‘Riess the Beast’ on Target for Glory in WSOP Online Main Event on GGPoker

The opening day of the GGPoker WSOP Online Main Event, Day 1a saw 437 players take part and just 61 survive, as former WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess, also known as ‘The Beast’, made the cut.

In a week where PokerStars announced how you can win your way to the 2023 PSPC and Arsenii Karmatckii won the Mediterranean Poker Party Warm Up for $310,000, we can’t wait to find out who wins one of the biggest online prizes out there.

Opening Flight of Online Main Event

The first flight of the $5,000-entry WSOP Online Main Event was actually the 33^rd event to take place in the WSOP Online Series on GGPoker. Just 61 players made it through, and of them, the 2013 WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess headlines the Day 2 starters, with play resuming on September 26^th.

After the first day of action in the WSOP Online Main Event, it was the Mexico-based player ‘Sheogorath’ who finished on top with over 1.4 million chips. David Yan played from Croatia and got himself to second in chips with 1.34 million, with Canadian ‘Lexandru’ sneaking into third place on 1.16 million.

Elsewhere in the top 10, ‘Maddona’ from Luxembourg racked up over 812,000 chips, with Marco Strada piling up 668,000 from Liechtenstein. The 2013 world champion Ryan Riess ended the day in 10^th place, with a total of 645,000 chips good enough for a big stack with which to attack Day 2.

What Can We Expect in the WSOP Online Main Event?

“[You get] double the chips for half the buy-in when you compare it to the live WSOP Main Event.”

The WSOP Online Main Event gives every player a starting stack of 60,000 chips for their $5,000 entry, which is double the chips for half the buy-in when you compare it to the live WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Riess will be desperate to seal the deal, having come second in Event #71 of the 2022 World Series of Poker, the $1,111-entry One More for One Drop event in Las Vegas.

Riess now lives in Vegas but is a seasoned pro and wherever he plays the online series from, he will be quite a challenger for anyone who sits at his table. Back in 2013, he won $8.36 million when he took down the WSOP Main Event, often known as the world championship.

Riess is not the only massive name who made it through to Day 2 from a pulsating day of action on Day 1. Other stars such as former WSOP bracelet winners Yuri Dzivielevski (513,351), who has previously own bracelets in both 2019 and 2020, and Mikita Badziakouski (475,205), who has swept the high roller world by storm over the past three years in particular survived.

While those big names succeeded, others weren’t so fortunate, with Michael Addamo, Andras Nemeth, Sergio Aido, Anatoly Filatov, Wiktor Malinowski and Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier all crashing out before the chips were frozen for the end of the day’s play.