The World Series of Poker Online 2023
For six weeks in the late summer of 2023, the fourth annual World Series of Poker Online turned GGPoker into the busiest tournament floor on earth. Forty-one gold bracelets were handed out, thirty-three open to the world and eight reserved for players in Ontario. Tens of millions of dollars changed hands. And when the last card was dealt, the series had quietly rewritten the record book for online poker.
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The People’s Bracelet
Not every WSOP bracelet costs a fortune to chase. Event #1, the Bankroll Builder Bounty, asked for just $108 and still drew 7,619 players, proof that a nine-figure guarantee isn’t the only way to pack a field. But the tournament that defined the series’ democratic streak was #7, the Million Dollar Mystery Bounty. A $210 buy-in pulled in a staggering 51,211 entries and built a $10.24 million prize pool. Ukraine’s ‘pumbiko_O’ won the tournament itself for $354,650. The night’s real story finished 224th: a player known only as ‘John Milly’ reached into the bounty pool and pulled out the single $1,000,000 prize. One hand of poker, a seven-figure life change.
A Familiar Face Returns
Event #8, the $2,500 Limit Hold’em Championship, marked the return of GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu to online play after a two-year absence. He finished 31st, short of the money but far from embarrassed in a field this deep. The bracelet went to ‘fr33hongkong’, regarded as one of the best Limit players alive, who closed out 2022 Main Event champion Espen Jorstad heads-up to win $64,021.
The Weekend Giants
The middle of the series belonged to its biggest guarantees. Event #12, the $500 Mini Main Event, turned 8,709 entries into a $3.56 million pool for ‘gaosinimen999’ and a $326,692 top prize. A week later came the twin monsters: the $400 COLOSSUS (#22) drew 10,812 players and paid ‘Aayush Arya 101’ $326,900, while its Pot-Limit Omaha sibling, the PLOSSUS (#23), pulled 3,847 entries and crowned Mexico’s ‘Ognyan Dimov’. For the price of a $400 ticket, the ceiling was a six-figure score and a slice of WSOP history.
The Championship Circuit
For the purists, the series stacked its Championship events with the deepest fields and the steepest buy-ins. ‘Zivakov’ won the $5,000 6-Handed NLH Championship (#13) for $426,171. ‘Y Dzivielevski’ took the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship (#24) for $368,342. And Armenia’s ‘A Martirosian’ ran the gauntlet of a 128-cap Heads-Up bracket (#26) to win $424,697. Different disciplines, the same gold at the end of each.
When the Servers Blinked
No series this size runs perfectly. Midway through, a technical issue suspended Events #20 and #21 with players still in their seats, freezing the DOUBLE CHANCE and the GGMasters High Roller until the following weekend. When play resumed, ‘Real Nickname’ took the DOUBLE CHANCE for $145,522 and ‘SvenCalls’ claimed the GGMasters for $253,823. The hiccup became a footnote. The poker did not.
The Record That Fell
The series had been building toward one number all along. Three years earlier, the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event set the Guinness World Record for the largest prize pool in online poker history at $27,559,500. In 2023, Event #28 walked straight past it. A $5,000 buy-in drew 6,023 entries and a prize pool of $28,609,520, unofficially the biggest the game has ever seen.
The man left standing was Belgian streamer Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens, who played the final table live in front of more than 14,000 viewers on Twitch, the largest poker win ever broadcast on the platform. His reward: the Main Event bracelet and $2,783,432. The final four all cleared a million dollars, so nobody walked away from that table unhappy.
One More for the Road
If the Main Event was the emotional peak, Event #33 was the financial one. The $10,000 GGMillion$ High Roller, the final event on the calendar, drew 1,140 entries and an $11.4 million pool, the second largest of the series. China’s David Yan outlasted Simon Mattsson heads-up to take the last bracelet of 2023 and $1,538,400. A fitting close: the series ended the way it lived, with a lot of money on the table and a champion on the felt.
North of the Border
Running alongside the global series was a parallel WSOP open only to players in Ontario, eight bracelets of its own. From the Gladiators of Poker Opener won by ‘PokerKeeng’ to the $1,000 Ontario Main Event, where ‘Magical Panda’ banked $111,666 from a field of 642, the province got a full-sized WSOP in miniature. The Closer sent the Ontario schedule out on a bounty-fueled note, with ‘Magnethius’ taking the last of the eight.
Every Bracelet, Start to Finish
Six weeks, forty-one champions. Here is the complete record of the 2023 World Series of Poker Online.
