Little Falls, New York native increased his career earnings to more than $1.8 million.

Other big names to run deep included poker vlogger Ethan Yau (35th), Alex Rocha (24th), Ryan Riess (20th), and PokerGo commentator Jeff Platt (9th), who was just a few weeks removed from his win in the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian main event.

Joining Lonis at the final table were high-roller regular Vikenty Shegal (6th), bracelet winner Carlos Welch (5th), bracelet winner Jonathan Dokler (4th), and bracelet winner Cole Ferraro (2nd).

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