Ian "APokerJoker2" Steinman was the top performer, based on a point system, in the recently completed WSOP.com Online Bracelet Series. As such, the skilled internet poker player earned an extra $18,000 as an award for his performance.
The online poker series paid out $100,000 to the top 50 performers during the 31-event bracelet series. First place received $18,000, second place (Ryan "Im.Sorry" Torgersen) earned a $12,000 bonus, and Robert "Bustinballs" Kuhn finished next in line, good for $9,000. Smaller rewards were sent to the remaining 47 top finishers during the series.
Players accumulated points throughout the series based on how deep they ran in each event. Steinman had quite an incredible series, cashing in 15 of the bracelet tournaments. He won the $400 No-Limit Hold'em Freezeout and also reached two other final tables.
Steinman is one of the top players on WSOP.com. The online poker grinder cashed in six of the WSOP.com Circuit series events earlier this summer. As a live poker pro, he has 31 cashes in bracelet events in Las Vegas, totaling $393,636, and a total of $884,000 in all live tournaments, which is quite an accomplishment for a pro who specializes in online poker.
Online bracelet series standings
The 2020 World Series of Poker, due to COVID-19, switched to the internet instead of the Rio in Las Vegas. The series first began on WSOP.com with 31 events that recently completed. It's now taking place on GGPoker until September 6 for another 54 tournaments.
During the WSOP.com series, Steinman was the best overall player, racking up 3,186.91 points in the Player of the Series leaderboard. But he wasn't the only stellar performer. Ryan "protential" Laplante had a great series, or a ho-hum series, depending on how you look at it. The 2016 bracelet winner cashed in more events than anyone — 17. But he barely turned a profit, if any at all, and didn't win any bracelets, reach a final table, or pick up any big scores. Laplante earned 2,259.02 points, good for 15th place.
Torgersen, the runner-up, had one heck of a series, and narrowly lost to Steinman. The $600 No-Limit Hold'em Monsterstack champion accumulated 3,085.34, just 101.57 shy of winning. He cashed just eight times, but had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finish. Torgersen had never before cashed in a WSOP bracelet event.
Robert "Bustinballs" Kuhn, an Americas Cardroom sponsored pro, was also right in the thick of things until the end in the $100,000 leaderboard chase. He received 2,996.16 points, 282 more than Philip "tomte" Yeh, who earned the $7,000 for 4rd place. William "SlaweelRyan" Romaine rounded out the top 5 with 2,639.85 points and a bracelet win in the $1,000 Omaha Hi-Low 6-Max for $110,673.
Some big name live pros also contended for the Player of the Series award. That includes WPT commentator Tony "Panoramic" Dunst (7th place with 2,599.53 points), 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe "fanofdapoker" McKeehen (10th place with 2,459.86 points), Ryan "joeyisamush" Depaulo (13th place with 2,315.2 points), and Daniel "DNegs" Negreanu (19th place with 2,212.67 points).
Torgersen looked headed for victory early in the series after finishing in the top two in two of the first 10 events. But Steinman was the strongest player during the second half of the series and, as a result, squeaked out a win to earn the $18,000 bonus.