| Event | Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Top Prize |
| #1 Bankroll Builder Bounty NLH | $108 | 7,619 | $761,900 | ‘Mezer21’ | $58,884 (+$27,554 bty) |
| #2 Gladiators of Poker Opener | $300 | 9,488 | $2,647,152 | ‘pfckb’ (Brazil) | $234,707 |
| #3 Bounty NLH Championship | $2,100 | 677 | $1,354,000 | ‘Meruemu’ | $59,681 (+$98,664 bty) |
| #4 Bounty Pot Limit Omaha | $840 | 706 | – | ‘redpillgame’ | $24,895 (+$56,953 bty) |
| #5 Ladies NLH Championship | $500 | 176 | $79,325 | ‘butfirstwine’ | $16,612 |
| #6 MONSTER STACK NLH | $1,500 | 1,207 | – | ‘EEewashu99’ (Austria) | $231,821 |
| #7 Million Dollar Mystery Bounty | $210 | 51,211 | $10,242,000 | ‘pumbiko_O’ (Ukraine) | $354,650 ($1M bounty: ‘John Milly’) |
| #8 Limit Hold’em Championship | $2,500 | 124 | $294,500 | ‘fr33hongkong’ | $64,021 |
| #9 Bounty NLH | $320 | 2,856 | $848,232 | ‘Nextgoal’ (Canada) | $33,635 (+$31,960 bty) |
| #10 Beat the Pros Bounty NLH | $1,050 | 956 | $956,000 | ‘Leonid Yanovich’ | $38,260 (+$72,582 bty) |
| #11 Flip & Go | $100 | 7,688 | – | ‘yiliuqi’ | $122,586 |
| #12 Mini Main Event NLH | $500 | 8,709 | $3,565,350 | ‘gaosinimen999’ | $326,692 |
| #13 6-Handed NLH Championship | $5,000 | 487 | $2,313,250 | ‘Zivakov’ | $426,171 |
| #14 The BIG Bounty NLH | $500 | 2,623 | $1,245,925 | ‘Ispanec’ | $47,281 (+$58,852 bty) |
| #15 Ultra Deepstack NLH | $800 | 1,573 | – | ‘ANXXOO333’ | $153,195 |
| #16 Secret Bounty PLO | – | 865 | – | ‘UmReiNoRiver’ | $67,567 (+$92,000 bty) |
| #17 MILLIONAIRE MAKER in Paradise | $1,500 | 3,496 | – | Final table concluded Dec (Bahamas) | – |
| #18 Short Deck Championship | $5,000 | 126 | $598,500 | ‘Elior benjamin Sion’ | $153,471 |
| #19 LUCKY SEVENS Bounty 7-Handed | $777 | 2,052 | $1,514,683 | ‘BAAABUUSKIIII’ | $60,969 (+$89,040 bty) |
| #20 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH | $1,000 | 1,119 | $1,063,050 | ‘Real Nickname’ | $145,522 |
| #21 GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH | $1,500 | 1,358 | $1,935,150 | ‘SvenCalls’ | $253,823 |
| #22 COLOSSUS | $400 | 10,812 | $3,000,000 gtd | ‘Aayush Arya 101’ | $326,900 |
| #23 PLOSSUS Bounty | $400 | 3,847 | $1,431,084 | ‘Ognyan Dimov’ (Mexico) | $60,481 (+$88,304 bty) |
| #24 Pot Limit Omaha Championship | $10,000 | 153 | $1,484,100 | ‘Y Dzivielevski’ | $368,342 |
| #25 Superstack Turbo Bounty NLH | $525 | 2,516 | $1,258,000 | ‘Symmetry’ (Canada) | $50,392 (+$59,228 bty) |
| #26 Heads Up NLH Championship | $10,000 | 127 | – | ‘A Martirosian’ | $424,697 |
| #27 FIFTY STACK PLO | $500 | 1,080 | $513,000 | ‘karma tova’ (Israel) | $76,702 |
| #28 WSOP Online Main Event | $5,000 | 6,023 | $28,609,520 | Bert ‘girafganger7’ Stevens (Belgium) | $2,783,432 |
| #29 GGMillion$ Super HR Championship | $25,000 | 145 | $3,552,500 | Joao Vieira | $760,396 |
| #30 6-Handed Bounty NLH | $2,100 | 976 | $1,952,000 | ‘DrBeltran’ (Moldova) | $78,122 (+$129,476 bty) |
| #31 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller | $5,000 | 228 | $1,083,000 | Ben Wilinofsky (Canada) | $243,934 |
| #32 The Closer NLH Bounty Turbo | $1,500 | 1,263 | $1,799,775 | Rodrigo Sirichuk (Brazil) | $75,280 (+$111,838 bty) |
| #33 GGMillion$ High Roller | $10,000 | 1,140 | $11,400,000 | David Yan (China) | $1,538,400 |
The Ontario-Exclusive Bracelets
Eight more bracelets were awarded only to players inside Ontario, a full WSOP in miniature run in parallel with the global series.
| Event | Buy-in | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Top Prize |
| #1 Gladiators of Poker Ontario Opener | $300 | 851 | $237,429 | ‘PokerKeeng’ | $38,304 |
| #2 Mystery Millions | $210 | 1,796 | $359,200 | ‘fishw33d’ | $27,297 (+$7,590 bty) |
| #3 Ontario MILLION$ Mini Main Event | $300 | 2,004 | $184,368 | ‘Justin Ouimette’ | $25,368 |
| #4 MONSTER STACK NLH | $1,500 | 181 | $257,925 | ‘CallMeDaddee’ | $53,639 |
| #5 PLOSSUS Bounty | $400 | 484 | $183,920 | ‘First48’ | $13,384 (+$20,982 bty) |
| #6 COLOSSUS | $400 | 760 | $285,760 | ‘Michael Farrow’ | $48,852 |
| #7 WSOP Ontario Main Event | $1,000 | 642 | $609,900 | ‘Magical Panda’ | $111,666 |
| #8 The Closer Bounty Turbo | $525 | 565 | $282,500 | ‘Magnethius’ | $16,503 (+$16,098 bty) |
The Number to Beat
Every WSOP Online leaves behind a benchmark for the next one to chase. In 2023 it came down to a single figure, $28.6 million, and the three-year-old record it stole. Somewhere out there, the 2024 field was already large enough to take it back.
About the Author: Shawn Altbaum has been writing and editing in the online gaming industry since 2007, reporting live from the WSOP Main Event and conducting interviews with professional players. An active poker player, he combines industry expertise with firsthand knowledge of the games he covers. He currently serves as Global Head of Copywriting at NSUS Group, overseeing brand voice and content strategy across GGPoker.
