Poker transitioned into online poker sometime during the 1990s when many online platforms started offering the game for real money. It all got serious when the World Series of Poker got on board and started offering events on the web.
At some point, they even decided to offer an opportunity to win a gold bracelet on the web, but the first one was awarded in 2015.
Although there was only one bracelet event available online back then, this expanded to nine bracelets in 2019. Naturally, everything will be a bit different now in 2020 since WSOP decided to offer 86 bracelet events on the web.
This decision was made as a result of postponing live WSOP in Vegas that usually takes place in the summer. That’s why the officials wanted to give something to players as many are used to the whole WSOP feeling that they get in May, June, and July.
The feeling might not be the same as actually going to Vegas to take part in some events, but it’s definitely the next best thing.
After 2020 WSOP Online ends, there will be more than a hundred online bracelet winners. However, one man had to break the ice and enter the poker history books as the first one to win an online bracelet. His name is Anthony Spinella.
How Spinella Won the First-Ever WSOP Bracelet Online
The first event for an online bracelet was different from both live poker events and online poker events — it was a hybrid of a sort. The reason for that is that most of the players were allowed to compete on the web, but the best six of them were required to to to Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino where they would meet for the final table action.
The buy-in for this event was $1,000, and a total of 905 entries were recorded. The final table was led by Craig Varnell and also includes other notable poker professionals such as Ryan Franklin and Anthony Spinella.
Spinella managed to take an early lead after facing Franklin’s ace-king with a pair of aces. This actually resulted in Franklin’s elimination. He won a total of $33,530 for his effort.
The next player under Spinella’s target was David Tuthill, who also had to hit the rail with a total of $47,286 in his pocket.
After Andrew Rose lost all chips and hit the rail in fourth place ($55,884), it was time for the three-handed play to commence. At that point, Spinella had more than 75% of all chips, so his huge advantage was more than obvious.
Craig Varnell had to leave the event as third-placed, winning $73,079 for his effort. He would come back in some other WSOP events and even win a gold bracelet.
However, this time he had to let Hunter Cichy and Anthony Spinella duel in the heads-up play. Spinella had an easy job there, and ended the tournament early on, with Cichy ending second-placed for $116,066.
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