2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship

2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship
Day: 1
Event Info

2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship

Final Results
Winner
Andrew "RandyLerch" Kelsall
Winning Hand
53
Prize
$275,632
Event Info
Prize Pool
$1,070,000
Entries
130
Players Info - Day 1
Entries
130
Players Left
1

Welcome to the 2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship!

Cards, Chips, WSOP.com
Cards, Chips, WSOP.com

On Sunday, the World Series of Poker Global Casino Championship will take place on WSOP.com. Depending on whether the situation with COVID-19 clears up, it may be the final bracelet awarded in 2020. Not only will PokerNews be offering live updates throughout the tournament, but they will also live-stream the action on the PokerNews Twitch Channel.

The online edition of the GCC is the first in the relatively short history of the WSOP Circuit's season-ending event. It typically brings together all of the Circuit's finest competitors under one roof for a great shot at a $1 million prize pool in a short field of 120 to 140 runners. Now, all participants will be required to be in either Nevada or New Jersey to play. We will publish a list of all registered players at the start of the tournament at Noon PDT on Sunday.

Some players qualified via winning WSOPC Main Events or Casino Champion honors, some qualified by making the top 50 of the points leaderboard, and in 2020, others qualified by simply winning a ring in the WSOP.com Season Finale.

Here's a look at all those who won rings in that online season finale:

TournamentBuy-InEntriesPrize PoolWinnerPrize    
Event #1: $100,000 GTD NLH Online Finale Circuit Kick-Off 2x Re-entry$215886177,200"YoungGunz21"$42,528    
Event #2: $100,000 GTD NLH Online Finale Circuit 2x Re-entry$320515$184,500Soheb "tommyconway6" Porbandarwala$46,125    
Event #3: $100,000 GTD Online Finale NLH Turbo Deepstack 2x Re-entry$250625$149,375"Aiden13"$23,810    
Event #4: $150,000 GTD Online Finale Big 500 3x Re-entry$500422$197,074Kyle "iwant2win" Marlborough$52,224    
Event #5: $200,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit Monster Stack 3x Re-entry$525663$331,500Alan "mossadshark" Sternberg$81,217    
Event #6: $100,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit Freezeout$320419$125,700David "TheClubber" Larson$30,796    
Event #7: $150,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit High Roller 6-Max 2x Re-entry$1,000291$277,905Shawn "Saygoodnight" Daniels$75,035    
Event #8: $100,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit NLH 2x Re-entry$215887$177,400Dan "fatdan44" Wach$42,576    
Event #9: $100,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit NLH 2x Re-entry$320681$204,300Kami "Loco4coco" Hudson$50,053    
Event #10: $100,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit NLH Monster Stack 3x Re-entry$320706$211,800Michael "ParxBigStax" Marder$50,832    
Event #11: $150,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit NLH Double Stack 2x Re-entry$320695$208,500"macallan25"$51,082    
Event #12: $300,000 GTD Online Finale Circuit NLH Main Event 3x Re-entry$5251,109$554,500Frank "spaghettiii" Marasco$127,535    

In addition, players who met certain criteria were eligible to buy into the Global Casino Championship directly. The entry fee was a rake-free $10,000, which is added to the $1,000,000 base prize pool. Those eligible to buy-in directly where any ring winner from the 2019-2020 WSOP Circuit season.

2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship
2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship

WSOP National/Global Casino Championship Winners

SeasonTournamentEntriesWinnerPrizeRunner-Up
2010–11WSOP Circuit National Championship100Sam Barnhart$300,000James Anderson
2011–12WSOP Circuit National Championship157Ryan Eriquezzo$416,051Nik Stone
2012–13WSOP Circuit National Championship127Jonathan Hilton$355,599Max Steinberg
2013–14WSOP Circuit National Championship126Dominik Nitsche$352,800Athanasios Polychronopoulos
2014–15WSOP Circuit National Championship122Loni Harwood$341,599Alexandru Masek
2015–16WSOP Global Casino Championship126Said El-Yousfi$343,256Yasin Ahmady
2016–17WSOP Global Casino Championship124Sean Yu$296,941Alexander Lakhov
2017–18WSOP Global Casino Championship127Warren Sheaves$282,113Jeremy Meacham
2018–19WSOP Global Casino Championship129Ryan Eriquezzo$279,431Eric Salazar

The first step in getting set up to play on WSOP.com is to download the client. You can do so for both mobile (Android and iOS) and desktop (Windows 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.6.8).

To get the correct version of the client, use the links below:

Player Profile: Brian "JackBogle" Altman

Brian Altman
Brian Altman

Brian Altman

Method of Qualification: At-Large Points (16th)

Few players have had the success to match Altman on the US-regulated sites. Playing under the moniker "JackBogle," Altman seems to rack up five-figure score after five-figure score as a regular in the higher-stakes tournament events every weekend.

