Ryan Hagerty made a name for himself late in 2020, when he final-tabled the domestic World Series of Poker Main Event, finishing fourth for $387,310. Hagerty rolled that momentum over to multiple victories in January at the partypoker US Online Poker Series, where he won three events. However, Hagerty said that after that month, he hit a downswing.

“Well, when I got back from the WSOP finish I kept my heater going online for a little bit,” Hagerty said. “And then, after that, it was straight down for most of the year. That was until I was able to capture that ring, which was awesome.”

That victory came in the middle of June in the $320 Six Max WSOP Circuit ring event, where he bested a field of nearly 400 players to earn almost $23,000. After that result, Hagerty hit another rough patch and decided that he needed a change of scenery for his game to bounce back.

“The two weeks prior to these wins I had felt my play slipping a bunch, and I decided to take a Saturday away from online and drive down to Maryland Live! to play a $1,000 event. I hadn’t played live poker in so long … and I needed a getaway.”

Hagerty said that while he didn’t make the final table, he was able to polish his game in many key ways.

“I ended up finishing in 16th for a min-cash, but I really think I plugged a bunch of leaks in my game on that trip and have been playing more confidently since, and luckily for me results followed that change of play,” he said.

Hagerty made the final table of WSOP Online Event #22 ($600 NLHE KO), finishing fifth for just under $10,000, before his massive victory in Event #23 ($500 NLHE Turbo). Hagerty came into the final table with the chip lead but, as he described, the final table was a roller coaster.

“With eight left, I lost ace-king of clubs to aces, but then immediately bounced back winning multiple all-ins with kings, aces, and eights to take an overwhelming chip lead into four-handed play.”

Hagerty went on to win a back-and-forth three-handed and heads-up battle to earn him his first bracelet. Hagerty had to overcome WSOP.com online regular Anthony Chin at the final table and two-time WSOP bracelet winner and former #1-ranked PocketFiver Calvin Anderson.

With his victory, Hagerty joins a growing club of WSOP online bracelet winners. Many have argued that having so many online bracelet events is bad for the WSOP, and waters down the importance and prestige of the bracelet. However, Hagerty is of the mindset that the online events are great for poker.

“I absolutely loved the online bracelets from the moment they started. I think it is awesome for the game. I’m not sure they are the same as winning one live, but that doesn’t matter all that much to me. It is great for poker in general, particularly the growth of online poker.”

Hagerty says that after a busy few weeks of grinding, he is ready to take a break and head to the West Coast for a much-needed and earned vacation. After that, Hagerty will be bracelet hunting once again, as the WSOP will be running eight bracelet events in Pennsylvania.

“I will be going on vacation to San Francisco for a few days before I come back to play the Pennsylvania bracelet events which I am very excited for! Beyond that, I will be playing the WPT in Maryland in September and possibly other events in that series.”

Hagerty had previously said that he was largely planning to grind online the rest of the year, and didn’t have plans to play much at the live WSOP in the fall. However, Hagerty has now conceded that after getting a taste of WSOP gold, he certainly plans to be back in Vegas for more shots in a couple of months.

“I definitely want to play some WSOP events in Vegas, but we’ll see what happens in the coming months with COVID. I wouldn’t ever play a full schedule, but I would play some good events as well as the Main, which I won a seat for. Hopefully, it doesn’t get canceled.”