The 2025 World Series of Poker Online features 30 gold bracelet events, with this year’s WSOPO being the first to combine player pools from Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Pennsylvania signed the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement in April of this year, becoming the sixth state to do so.
Results from the first third of this year’s series are now in the books. Several big names came out on top, including Card Player columnist and two-time World Poker Tour champion Jonathan Little, who took down event no. 8 to earn his first WSOP bracelet. Little made the trip to Las Vegas to collect the hardware from WSOP Vice President Jack Effel at a bracelet ceremony held on June 18.
Little’s breakthrough came in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em freezeout. The longtime poker professional and founder of PokerCoaching.com was one of 533 entrants. He earned $90,663 and the hardware as the last player standing.
The win came almost two decades after his first WSOP cash back in 2006, when Little finished 171st in a $1,500 buy-in event. There were numerous close calls along the way, including a third-place finish in a 2010 shootout event and a third-place showing in a 2013 six-max no-limit event. Now, he finally has his hands on his first bracelet.
Little now boasts recorded earnings in excess of $9.6 million. His two largest triumphs remain his seven-figure wins in the 2007 WPT Mirage Poker Showdown ($1,091,295) and the 2008 WPT World Poker Finals ($1,120,310).
While Little was the most accomplished first-time victor among the nine champions crowned so far during the WSOPO, there were also a few tournament stars who added to their bracelet collections with online triumphs.
A total of 2,206 entries were made in the $400 Kick Off event, building a prize pool of $97,762. In the end it was Germany’s Konstantin ‘delaypenalty’ Held who emerged victorious with the bracelet and the top prize of $97,762. This was Held’s second bracelet, having taken down a 2024 WSOP Online International $500 event for $574,199.
Brek Schutten topped a field of 770 entries in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em progressive bounty event, earning his second career bracelet and $46,396 from the main prize pool.
This win came just over a year after he took down the $25,000 six-max event in person last summer for a career-best score of $1.4 million. Schutten is also a WPT champion, having won the 2021 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown main event for nearly $1.3 million.
The largest top prize awarded so far during the 2025 WSOPO was captured by Nick Maimone. He bested 1,107 entries in the $1,000 six-max no-limit event to earn $181,625 and his second bracelet.
Maimone first secured virtual gold back in 2020, taking down the $1,500 Marathon during the WSOP Online International series for $302,472. He now has more than $5.2 million in career tournament earnings.
Other storylines from the early results include 2021 WPT Online Borgata Poker Open champion Orson Young winning the PLOssus, a $400 pot-limit Omaha version of the popular low-buy-in Colossus event, for his first bracelet.
Corey Thompson also stood out thanks to his runner-up finish in event no. 1 and win in event no. 3, the $888 buy-in Crazy 8’s tournament. The latter event saw Thompson outlast 920 entries to capture the gold and the top prize of $136,160.
The seventh event on the WSOPO schedule did not declare a champion, as the $250 buy-in $1 million guaranteed mystery bounty tournament was canceled on day 2 due to technical difficulties that impeded a critical mass of players from taking their virtual seats.