Players in Pennsylvania may well have the best shot at winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Gold Bracelet in 2021 after the announcement of eight PA-specific Bracelet events in August. The series is running on the newest room in US online poker, WSOP PA, from August 8 to 15.
After the launch earlier this month, WSOP PA moved quickly to announce the bracelet series. The operator is facing down the behemoth of PokerStars PA in the geolocked market, and with WSOP in full swing already, Gold Bracelets could be its ace-in-the-hole for grabbing player attention.
With the main domestic Bracelet series running on the WSOP/888poker US Network in New Jersey and Nevada, the new geolocked PA room was initially left out of the Gold rush. The announcement for the series came just days after launch, and it adds bracelets to an already impressive total of 169.
WSOP 2021 at a Glance
| Series | Location | Start Date | End Date | Bracelet/Ring Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSOP Online Domestic | WSOP.com NJ + NV | July 1 | August 1 | 33 Bracelets |
| WSOP Online International | GGPoker | August 1 | September 12 | 33 Bracelets |
| WSOP Las Vegas ME Satellites | Both | August 1 | October 1 | - |
| WSOP Online Domestic | WSOP.com PA | August 8 | August 15 | 8 Bracelets |
| WSOP Online Domestic | WSOP.com MI | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| WSOP Live 2021 | Rio | September 30 | November 23 | 88 |
| WSOP Live Main Event | Rio | November 4 | November 17 | 1 Bracelet |
| WSOPE 2021 | King’s Resort | November 19 | December 8 | 15 |
The extra eight bracelets in PA bring the total to 177 on offer in 2021, between the live and virtual felt, and offer a tantalizing hint at even more. WSOP has pledged to open a room in Michigan this year as well, and it seems likely a similar series might run there to increase the 2021 bracelet count even more.
In a recent interview with pokerfuse, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart made that clear when asked about bracelet prospects in future WSOP rooms. “For certain once we are live we will give WSOP.com players the exclusive opportunity to win bracelets online and qualify for the WSOP.”
The eight games announced in PA start on August 8 and run daily through August 15. The average cost of a bracelet shot in PA will be just over $900, and it will cost more than $7,000 to play the whole series.
WSOP PA Bracelet Series: Key Details
| Total Events | 8 |
| Total Buy-In | $7,377 |
| Average Buy-In | $922 |
| Dates | August 8 – August 15 |
PA Bracelets in Detail
The first and last events of the upcoming series are both multi-flight games, while the rest of the schedule are single-day events. Day 1 flights for WSOP Gold Bracelet #1 get started August 6 with Day 1A, while Day 1A for WSOP Gold Bracelet #8 runs August 13.
Buy-ins range from $400 to $3,200, but most of them tend to the smaller end of the range. Four of the eight games are priced at $500 or less, with a fifth game at $600. It is the $3,200 High Roller than skews the average buy-in as high as $900—without that big game, the average buy-in drops to a more representative $597.
WSOP PA Bracelet Series Schedule Details
| Tournament | Buy-in | Date |
|---|---|---|
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #1 No Limit Hold’em Keystone Kick Off Multi Flight Day 1C | $500 | August 8 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #2 No Limit Hold’em PKO | $500 | August 9 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #3 No Limit Hold’em High Roller | $3,200 | August 10 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #4 No Limit Hold’em 6-Max | $400 | August 11 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #5 No Limit Hold’em Lucky 7’s | $777 | August 12 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #6 No Limit Hold’em PKO | $400 | August 13 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #7 No Limit Hold’em MonsterStack | $600 | August 14 |
| WSOP Gold Bracelet #8 No Limit Hold’em PA Championship Multi Flight Day 1C | $1,000 | August 15 |
Series to Counter Slow Start in PA?
The early numbers in PA show a slow start for the newest operator. It was always going to be a big ask to knock off the dominant PokerStars, who had more than a year of monopoly in the market to secure it’s market share, but WSOP PA launched behind even the distant second in market, BetMGM Poker PA and its sister room Borgata Poker PA.
While there is no revenue data from PA including WSOP yet, cash game traffic for the fledgling site has run a consistent third since launch, and many big value tournaments have missed guarantee. There is no question WSOP would love to see a big turnout for the bracelet games.
That might end up with golden value for players. Given the slow cash game traffic and field sizes—the latest running of the marquee $75k GTD Big Sunday saw only 242 entries and missed the guarantee by more than a third—the PA series may be the best chance US players have at Gold Bracelet hardware this year.
The PA-exclusive series gets running on August 6 with the early Day 1 flights of the first event, and runs through August 15 with eight chances to get a bracelet.
