WSOP Circuit Series Announces Expanded International Schedule
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has announced a significant expansion to its WSOP Circuit International Tour schedule, adding six new stops to its ongoing 2016-17 WSOPC season. The six stops now fully publicized include a series at the Star Casino in Sydney, Australia, that begins this week, and includes the following international venues:
Sydney, Australia – November 22-December 12, 2016 – The Star, Sydney
Marrakech, Morocco – January 14-22, 2017 – Casino de Marrakech
Campione, Italy – March 6–20, 2017 – Casino Campione D’Italia
Cannes, France – April 17-24, 2017 – Casino Barriere Cannes le Croisette
Estoril, Portugal – May 1-7, 2017 – Casino Estoril
Brussels, Belgium – May 19-28, 2017 – Grand Casino Brussels VIAGE
Another upcoming WSOP Circuit International Tour stop, previously announced, is coming up in Uruguay. That stop, at Punta Del Este, runs December 2-11, 2017. WSOPC International officials also asserted that one more international stop may be added to the 2016-17 slate, which along with six already completed International series this season, means that the Circuit International Tour may end up with 14 stops on the season.
When added to a similar record-setting event count on the WSOP’s domestic (US) slate, that means as many as 36 distinct WSOP Circuit series may have run by the time the season concludes in May. Main event and “casino champion” winners from each of the domestic and international venues all receive invites to the WSOP Circuit’s season-ending 2016-17 WSOP Global Casino Championship.
According to WSOP Director Gregory Chochon, who heads up the WSOP’s international expansion plans, “We are very pleased to add these additional stops to the WSOP Circuit. We have been very judicious on which locales and casinos we will work with and believe we have found terrific partners in each of these markets to help bring the WSOP brand to a local and regional audience.”
The fleshing out of the WSOP Circuit International Tour’s schedule comes at a good time for the WSOP, which continues to see strong turnouts in its mid-priced series offerings around the globe. As a recent WSOP presser noted, the opening event at the WSOPC International Tour’s recent stop at São Paulo, Brasil set an attendance record for a WSOPC event held outside the US. That R$580 re-buy event (580 Brazilian reais equals about 170 US dollars) generated a total of 2,981 paid entries, the largest such entry count for any Circuit event held outside the US.
Update on Winter WSOP Circuit Vegas Stop
WSOP Circuit officials also announced one upcoming change to the domestic Circuit slate, involving a stop originally scheduled for Bally’s Las Vegas in late February and early March. Due to a scheduling conflict involving the facility, that Circuit stop has been shifted a few blocks away and moved up a week, now scheduled at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas from February 16-27, 2017. The Rio’s spacious Convention Center — yes, the home of the WSOP each summer — remains Caesars’ go-to solution when such scheduling conflicts arise, even though the casino itself is not generally recognized as one of Caesars’ elite properties. Nonetheless, it’s been a good home for the WSOP, and now, for at least one year, a Circuit stop as well.
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