Standalone Online Gold Bracelet Series Coming to All WSOP Sites in September

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Around the world, many of the special measures taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are now getting rolled back. However, it looks like WSOP has decided to hang on to most of its pandemic-era innovations.

That first became apparent in February, as the WSOP Online Circuit Series continued for a third year, despite the traditional live WSOP Circuit resuming. Then, this summer’s World Series of Poker made it clear that the new format for the online portion of the schedule – which debuted during last year’s unusual fall series – would also be the new normal.

Late on Friday, WSOP revealed that there will also once again be a standalone online bracelet series this year, taking place in September. This is in addition to the 29 events (13 in Nevada and New Jersey, plus seven each for Pennsylvania and Michigan) which ran alongside the main series in the summer.

WSOP Online 2022: September 10 to October 18

This year’s WSOP Online for the main NJ/NV network consists of 33 events, the same as last year. The still-segregated sites in Pennsylvania and Michigan will get six events apiece, reduced from eight in 2021. WSOP’s partner GGPoker will also run 33 bracelet events for international players, though Americans will be unable to participate in those.

In a press release, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said:

No one wanted to see this year’s WSOP come to an end. However, in many ways, the return of WSOP Online is even more exciting. Together with GGPoker, we have a clear vision to make this festival annually the biggest deal in online poker so that the WSOP offers players the marquee event in both live and online poker each year.

WSOP Online will start on September 10 and run through October 18 for players on the main network. Pennsylvania and Michigan both start on September 13 and wrap up on October 16.

What’s new for WSOP Online 2022?

From the looks of the 2022 main network schedule, it seems WSOP has decided that what players want from it is pretty straightforward. Even more than last year, the focus is on big-ticket, deep-structured No-Limit Hold’em events.

A lot of events have had their buy-in and position on the schedule tweaked slightly. In terms of bigger changes, though, here’s what you need to know:

• The range of buy-ins is wider, now from $365 up to $10,000 compared to $400 to $7,777 last year.
• There are more high roller events on the schedule, with 14 events priced at $1,000 and up, compared to 10 such events last year.
• There are more short-handed events as well, with six 6-handed tournaments on the schedule, compared to just two in 2021.
• Conversely, there’s less overall variety in formats. There are only two Omaha events (compared to four), and 2021’s lone Knockout event has been removed.

By contrast, the Michigan and Pennsylvania mini-series are more casual. Last year’s $3,200 High Roller is gone, leaving the $1,000 Championship as the biggest buy-in on each state’s six-event schedule. Buy-ins on the remaining events have been lowered slightly from 2021, with four priced at $500 or less. Finally, WSOP condensed the two Progressive Knockout events from 2021 into a single $400 Ultra-Deep PKO, which should be a hoot.

Still No Timeline for Michigan to Join the Network

The announcement surely comes as bittersweet for poker players in Michigan. On the one hand, getting to play for a WSOP Gold Bracelet from the comfort of your own home is a luxury most Americans are still without. Over 90% of the US population is still without any option for legal real-money online poker at all.

On the other hand, the wait to join the Nevada-Delaware-New Jersey network feels interminable. Even before the state’s market opened in January 2021, the government had passed a bill establishing that the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) could enter into compacts with other regulators for the purpose of multi-state poker.

From then, it took until April this year for the MGCB to announce it was finally ready to join the Multistate Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA). That sparked hopes that WSOP might link Michigan up with its existing tristate network in time for the summer series. But not only did that not happen, the fall schedule suggests that WSOP doesn’t foresee it happening before mid-October, either.

WSOP Online 2022 Schedules

Here are the schedules for the three portions of the series.

Note: Michigan and Pennsylvania have two separate series, but the schedule for each is identical. New Jersey and Nevada are a single series with shared traffic.

Pennsylvania/Michigan

Nevada/New Jersey