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Michael Gathy 51st Player to Win Four WSOP Bracelets

Michael Gathy 4th WSOP Bracelet

The final full weekend of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online is in the books. The Main Event and the $25k Heads-Up both played to a conclusion, both producing big winners. Stoyan Madanzhiev is the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event champion and has won the largest prize in online poker tournament history.

Meanwhile, Fedor Holz won his second bracelet in the 25k heads-up. Finally, Michael Gathy won his fourth career WSOP bracelet in the closing event, becoming the 51st player in history to win four or more bracelets.

Stoyan Madanzhiev Wins Online Main Event

If the live version of the 2020 WSOP Main Event gets canceled, then Stoyan Madanzhiev will have a unique distinction. He won the 2020 WSOP Online Main Event on Saturday, outlasting a field of 5,802 players.

The final table of this event would be heralded if it were live. Stefan Schillhabel made the final and would normally be the featured pro. Instead, he quietly finished in seventh place.

Wenling Gao would have made history if this were live. She is just the third woman to make a Main Event final table. However, being the online version, this achievement goes largely unnoticed.

Gao made a strong performance, ultimately finishing in second place and earning $2.74 million. She eventually fell to Bulgarian pro Stoyan Madanzhiev when her pocket aces were cracked by 7-8. Madanzhiev flopped a straight and took down the title.

Madanzhiev’s win gave him his first bracelet and $3.9 million in prize money. That’s the largest online poker tournament prize in history. If this ends up being the 2020 WSOP Main Event due to coronavirus, it will be interesting to see how many people give him the credit for his accomplishment or view his win in the same vane as winning a WSOP Employees Event bracelet.

Fedor Holz Wins $25k Heads-Up Title

Last week, I predicted that Fedor Holz would win the $25k Heads-Up title and that’s exactly what happened. On Sunday, the final four returned to GGPoker to play for the title. I predicted that Holz would dispatch Sergi Reixach, but I thought the match would be tighter than it was. Holz quickly knocked out Reizach to move to the finals.

The match between Brunno Botteon and Oktay Kahyaoglu was more of a back and forth battle. However, in the end, a streaking Botteon managed to secure his spot in the finals. The finals between Holz and Botteon was somewhat anticlimactic but did end on a bang.

Botteon had pocket tens and Holz pocket fives. A five on the flop saw Holz put Botteon all-in. Botteon couldn’t catch a ten and Holz won his second career bracelet. Botteon still walked away with $622,300 for second.

Fedor Holz won his second career WSOP bracelet along with $1.07 million. It must be nice to be “retired” from poker and still winning millions. Is this the ultimate angle shoot? (Editors Note: No, I do not think that Holz is angling. Many poker players “retire” and either come back or still play regularly.)

Michael Gathy Wins Fourth Bracelet in The Closer

An accomplishment that went largely unnoticed in the poker world happened in the last official tournament of the series. Michael Gathy won Event #85: $500 The Closer for his fourth career WSOP bracelet.

This last event drew a field of 4,012 and it was Belgium pro Michael Gathy who took down the title. His prize for winning his fourth bracelet is $272,504. Gathy is just the 51st player in poker history to win four or more bracelets.

Gathy’s other bracelets came in 2012, 2013, and 2016. This is his first online bracelet. In a way, it is fitting that the final tournament resulted in somewhat of a historic victory. It’s just a shame that it was largely ignored by the poker world due to the event being online.

While Event #85 was the last event scheduled, there’s still one final bracelet to be awarded. Event #83, $10k WSOP Super MILLION$ will play out on Tuesday. Suraj Mishra leads a strong final table that includes Sylvian Loosli, Christopher Kruk, Connon Drinan, and Chris Oliver. The top two players will become poker millionaires with the winner recieving $1.42 million and the last WSOP bracelet of the series.

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