Domestic WSOP Bracelet Series Attracts Almost 30,000 Entries But Misses Final Guarantee

The first 33 bracelets of 2021 have already been decided as the WSOP/888poker US Network WSOP Online 2021, but the turnout may not have been as anticipated.

When the dust settled on the final event, the overall series finished with more than $18 million in prizes across the month-long festival, but that was behind the Covid-fueled frenzy of the first online bracelet series in 2020.

The WSOP Online 2021 got underway on July 1, and put the first 33 bracelets of 2021 up for grabs to residents of New Jersey and Nevada on WSOP.com. Over the course of the series, there were more than 27,000 total entries, which meant players were playing for just over $18.25 million in prizes.

That number included the $1 million guarantee on the final event, the $500 Grand Finale. In the end, the prize pool collected more than $900,000 from more than 2,000 entries, but it wasn’t enough to cap the guarantee. The game did generate more than $100,000 in rake for WSOP.com however, which was enough to make up the overlay with a bit left over.

WSOP Online 2021 Domestic Bracelet Event Results

Compared to 2020, this year showed a marked drop in players vying for an online bracelet, but perhaps that is no surprise. The 2020 numbers were heavily inflated by the Covid-19 lockdown measures in place last summer, leading to prize pools almost a third higher than this year’s numbers.

WSOP Domestic Bracelet Comparison 2020/2021

2021 Bracelets in Detail

There were a total of 16 events through the month-long bracelet series that generated more than half a million in prizes. The largest prize pool came in the largest buy-in of the month, $1,113,927 in the $7,777 Lucky 7’s High Roller, but other than that game, the only other game to hit $1 million in prizes was the Grand Finale which only got there because of the guarantee.

Only 10 of the games across the month found more than 1,000 entries this year, including the first two games, as well as the lower-priced Micro Madness games. On the other hand, there were only seven games that found less than 500 entries, which included the biggest event of the month.

Overall, it is likely no surprise that the numbers for this year are lower than 2020. With pandemic restrictions easing across the US, and after more than a year of lockdown measures to one degree or another, people are eager to get out of their houses.

That has an obvious impact on online poker numbers, and is a trend seen in even non-pandemic years with slower summer traffic. In 2021, as the world reemerges from a pandemic year, that trend will no doubt be even stronger.

WSOP Online 2021 Domestic Bracelet Event Results

More US Bracelets to Come

That is not all for the WSOP in the US bracelet market this year. While the series in Nevada and New Jersey wrapped up August 1, there are still eight more bracelets to be awarded in August to residents of Pennsylvania, the newest market for WSOP.com.

With some legal confusion still surrounding multi-state poker as states weigh their options going forward, WSOP PA was forced to open in a segregated mode, locking the new room out of the bracelet series in NJ and NV. Not wanting to leave its newest room without Gold hardware, the operator quickly announced an eight-bracelet series exclusive to the Pennsylvania market.

The series gets underway on August 8 and runs through August 15 on the newly minted WSOP PA, which opened for business in mid-July this year. There may yet be a few more bracelets in the US market as well, since WSOP has committed to opening a room in MI this year and they plan to offer bracelets there as well when it happens.

There is still a lot more bracelet action to come in 2021, as the online series are still running, and the live games are slated to start in late September. WSOP.com will be offering bracelets and satellites to the live games across its US markets as the Big Show approaches.

WSOP 2021 at a Glance