He showed off his prowess in the spring as he stormed out of the gates during the WSOP.com Online Super Circuit in March with a ring win worth $32,781 in Event #3: $215 No-Limit Hold'em Deep Turbo. It was his second piece of WSOP gold after he took down a Circuit Main Event back in 2016.

While that sort of tournament may require more than the usual positive variance to win, Altman followed up shortly after with a fourth-place finish in Event #16: $525 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT for $34,020. He then cashed five more times in the WSOP.com Season Finale series, highlighted by a fourth-place finish for $13K.

Given Altman's overall record of excellence both on the Circuit — he has $284K in cashes there — and on WSOP.com, he has to be considered one of the strongest players in the field come Sunday. Never afraid to play huge pots early, his highly volatile playing style means he'll likely mark himself as one of the final table favorites early by collecting a big stack, or he'll be on his way to whatever second-chance events are available on the client.

Tags: Brian Altman

National/Global Casino Championship History: Sam Barnhart Wins Inaugural Event

Sam Barnhart
Sam Barnhart

In 2011, the WSOPC hosted its first National Championship, which was held at Caesars Palace just prior to that year’s WSOP. The tournament was only open to 100 WSOPC qualifiers and offered up a $1,000,000 prize pool.

The inaugural winner was Arkansas’ Sam Barnhart, who qualified after winning the WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica for $148,612 three months earlier. Barnhart’s heater continued later in the summer when he finished 17th in the WSOP Main Event for a career-high $378,796.

Barnhart relocated to Las Vegas after his remarkable run where he still resides today.

“Mostly cash games and online. Not playing as much,” Barnhart recently told PokerNews when asked what he’s been up to. “I’m also doing real estate. I will eventually get in commercial ‘selling businesses.’”

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Sam BarnhartUSA$300,000
2James AndersonUSA$200,000
3Josh EvansUSA$135,000
4La SengphetUSA$100,000
5Jonathan PocheUSA$75,000
6Charles “Woody” MooreUSA$55,000
7Drazen IlichUSA$42,500
8Adam HuiCanada$35,000
9Matt LawrenceUSA$30,000
10Huy NguyenUSA$27,500

Tags: Sam Barnhart

Watch the 2020 WSOP Global Casino Championship on the PokerNews Twitch Channel Now!

PokerNews Twitch
PokerNews Twitch

The PokerNews live reporting team is on top of all the World Series of Poker action this year, and did bracelet coverage of all 31 events on WSOP.com and 54 events over at GGPoker. Of course we're continuing with this tournament as well!

Besides our traditional updates, the PokerNews Twitch stream is back to bring direct you coverage from the digital arena.

PokerNews is streaming today's action with PokerNews's Social Media manager Jesse Fullen on commentary.

Check out PokerNews Twitch right here!

National/Global Casino Championship History: Ryan Eriquezzo Wins for First Time

Ryan Eriquezzo
Ryan Eriquezzo

The following year, the National Championship moved over to the Rio and took place during the WSOP. That year, officials also expanded the field by offering the top 100 players in the WSOP World Rankings, a points race determined on results in open events from the two years previous, the chance to enter if they wanted to pony up the $10,000 buy-in.

That year the tournament drew 157 runners and saw Ryan Eriquezzo, who had qualified by winning the 2012 WSOP Circuit Caesars Atlantic City Main Event, come out on top to win his first bracelet and a $416,051 top prize.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Ryan EriquezzoUSA$416,051
2Nik StoneUSA$257,119
3Huy NguyenUSA$186,265
4Matt KeikoanUSA$137,485
5Yung HwangUSA$103,322
6David “ODB” BakerUSA$79,002
7Sam SteinUSA$61,434
8Amanada MusumeciUSA$48,576
9Justin GardenhireUSA$39,030

Tags: Ryan Eriquezzo

Larson Claims Early Lead with Double Elimination

David "TheClubber" Larson is the early chip leader after scoring a big double elimination.

We missed the hand unfold, but we learned after the fact that four players saw a {5-Diamonds}{8-Hearts}{6-Hearts} flop when Larson checked the big blind holding the {7-Hearts}{a-Hearts}. After some action in between, Larson check raised and both Roland "prngls12" Israelashvili and Thomas "tamacron" Alcorn called while Michael "ParxBigStax" Marder got out of the way.

On the {j-Clubs} turn, Larson jammed and both Israelashvili and Alcorn called off.

Roland "prngls12" Israelashvili: {6-Spades}{6-Diamonds}
Thomas "tamacron" Alcorn: {9-Hearts}{10-Hearts}
David "TheClubber" Larson: {7-Hearts}{a-Hearts}

Israelashvili was ahead with a set but both Alcorn and Larson had up-and-down straight and heart flush draws.

The {q-Hearts} on the river have Larson the better flush, and just like that Israelashvili and Alcorn hit the rail following David "Twizzlersyum" Prociak, the tournament's first casualty, out the door.

