WSOP Circuit Series Announces 2016-17 Domestic and International Schedules
The popular World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Series has unveiled its domestic (United States) and international series for the 2016-17 Circuit season. It’s Season 13 for the popular WSOP Circuit tour, with its traveling caravan of mid-priced poker events that bring an affordable opportunity for playing a WSOP-branded event to poker players in far-flung locations, away from the annual seven-week poker bonanza at the Rio in Las Vegas.
According to the folks at WSOP.com, who have just released the 2016-17 schedule, the upcoming year is already slated to be the biggest in WSOP Circuit history. Confirmed on the schedule already are 22 domestic and 6 international series, each of which typically offers a 12-day slate of events, and as many as eight more international stops are still in the process of being confirmed.
That’s a whole lot of poker, spread across the globe. First, a look inside the US part of the schedule, which kicks off in Cherokee, North Carolina in early August, then wraps up in New Orleans in late May. Harrah’s Cherokee is the only facility that will host three different series within the 2016-17 slate, though the WSOP Circuit will make two stops at several sites.
Two new stops make first-time appearances on the schedule, the Potowatomi Casino in Milwaukee, WI in February, and the Hard Rock in Tulsa, OK in March.
Here’s the complete slate at the present time:
| # | TOURNAMENT DATES | TOURNAMENT LOCATION | MAIN EVENT START |
| 1 | August 4-16, 2016 | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) | Aug 12 |
| 2 | August 18-29, 2016 | Foxwoods Resorts (Connecticut) | Aug 26 |
| 3 | August 25 – September 5, 2016 | Planet Hollywood (Las Vegas Strip) | Sep 02 |
| 4 | September 8-19, 2016 | IP (Biloxi, Mississippi) | Sep 16 |
| 5 | September 29 – October 10, 2016 | Horseshoe S. Indiana (Louisville) | Oct 07 |
| 6 | October 13-24, 2016 | Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago) | Oct 21 |
| 7 | October 27 – November 7, 2016 | Harveys Lake Tahoe (Nevada) | Nov 04 |
| 8 | November 10-21, 2016 | Palm Beach Kennel Club (Florida) | Nov 18 |
| 9 | November 24 – December 5, 2016 | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) | Dec 02 |
| 10 | December 1-12, 2016 | The Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles) | Dec 09 |
| 11 | January 12-23, 2017 | Choctaw Durant (Dallas/Oklahoma) | Jan 20 |
| 12 | January 19-30, 2017 | Horseshoe Tunica (Mississippi) | Jan 27 |
| 13 | February 2-13, 2017 | Potawatomi (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) | Feb 10 |
| 14 | February 9-20, 2017 | Palm Beach Kennel Club (Florida) | Feb 17 |
| 15 | February 23 – March 6, 2017 | Bally’s Las Vegas | Mar 03 |
| 16 | March 4-15, 2017 | The Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles) | Mar 11 |
| 17 | March 9-20, 2017 | Harrah’s Atlantic City (New Jersey) | Mar 17 |
| 18 | March 16-27, 2017 | Hard Rock (Tulsa, Oklahoma) | Mar 24 |
| 19 | March 30 – April 10, 2017 | Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Omaha/Iowa) | Apr 07 |
| 20 | April 13-24, 2017 | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) | Apr 21 |
| 21 | April 27 – May 8, 2017 | Horseshoe Baltimore (Maryland) | May 05 |
| 22 | May 11-22, 2017 | Harrah’s New Orleans (Louisiana) | May 19 |
| — | TBD | WSOP Global Casino Championship | TBD |
And here’s the first six stops on the international side of the WSOP slate:
| September 8–20, 2016 | CASINO CAMPIONE Campione, Italy | Sep 16 |
| September 29 – October 9, 2016 | SPIELBANK BERLIN, Berlin, Germany | Oct 06 |
| October 27 – November 14, 2016 | KING’S CASINO, Rozvadov, Czech Republic | Nov 10 |
| November 3-16, 2016 | SONESTA MAHO BEACH RESORT & CASINO, St Maarten, Caribbean | Nov 12 |
| November 11-27, 2016 | CERCLE CLICHY MONTMARTRE, Paris, France | Nov 23 |
| December 2-11, 2016 | ENJOY CONRAD PUNTA DEL ESTE, Punta del Este, Uruguay | Dec 08 |
But wait, there’s more! (As the cheesy infomercials always say.) On the international side, the Berlin, Paris, St. Maarten and Uruguay stops are all first-timers, and that’s just the 2016 portion. According to the WSOP’s announcement, as many as eight more international WSOPC series will round out that part of the slate, all to be announced at a later date.
Instead of bracelets, of course, it’s rings for Circuit winners, and the “12 Rings in 12 Days” theme returns in 2016-17. The non-main ring events at each stop feature $365 buy-ins, while each stop’s main event offers a $1,675 buy-in, the same as last year.
On the US side, the WSOP Circuit’s “Global Casino Championship” returns as well, and offers successful players a points chase system towards the year-ending championship event. The international side of the slate also sends players to the Global Casino Championship, though under a slightly different structure.
For the US side, here’s how the WSOP details it:
Players can qualify for the 2016/17 Global Casino Championship several ways (a.) win a Circuit Main Event at any domestic or international stop (b.) win a “Casino Championship,” which is defined as the player at each stop who accumulates the most points throughout the 12-event gold ring schedule at any domestic or international stop (c.) be one of the top 50 cumulative point earners over the entire season who hasn’t otherwise qualified (Domestic tour only). Each of these projected 122 players will receive a “free roll” seat into the culminating event.
Another way to enter the 2016-17 Global Casino Championship during the Circuit Season is to win any official “ring event”. Anyone who doesn’t otherwise qualify for entry due to an automatic invite or cumulative standings will be eligible to buy-in to the WSOP Global Casino Championship for $10,000. Likewise, the top 100 ranked players from the previous year’s WSOP Player of the Year, may also buy in for $10,000 (thus the 2016 WSOP POY Standings in this case). Every penny of all additional $10,000 buy-ins will be added to the $1 million the WSOP is putting into the prize pool.
Detailed event schedules for each stop on the 2016 WSOP slate will be available on the WSOP.com site.
According to the WSOP’s Executive Director, Ty Stewart, “We are excited to be adding a couple new stops to the domestic tour this year, expanding the international tour and continuing to refine each stop to make them bigger and better. We want to continue to provide the opportunity for everyone to take a shot at becoming a World Series of Poker champion.”
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