By the Numbers: GGPoker's 2021 WSOP Online a Big Success Despite Main Event Miss By the Numbers: GGPoker's 2021 WSOP Online a Big Success Despite Main Event Miss

The 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Online at GGPoker is now complete, and while overall numbers weren’t at levels seen last year, the 2021 Series was a success with more than $90 million in total prizes paid out.

While that was down significantly from the almost $150 million 2020 series, last year’s series was held at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and this year’s series was more modest from the outset, with 21 fewer events and lower guarantees.

There were a total of 33 games this year in the GGPoker 2021 WSOP Online, and all events are now in the books. The series generated more than $90 million in total prizes, with nearly $4.5 million in profits for the operator.

That profit came despite missing the mark in the Main Event. The online Big Show drew more than 4,000 entries, but that wasn’t quite enough to hit the $20 million guarantee. It was close however, falling a bit more than $500,000 short of the optimistic mark.

Over the whole series, there were more than 125,000 total entries. That meant the 33 total games combined for $90,175,863 in total prizes.

GG WSOP Bracelet Series Overview

  • Total Bracelet Events 33
  • Prize Money Awarded $90,175,863
  • Avg Prize Pool per Tournament $2,732,602
  • Total Entries 127,969
  • No. of Seven Figure Prize Pool 26 (79%)
  • Rake Generated $4,350,955
  • Admin Fee Collected $617,887
  • Total Overlay $563,000 (Main Event)
  • Net Profit $4,405,841

GG WSOP 2020 vs 2021: Year-on-Year Comparison

Compared to 2020, the numbers were down quite a bit, but in large part, that is because it was planned to be smaller. There were 21 fewer events this year for a start, and the smaller schedule of 33 games this year, compared to 54 in 2020, meant that the raw numbers were a bit smaller.

On average though, the games were the same size, averaging a bit more than $2.7 million per game.

GG WSOP Bracelet Series Year-on-Year Stats

2020 2021
Bracelet Events 54 33
Total Prize Pool $147,787,511 $90,175,863
Avg Prize Pool $2,736,806 $2,732,602
Entries 239,754 127,979
Avg Entries 4440 3878
Main Event Entries 5802 4092
No. of Seven Figure Prize Pools 45 (83%) 26 (79%)
Avg Buy-in $2,549 $2,617

There were 13 guaranteed events that promised a bit more than $51 million in total. Those guaranteed games collected more than $62 million, an increase of 22% above the promised totals.

GG WSOP Bracelet Series Year-on-Year Comparison for Specific Games

2020 Prize Pool 2021 Prize Pool 2020 Entries 2021 Entries
Covid Relief $2,580,853 $1,759,824 2323 1584
Super Turbo Bounty $1,107,000 $1,114,500 2214 2229
PLO Championship $1,558,000 $1,268,250 328 267
COLOSSUS $4,796,632 $4,099,528 12,757 10,903
$25K Event $10,000,000 $6,247,500 407 255
MILLIONAIRE MAKER $8,976,075 $7,747,725 6299 5437
Bounty Championship $2,336,000 $2,128,000 1168 1064
HU NLH Championship $1,241,600 $1,561,700 128 161
6-Handed NLH Championship $3,192,000 $2,275,250 672 479
Bounty PLO $971,000 $896,000 971 896
Bounty NLH $1,905,600 $1,642,400 2382 2053
$50 Buy-in Event $2,050,496 $1,417,260 44,576 30,810
Main Event $27,559,500 $20,000,000 5802 4092

In comparing specific similar events between 2020 and 2021, it is likely no surprise that the total numbers were smaller this year. What is perhaps more of a surprise is that a couple events, like HU NLH Championship, actually beat last year’s numbers.

Beating the Guarantees

There were 13 guaranteed events, with a bit more than $51 million in total guarantees. It started off very well with the very first event crushing its $1 million guarantee by more than 40%.

In the end, the only guaranteed game that fell short of its promised total was the Main Event.

Even that one was close, collecting $19,437,000 of its $20 million guarantee. The extra money in other games more than made up for that shortfall, leading to total profit for the operator of more than $4.4 million.

GGPoker 2021 WSOP Online Gtd Events Summary

Event Buy-in GTD Collected
#1 The Return NLH $50 $1,000,000 $1,417,260
#6 FLIP & GO NLH $200 $1,000,000 $1,209,920
#7 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH $1,500 $5,000,000 $7,747,725
#11 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH $10,000 $5,000,000 $6,052,800
#12 DOUBLE STACK NLH $1,000 $4,000,000 $5,599,300
#16 WSOP GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH $1,050 $2,000,000 $2,240,000
#17 PLOSSUS [Bounty] $400 $1,000,000 $1,738,880
#21 Super High Roller Championship NLH $25,000 $5,000,000 $6,247,500
#22 COLOSSUS $400 $3,000,000 $4,099,528
#27 MAIN EVENT Online Championship $5,000 $20,000,000 $19,437,000
#31 WSOP Zodiac Autumn Festival $126.26 $450,000 $817,301.76
#32 WSOP Bounty Double MILLION$ $210 $2,000,000 $2,832,400
#33 The Closer $500 $2,021,000 $3,373,925
$51,471,000 $62,813,540

Two of the guaranteed games crushed their guarantees by more than 70%. #17 PLOSSUS [Bounty] was almost 74% over guarantee with $1,738,880 collected on the $1 million guarantee, while #31 WSOP Zodiac Autumn Festival was more than 80% above guarantee.

