WSOP Circuit Announces 2017-18 Domestic Tournament Slate
Officials for the World Series of Poker have announced the initial schedule of events for the 2017 WSOP Circuit series. The WSOP Circuit’s 14th season begins on August 2nd, 2017, with a stop at Harrah’s Cherokee. The Cherokee event kicks off a record 26-stop slate for the WSOP Circuit tour, beginning less than two weeks after the 2017 WSOP concludes its summer run in Las Vegas, and running right through to next season’s series-ending visit to Harrah’s New Orleans.
The visit to Cherokee is one of three such trips to the North Carolina Appalachians for the WSOP Circuit caravan. The Cherokee venue, which is always one of the WSOP Circuit’s most popular destinations, will also host stops in November and April.
Several properties will host two separate WSOP Circuit stops amid the series’ nearly 10-month-long slate. Properties which will double up on the WSOP Circuit events during the 2017-18 season include Thunder Valley Casino in northern California (September 2017 and January 2018), Choctaw Durant in Oklahoma (November 2017 and January 2018), Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas (November 2017 and March 2018), and a “TBA” venue still to be finalized. Social-media chatter indicates those two TBA slots, in December 2017 and March 2018, are being held for stops at Los Angeles’s Bicycle Casino.
All told, at least 18 different venues will host WSOP Circuit series during the upcoming season. And this is just the WSOP Circuit’s domestic (US-based) tour. The 2017-18 slate for the WSOP Circuit International series will be announced at a later date, and that parallel offering will include at least another dozen stops.
For now, though, the focus is on the domestic Circuit slate. There are three new stops on the 2017-18 slate as well, including the double-dipping Thunder Valley, designed to serve north-central California’s populous poker market. Also new are stops at two Seminole Gaming properties in Florida — Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Hollywood (September 21 to October 2, 2017) and Seminole Casino Coconut Creek (February 8-19, 2018).
All that chasing of Circuit rings, series points, and tens of millions of dollars in prize money leads to the seasone-ending Global Casino Championship. That championship will offer a seven-figure prize pool and a WSOP gold bracelet to its winner.
The “12 Rings in 12 Days” format will return in the 2017-18 season, though each WSOP Circuit stop will release its own individual slate following the requisite regulatory approval. Each stop’s ring events will begin at the $365 buy-in level, though each stop also provides a healthy slate of non-ring events and cash-game action. Non-points-earning but ring-awarding Seniors and Ladies events are likely to be included at many Circuit stops.
Regarding the season-ending Global Casino Championship, WSOP Circuit execs offer this:
Players can qualify for the 2017-18 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 players will receive a “free roll” seat. Another way to enter the 2017-18 Global Casino Championship during the Circuit Season is to win any official “ring event”. Any ring winner 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 2017 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.
“We are very proud of what the WSOP Circuit has become and how it has performed for our partner casinos who have come aboard,” said the WSOP’s Executive Director, Ty Stewart. “Players know they get a consistent structure and schedule at each stop, plus the opportunity to win big prizes as well as their seat into the million-dollar free-roll with a WSOP gold bracelet up for grabs.”
The 2017-18 domestic schedule follows, with the caveat that the schedule is officially tentative and remains subject to change:
WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2017-2018 CIRCUIT U.S. DOMESTIC TOUR SCHEDULE
August 2-14, 2017 / Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina)
August 17-28, 2017 / Foxwoods Resort Casino (Connecticut)
September 7-18, 2017 / IP (Biloxi, Mississippi)
September 14-25, 2017 / Thunder Valley Casino (Sacramento area, California)
September 21 – October 2, 2017 / Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Hollywood (near Miami, Florida)
September 28 – October 9, 2017 / Horseshoe S. Indiana (Louisville)
October 12-23, 2017 / Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago)
October 26 – November 6, 2017 / Harveys Lake Tahoe (Northern Nevada)
November 2-13, 2017 / Choctaw Durant (Dallas/Oklahoma)
November 9–20, 2017 / Planet Hollywood (Las Vegas Strip)
November 23 – December 4, 2017 / Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina)
December 1-12, 2017 / TBA
January 4-15, 2018 / Choctaw Durant (Dallas/Oklahoma)
January 11-22, 2018 / Thunder Valley Casino (near Sacramento, California)
January 18-29, 2018 / Horseshoe Tunica (Mississippi)
February 1-12, 2018 / Potawatomi (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
February 8–19, 2018 / Seminole Casino Coconut Creek (Coconut Creek, Florida)
February 15-26, 2018 / Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas)
March 3-14, 2018 / TBA
March 8 – 19, 2018 / Harrah’s Atlantic City (New Jersey)
March 15-26, 2018 / Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa (Oklahoma)
March 22 – April 2, 2018 / Planet Hollywood (Las Vegas Strip)
March 29-April 9, 2018 / Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Omaha/Iowa)
April 12-23, 2018 / Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina)
April 26 – May 7, 2018 / Horseshoe Baltimore (Maryland)
May 10 – 21, 2018 / Harrah’s New Orleans (Louisiana)
(27. TBD / $1 million+ Global Casino Championship)
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