2020 WSOP Online Winners Receive Bracelets Via Virtual Ceremonies

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) live festival may have been postponed, but organizers have tried their best to bring some of the biggest highlights of the traditional live event over to the virtual arena.

With less than a month left before the conclusion of the ongoing WSOP Online Bracelet Series, winners have been awarded with their respective gold bracelets via a virtual bracelet ceremony, facilitated by WSOP big bosses, including Vice President Jack Effel.

Had it not been for COVID-19, the winners would have been called onstage at the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas to receive their respective bracelets. A roar of applause would fill the venue, after Effel delivers his speech and the victors hold their bracelets up. But the pandemic forced a lot of big changes this year, and that include the WSOP putting together an Online Bracelet Series, and also awarding the bracelets via Skype!

The Bracelet Is Real

In a virtual ceremony held on August 3, nine recent winners received their bracelets, the first of them was Kevin Gerhart, who captured Event #20: $500 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed. That was the second WSOP gold bracelet for the American poker pro, having won his first one in the $1500 Razz event in 20219.

Gerhart shows up on Skype, Effel connects with Gerhart, makes an introduction, and then asks Gerhart to hold up his wrist to the screen. Effel then virtually puts the bracelet on Gerhart’s wrist, which is then followed by a loud applause in the control room. The process is repeated for the other winners, with the awarding lasting about five minutes for each player.

Bracelets have also been awarded to the Ian Steinman, who won the WSOP.com leaderboard race, World Poker Tour commentator Tony Dunst (pictured), who took down the $777 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max event, and female poker pro Nahrain Tamero who captured the final event during the U.S. leg of the series, the $1,000 buy-in NLH Championship.

The Awarding Process

The online ceremonies involve a series of processes, beginning with coming up with a specific design for the bracelet. WSOP Director Gregory Chochon takes charge of this task, and he works with Jostens, a popular producer of rings and other prestigious memorabilia. For the Online Bracelet Series in particular, the bracelets bear the word “ONLINE“. Each is work around $2,000.

The bracelets are then taken to the PokerGO studio for the awarding ceremonies. They are then shipped to their rightful owners via FedEx.