Mike Holtz, Michael Gagliano, and Maxx Coleman Headline Recent World Series of Poker Online Bracelet Winners

The domestic segment of the 2022 World Series of Poker Online is currently going strong on WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey. So far, 23 of the 33 WSOPO gold bracelets up for grabs have been handed out, with 10,371 entries thus far resulting in more than $6.7 million in prize money already awarded.

Card Player has published two recaps of the events to this point: the first covering events 1-8, while the second looks at the results from events 9-15. Below is a recap of events 16-23.

Event 16 – $500 NLH Deepstack

The $500 no-limit hold’em deepstack event was held on Saturday, Oct. 1. The tournament saw 555 total entries, with 386 unique players and 169 re-entries. As a result, the prize pool swelled to $249,750. In the end, the largest share of the nearly quarter-million dollars in prize money was secured by Connor Stuewe. The Brookline, MA resident earned his first bracelet and $45,679
for the win.

This was Stuewe’s largest recorded tournament score yet, surpassing the $33,900 he earned for a 331st-place showing in the 2021 WSOP main event in Las Vegas. He now has $153,697 in cashes under his belt.

A number of big names made deep runs in this event, including two-time bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Tony Dunst (63rd), WPT champion and 2012 WSOP main event runner-up Jesse Sylva (61st), two-time WSOPC ring winner Jamie Kerstetter (53rd), two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (36th), three-time bracelet winner Shankar Pillai (28th), Chris Brewer (18th), Nick Palma (9th), JJ Liu (8th), and 2 Kevin Garosshen (2nd).

Event 17 – $777 NLH ‘Lucky 7s’

The $777 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Lucky 7s’ event was won by Mike Holtz, a tournament staple on WSOP.com who won the 2021 Player of the Year race for the online site. The Ocean City, MD resident defeated a field of 564 total entries in the tournament to earn $76,157 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.

The win increased Holtz’ recorded tournament earnings to more than $682,000. This was the largest score yet on his resume. He fell just short of securing his first bracelet during last year’s WSOPO series, placing second to Bradley Ruben in the $600 pot-limit Omaha six-max event.

Notables who joined Holtz at the final few tables included ‘Johnnie Vibes’ Moreno (30th), two-time bracelet winner Michael Wand (20th), two-time bracelet winner Jeremiah Williams (19th), four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (16th), and three-time bracelet winner Matt Matros (11th).

Holtz photo credit: PokerNews / Hayley Hochstetler.

Event 18 – $1,000 NLH Turbo Deepstack

The action was fast and furious in the $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em turbo deepstack event. It took roughly six hours of play to narrow a 344-entry field down to a champion in this briskly-paced affair, When the dust settled, Michael Gagliano was the last player with chips. The Rockaway, NJ native earned $62,756 and his second career bracelet as the champion.

Gagliano first struck gold back in 2016, when he took down a $2,500 no-limit hold’em event at the series to earn $448,463. He now has more than $2.2 million in recorded tournament earnings, with roughly half of that coming in WSOP events.

The top 48 finishers made the money in this event, with notables like two-time bracelet winner Martin Zamani (40th), bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (30th), two-time bracelet winner Scott Ball (18th), recent online bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (18th), WPT champion Jordan Cristos (13th), bracelet winner Alex Foxen (8th), and John Riordan (2nd) all running deep.

Event 19 – $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

The stakes rose to $1,500 for the next no-limit hold’em bracelet event. A total of 332 entries were made at that price point, building a prize pool of $456,500 (the largest so far in the domestic segment of the series).

In the end, the largest chunk of that money was won by Jordyn Miller, who earned his first bracelet and $96,914 as the champion. Miller had finished second to Holtz just a couple of days earlier for $55,114. These two scores are officially the largest and third-largest of his career. They helped his career earnings grow to $717,481.

Miller’s second-biggest cash came earlier this year, when he finished 87th in the WSOP main event for $86,000.

Big names that made deep runs in this event included 2013 WSOP main event winner Ryan Riess (31st), Matt Affleck (28th), WPT champion Matthew Wantman (20th), Jeremiah Williams (15th), Jesse Lonis (13th), bracelet winner Ian Steinman (12th), and eight-time WSOPC ring winner Daniel Buzgon (7th).

Event 20 – $500 NLH Turbo

Event 20 of the WSOPO was yet another race to the finish. A total of 479 entries were made in the $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em turbo, creating a $215,550 prize pool. Mark Dibello earned $41,579 and his first gold bracelet after just five hours of tournament action.

This was the largest recorded score yet for the Las Vegas resident, blowing away the $12,749 he earned as the runner-up finisher in a $250 WSOP Online Circuit event this spring.

Among those to survive to the final few tables were two-time bracelet winner tanner Bibat (17th), Jordan Cristos (14th), four-time WPT champion Darren Elias (11th), bracelet winner Eric Van Auken (10th), and Mike Holtz (4th).

Event 21 – $600 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

Next up on the agenda was a short-handed NLH affair. The $600 buy-in six-max event attracted 448 entries, creating a prize pool of $241,920. The lion’s share of that money was ultimately secured by Maxx Coleman, who came away with $46,666 and his second career bracelet as the champion.

Coleman won his first bracelet earlier this year, taking down the $1,500 no-limit deuce-to-seven lowball event at the series of $127,809. Coleman now has more than $2.8 million in lifetime tournament earnings to his name, with his largest score being the $775,000 he was awarded as the champion of the main event at The River Poker Series in 2015.

Coleman was joined at the final few tables by a number of recognizable names, including Mike Ziemba (12th), Karina Jett (11th), bracelet winner Thomas Cannuli (9th), Matthew Paoletti (7th), three-time bracelet winner Ryan Leng (6th), MSPT Venetian champion Jeff Platt (3rd), and two-time bracelet winner Bryan Piccioli (2nd).

Event 22 – $500 No-Limit Hold’em ‘Big 500’

The ‘Big 500’ event saw 462 entries made at $500 a piece, building a healthy prize pool of $333,900 that was split up amongst the top 72 finishers. Matthew Paoletti emerged victorious in the end, taking home his first bracelet and $61,070 after defeating recent bracelet winner Jesse Lonis (2nd – $44,275) heads-up for the title.

The Perkasie, Pennsylvania resident now has more than $264,000 in recorded cashes. His biggest-ever cash came when he finished 76th in this year’s main event for $101,700. He also has a WSOP Circuit ring to his name, having won a $365 buy-in no-limit hold’em event at the 2017 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City festival.

There were several bracelet winners who made the final table, including Jonathan Dokler (5th), Brett Apter (4th), and the aforementioned Lonis. Third-place finisher Taylor Black is the reigning WPT Five Diamond main event champion, who also took down the 2018 partypoker MILLIONS North America main event for a seven-figure payday. He has more than $4.2 million in lifetime earnings after his deep run in this event.

Event 23 – $1,500 NLH Freezeout

The final event covered in this recap is the $1,500 no-limit hold’em freezeout. A total of 244 players turned out, creating a $335,500 purse. Michael Mercaldo came out on top in the end, locking up his second bracelet and $68,005 as the champion.

Mercaldo won his first piece of WSOP hardware as the champion of the 2021 $777 buy-in event ($123,574). He now has more than $457,000 in recorded tournament earnings.

Plenty of accomplished players made it down to the business end of this event, including Alex Foxen (27th), Jeff Platt (20th), EPT Villamoura champion and Aussie Millions main event winner Toby Lewis (9th), recent bracelet winner jesse Yaginuma (8th), WPT Champion Orson Young (6th), and Matthew Wantman (4th).

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