Player Chips Progress
David "TheClubber" Larson
David "TheClubber" Larson
160,705
455
455
Thomas "tamacron" Alcorn
Thomas "tamacron" Alcorn
Busted
Roland "prngls12" Israelashvili
Roland "prngls12" Israelashvili
Busted

Tags: David Larson

"Destroyer655" Gets Destroyed on the River

Blinds: 250/500/50

After a middle-position raise to 1,000, Shiva "Destroyer655" Dudani called from the cutoff. Brett "Metanemesis" Apter then three-bet to 4,100 from the button and only Dudani made the call.

On the {5-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{9-Clubs} flop, Dudani checked, Apter bet 2,575, Dudani check-raised to 8,800, and Apter called.

Dudani then bet 8,990 on the {9-Diamonds} turn and was again called by Apter. Dudani shoved all in for 23,125 on the {q-Clubs} river and called by Apter only to see that his flopped set and turned full house had been rivered by a bigger full house.

Brett "Metanemsis" Apter: {q-Hearts}{q-Spades}
Shiva "Destroyer655" Dudani: {7-Hearts}{7-Clubs}

Player Chips Progress
Brett "Metanemesis" Apter
Brett "Metanemesis" Apter
172,596
53,402
53,402
Shiva "Destroyer655" Dudani
Shiva "Destroyer655" Dudani
Busted

Tags: Brett ApterShiva Dudani

Player Profile: Ian "Apokerjoker2" Steinman

Ian Steinman
Ian Steinman

Ian Steinman

Method of Qualification: WSOP.com Circuit Series Finale Casino Champion

If killing it on WSOP.com of late is a predictor for GCC success, there's probably no better player to look out for than Ian "ApokerJoker2" Steinman.

In early June, Steinman topped the WSOP.com Circuit Series Finale points leaderboard to punch his GCC ticket. The four-time ring winner had two final-table finishes and four other cashes for about $18K total to run his Circuit earnings to close to $200,000 lifetime.

He did even better a month later when the bracelet events began. In 31 events, he piled up a marvelous 15 cashes. And they weren't a bunch of min-cashes, either. In addition to two early top-six finishes that earned him $55K, Steinman snagged his first bracelet and $110K in Event #27: $400 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout. That magnificent performance earned him PokerNews' Performance of the Week honors and, more importantly, $18,000 for topping the series leaderboard.

So, he's essentially been the player of the series for back-to-back festivals on WSOP.com, in events that were loaded with regs who had nothing else to play. Safe to say a beastly run like that is far from a joke and marks Steinman as one to watch come Sunday.

Tags: Ian Steinman

National/Global Casino Championship History: Battle on the Boardwalk

Dominik Nitsche
Dominik Nitsche

In 2014, the National Championship moved once again to Bally’s Casino Atlantic City and the final table was held outdoors on the famed Boardwalk.

For the first time ever, a player who paid $10,000 to enter the tournament came out on top as German pro Dominik Nitsche beat a 126-player field to win a $352,800 first-place prize and what was his second gold bracelet.

PlacePlayerCountryPrize
1Dominik NitscheGermany$352,800
2Athanasios PolychronopoulosUSA$218,056
3Matthew AshtonUK$157,399
4Christopher BibbUSA$115,655
5Tracy DossUSA$86,461
6Andrew RobinsonUSA$65,734
7Ylon SchwartzUSA$50,816
8Jeffrey GunnipUSA$39,917
9Sean LippelUSA$31,865

Tags: Dominik Nitsche

Player Profile: Bryan "PellePelle" Piccioli

Bryan Piccioli
Bryan Piccioli

Bryan Piccioli

Method of Qualification: At-Large Points (48th)

Piccioli barely squeaked into the top 50 points earners this season, and given a record that includes $4.5 million in tournament cashes and former world No. 1 status online, that won't be welcome news to the other qualifiers.

"Pellepelle" has done most of his damage in the higher buy-in events on the Circuit this year, cashing in five Main Events from November through February. Two were final-table finishes, with ninth place in Thunder Valley followed by a runner-up finish in Horseshoe Tunica a week later, worth $89K.

When it was time to put away the live reads and dust off the mouse for online play, Piccioli pocketed his first Circuit ring in Event #1: $200 No-Limit Hold'em Knockout during the February festival.

Piccioli also has a bracelet from a large-field event at WSOP Asia-Pacific back in 2013.

However, when it comes to WSOP success, he's undoubtedly best known for two Main Event runs. In 2017, Piccioli made the final table of the WSOP Main Event. There, he had a tough go of it on Day 9 and wound up with a sixth-place finish worth $1,675,000.

More recently, under the moniker "smbdySUCKme," he took a chip lead into the final day of the record-breaking GGPoker Main Event. With just 37 opponents left out of a field of 5,802, Piccioli had to stomach a 23rd-place finish as his solid stack melted away in rough back-to-back hands — first losing top two pair to a runner flush then having a standard button shove run into a bigger hand.

Jaunt to Mexico over, it's time for Piccioli to get back to work stateside, and his penchant for getting his best results in the biggest events seems tailor-made for the GCC.

Tags: Bryan Piccioli