Who will win the WSOP Winter Online Circuit Main Event?

Geoff Fisk
Published by:
Posted on: January 11, 2021 7:46 pm EST

$1.2 million first-place prize on the line when final table resumes Saturday

The massive field that turned out for the GGPoker WSOP Winter Online Circuit Main Event trimmed down to a formidable final table lineup Sunday.

The $10 million guaranteed, $1,700 Main Event drew 6,395 entries, with some of poker’s finest navigating through that huge turnout and making final table appearances.

Lithuania’s Paulis Plausinaitis leads the final table field, ending Sunday’s Day 2 flight with 95 big blinds. Plausinaitis and the rest of the field come back for the final table this Saturday, Jan. 16, with the action playing out on the GGPoker.tv Twitch channel.

The eventual winner will bag $1,236,361, as the big turnout pushed the final prize pool to $10,327,925.

GGPoker WSOP Winter Online Circuit $1,700 Main Event final table and chip counts

 Player Name*CountryBig Blinds
1Paulis PlausinaitisLithuania95
2Artem ‘Amsterq’ ProstakBelarus68
3Joseph CheongUnited States63
4‘likeboy’China59
5Alexandru PapazianRomania31
6‘turkey1’China27
7‘BetAddict’Israel25
8Joni JouhkmainenFinland17
9‘DaiMing141319’China11
*real player names courtesy of PokerNews

Big names and unknowns vying for the $1,236,361 grand prize

Plausinaitis ran to a final table appearance in one of the toughest tournaments of 2020, finishing eighth in the $25,000 NLH Poker Players Championship. That run came forth in last summer’s GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events series, with Plausinaitis earning $210,079 from the final table run.

The Lithuanian will look to improve on that success at Saturday’s Main Event final table. Plausinaitis’ 95 big blind stack represents more chips than the smallest four chip stacks combined.

Lurking at third in the chip counts is one of the world’s best tournament players. Joseph Cheong finished Day 2 with 63 big blinds, looking to add to a resume that places him among poker’s elite tournament players.

Cheong’s career statistics include more than $14.6 million in live tournament earnings, including a WSOP bracelet and three WSOP Circuit rings. Cheong also lays claim to just under $4 million in online tournament earnings, according to records from the PocketFives database.

Cheong looks to add Circuit Ring No. 4 to the resume with a win in the $1,700 Main Event. His career-best finish came at the 2010 WSOP Main Event, as the American player finished third for $4,130,049.

Other final contenders include Romania’s Alexandru Papazian, who comes back Saturday with 31 big blinds. Papazian will look to add his first Circuit Ring to a resume that includes a WSOP bracelet, $3.85 million in online tournament earnings, and just under $3.5 million in live tournament cashes.

Another tough out at the final table is Finland’s Joni Jouhkmainen. The Team partypoker pro and Pot-Limit Omaha crusher looks to spin up a 17 big blind stack into a No-Limit Hold’em tournament win.

The $1,700 Main Event final table concludes the GGPoker Winter Online Circuit Series. The 18-event series yielded $100 million in guarantees, kicking off Dec. 11 and finishing up Saturday.

Featured image source: Flickr/World Poker Tour