With the data on a graph, it is easy to see that the miss in the Main Event was largely negligible across the series as a whole. Most of the guaranteed events didn’t just make the guarantees—they went well beyond those promised numbers.

There are now 74 total bracelets awarded so far this year, all of them in the online arena. With the completion of 33 events in GGPoker’s 2021 WSOP Online, as well as 33 more in the domestic WSOP/888poker US Network WSOP Online 2021, and the final 8 awarded in the WSOP PA Pennsylvania Online Bracelet Series, the stage is set to move offline.

With the end of the online component of the series, it moves back to the more familiar live setting on September 30. There will be 88 Gold Bracelet events live in Las Vegas this year, and 15 more in the European version at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic.

Check out the full results from the GGPoker 2021 WSOP Online below, and get set for the live series coming up in just a couple weeks.

GG WSOP 2021 Online Bracelet Events

Event Buy-in Fee Entries GTD Prize pool Rake Admin Fee
#1 The Return NLH $46 $4 30,810 $1,000,000 $1,417,260 $123,240 $7,086
#2 Caesars Cares Charity Event $1,111 $0 1584 $1,759,824 $0 $175,806
#3 Limit Hold’em Championship $2,375 $125 180 $427,500 $22,500 $2,138
#4 DOUBLE CHANCE NLH [2-Stack] $760 $40 1643 $1,248,680 $65,720 $6,243
#5 Bounty Deepstack NLH $300 $15 2989 $896,700 $44,835 $4,484
#6 FLIP & GO NLH $190 $10 6368 $1,000,000 $1,209,920 $63,680 $6,050
#7 MILLIONAIRE MAKER NLH $1,425 $75 5437 $5,000,000 $7,747,725 $407,775 $38,739
#8 6-Handed NLH Championship $4,750 $250 479 $2,275,250 $119,750 $11,376
#9 Superstack Turbo Bounty NLH $500 $25 2229 $1,114,500 $55,725 $5,573
#10 DOUBLE CHANCE PLO [2-Stack] $376 $24 975 $366,600 $23,400 $1,833
#11 Super MILLION$ High Roller NLH $9,700 $300 624 $5,000,000 $6,052,800 $187,200 $30,264
#12 DOUBLE STACK NLH $950 $50 5894 $4,000,000 $5,599,300 $294,700 $27,997
#13 Pot Limit Omaha Championship $4,750 $250 267 $1,268,250 $66,750 $6,341
#14 THE BIG 500 $475 $25 2639 $1,253,525 $65,975 $6,268
#15 Heads Up NLH Championship $9,700 $300 161 $1,561,700 $48,300 $7,809
#16 WSOP GGMasters HR Freezeout NLH $1,000 $50 2240 $2,000,000 $2,240,000 $112,000 $11,200
#17 PLOSSUS [Bounty] $380 $20 4576 $1,000,000 $1,738,880 $91,520 $8,694
#18 Short Deck Championship [3-Stack] $4,750 $250 144 $684,000 $36,000 $3,420
#19 6-Handed Bounty NLH $800 $40 2053 $1,642,400 $82,120 $8,212
#20 MONSTER STACK NLH [Freezeout] $1,425 $75 1080 $1,539,000 $81,000 $7,695
#21 Super High Roller Championship NLH $24,500 $500 255 $5,000,000 $6,247,500 $127,500 $31,238
#22 COLOSSUS $376 $24 10,903 $3,000,000 $4,099,528 $261,672 $20,498
#23 Deepstack Championship NLH $570 $30 2820 $1,607,400 $84,600 $8,037
#24 Bounty PLO $1,000 $50 896 $896,000 $44,800 $4,480
#25 LUCKY SEVENS NLH $738.15 $38.85 2014 $1,486,634.10 $78,243.90 $7,433.17
#26 CRAZY EIGHTS NLH $843.60 $44.40 2350 $1,982,460.00 $104,340.00 $9,912.30
#27 MAIN EVENT Online Championship $4,750 $250 4092 $20,000,000 $20,000,000 $1,023,000 $100,000
#28 Bounty Championship NLH $2,000 $100 1064 $2,128,000 $106,400 $10,640
#29 FIFTY STACK NLH $1,425 $75 1308 $1,863,900 $98,100 $9,320
#30 WSOP Beat the Pros $500 $25 1594 $797,000 $39,850 $3,985
#31 WSOP Zodiac Autumn Festival $116.16 $10.10 7036 $450,000 $817,301.76 $71,063.60 $4,086.51
#32 WSOP Bounty Double MILLION$ $200 $10 14,162 $2,000,000 $2,832,400 $141,620 $14,162
#33 The Closer $475 $25 7103 $2,021,000 $3,373,925 $177,575 $16,870
Total 127,969 $90,175,863 $4,350,955 $617,887