Rio Online concludes with nice turnout and increased prize money

As part of the Summer Online Circuit Event, the WSOPC Rio Online has finished up with a nice turnout and massive tournament prizes. The online series ran from August 20-31 and featured 12 WSOP gold ring events. Players were competing for over $1 million in prize money and in the end, $1.7 million was awarded.

Details of the Series

The Rio Online featured a ton of online poker action including the bracelet events and extras. Players could compete in the $10k Player of the Month Leaderboard challenge, which will provide tournament tickets to the top 10 players in the Gold Ring events.

Each ring event winner was also given access to a $25,000 freeroll event. The top 10 finishers of the $10k Player of the Month leaderboard were also invited to compete. This online poker event will take place today.  For players who competed in at least three Gold Ring events, tickets were provided to the Grinder’s Only Second Chance Freeroll. This event offers the winner a seat at the $250k Year End Championship Event. It also takes place this afternoon.

Every player that earned a gold ring during the series is now eligible for the year-end championship. There are several ways that players can earn a seat at the big event. Those who win gold rings during WSOP events are eligible as well as the winner of the Player of the Month leaderboard. The winner of the Second Chance Fast Forward also gets a seat and those who finish in the top 50 of the Cumulative Circuit Leaderboard.

A Look at the Winners

Let’s take a look at a few of the big winners during the series. Event #2 was a big tournament, with a $100,000 prize pool and a $320 buy-in. The event had 416 entries and saw Ian Steinman claim the first place prize of $23,187.82.

Stephanie Hubbard would claim the win during Event #3, a NLH Monster Stack tournament with a $215 buy-in. This tournament featured a $125,000 prize pool and so many players competed, that it jumped to over $186,000. Stephanie took home $27,422.24 for her efforts.

Event #5 also saw a big jump in prize money. The NLH Super High Roller tournament had a buy-in of $2,000 and ended up seeing just over 100 player entries. This created a prize pool of over $200,000. It was Ankush Mandavia who won the tournament, taking home just over $50,000 in prize money.

Each event surpassed its guaranteed prize pool as more and more players logged on to compete. It was  huge success for the WSOP and indicates just how much players are enjoying the online poker scene.