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WSOP Circuit Announces 20 Stops for 2012-13 Schedule

Short-Stacked Shamus
Published on 27 Jul 2012 at 14:49

When the WSOP-C visits the River Rock Casino in Vancouver, Canada, that will mark the first time the Circuit will be played outside of the United States in nine seasons. And the stop at Harrah's Cherokee will mark the first major poker tournament series of any kind in North Carolina.

While the 2012 World Series of Poker awaits the conclusion of this year's final table in late October, the schedule for the newest season of the increasingly popular WSOP Circuit has been announced. Filling the calendar from August to May, the 2012-13 WSOP-C includes 20 stops this time around, including new ones in Ohio, Connecticut, North Carolina, and Vancouver, Canada.

Each of the 20 stops features a series of tournaments usually stretched over a week-and-a-half period. Stops include 12 official "ring" events among the tourneys on offer with buy-ins ranging from $365 to a $1,675 Main Event.

Most ring events are no-limit hold'em, with a pot-limit Omaha event usually thrown into the mix as well. Also, the three-day Main Events will be played as "re-entry" tournaments, meaning those busting during the morning flight of Day 1 will be able to buy back in during an evening flight.

The 2012-13 WSOP Circuit will culminate with a final stop at Harrah's New Orleans, followed by a WSOP National Championship that will also take place in New Orleans May 21-23, 2013 (just before the start of the 2013 WSOP). In other words, the 2012-13 WSOP National Championship will not take place in Las Vegas as did in 2011 and 2012.

As in the past, the WSOP National Championship will be considered a bracelet event. This year the National Championship took place in Las Vegas at the end of the 2012 WSOP summer schedule, with Ryan Eriquezzo topping a field of 157 to win. In 2011 the National Championship played out at Caesars Palace in Vegas just prior to the start of the WSOP, with Sam Barnhart coming out on top.

In addition to trying to win WSOP-C rings and cash prizes, players all year will be attempting to qualify for the National Championship which includes $1,000,000 added to the prize pool. There are different ways to earn a free seat in the National Championship.

Winning a WSOP-C Main Event gets one an entry, as does being the "Casino Champion" at a given circuit location -- i.e., accumulating the most points in the 12 ring events at a particular stop. Also, players earning enough points over the course of the entire 2012-13 schedule to place in the top 60 overall will earn seats in the National Championship.

In all, 100 players will earn free seats into the National Championship -- the 20 Main Event winners, the 20 Casino Champions, and the top 60 in the points standings. Players can only qualify once for a seat, however, and since there will likely be duplicates among those three groups, repeated names will be removed and the next-highest point-getters will earn the remaining seats.

Additionally, the top 100 players in the WSOP Player of the Year world rankings over the past two years will be invited to participate in the National Championship, although must buy in for $10,000. In other words, the maximum number of participants in the National Championship will be 200 players, with the maximum possible prize pool being $2 million.

Among the new stops, few were surprised to see the brand new Horseshoe Cleveland added to WSOP-C schedule. Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut has formerly been a World Poker Tour stop, and so is used to hosting major tournament series.

Both the Vancouver and North Carolina stops are of particular interest. When the WSOP-C visits the River Rock Casino in Vancouver, Canada, that will mark the first time the Circuit will be played outside of the United States in nine seasons.

Also, the stop at Harrah's Cherokee in Cherokee, North Carolina will mark the first major poker tournament series of any kind for the state which only passed legislation allowing live table games in June. In fact, Harrah's Cherokee does not currently spread live poker, and will only begin doing so next month -- plenty of time to ready for the WSOP-C's visit in April 2013.

Here's a look at the full schedule: