Caesars and WSOP officials have announced that the 2015 WSOP National Championship will be held July 29-31 in North Carolina at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.
Wrapping up their eleventh season of competition, the WSOP Circuit will be the “feeder” that provides the players for what is a hybrid freeroll/buy-in event. 100 players who have qualified through the season of play on the WSOPC will be guaranteed seats into the $1 million freeroll tournament, with the Top 50 in the WSOPC season rankings and champions of events during the season (20 players) earning an automatic place in the event (remaining seats are still to be determined). Players who haven’t qualified over this season but that are in the Top 100 of the WSOP World Rankings would also be able to take part in the tournament, but they would have to buy-in for $10,000 (with that money going into the prize pool). This would guarantee a prize pool between $1 million and $2 million for the tournament.
“We look forward to welcoming the best poker players in the world to Harrah’s Cherokee and the beautiful Smoky Mountains,” said Brooks Robinson, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the resort. “We have an avid and loyal poker-playing community that greatly supports our two annual WSOP Circuit stops and our other year-round poker offerings and we’re excited to be chosen to host this year’s WSOP National Championship.”
The Top 50 currently for the eleventh season of the WSOPC could feature some notable names if they decide to take part in the tournament. All of the previous season’s champions are given an automatic berth in the National Championship and, as a champion of the WSOPC stop at Foxwoods, Allen Kessler is automatically a part of the field for the National Championship along with fellow pro Darryll Fish (WSOPC Palm Beach). Players that are currently ranked in the Top 100 that have a chance in cracking the Top 50 to become eligible for the tournament include Ari Engel, Tim West, Gregg Merkow and Daniel Buzgon.
The potential list of entries gets even better when you look at the WSOP World Rankings Top 100, who would all be eligible to use the “buy-in” option to play the tournament. The Top 5 alone, featuring Daniel Negreanu, defending WSOP Player of the Year George Danzer, John “World” Hennigan, Brandon Shack-Harris and World Champion Martin Jacobson, would be a great get for the WSOP National Championship, but they might be a bit busy with other activities (more on this in a bit). Even so, the bottom of the Top 100, featuring such players as Matt Salsberg, Byron Kaverman and Jake Schindler, might be interested in a trip to North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains to recharge.
Herein lies the one problem with the scheduling of the WSOP National Championship. Previous to this year, the WSOP National Championship was held prior to the start of the overall WSOP in Las Vegas. Players didn’t have to break their scheduled tournament routines in Sin City to play in the National Championship and, for some, it gave them a way to ease back into the tournament poker grind without having to step into the battlegrounds (and the monstrous fields) that make up the typical WSOP itself. With this said, the 2015 National Championship will provide someone an opportunity to pick up a WSOP bracelet in what will be a small but competitive field.
The history of the WSOP National Championship is a short but storied one. First contested in 2011 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Sam Barnhart walked away with the inaugural bracelet from the event. In 2012, the Top 100 players could buy into the event, but it was WSOPC Champion Ryan Eriquezzo who defeated a final table that included David Baker, Sam Stein and Amanda Musumeci for the title (Eugene Katchalov, Brian Rast, Nick Binger and Kessler were among those who cashed). In 2013, the tournament shifted its base of operations to New Orleans and Jonathan Hilton defeated Max Steinberg to take down the championship. Last year, the home port of the National Championship moved to Atlantic City, where Dominik Nitsche took advantage of the buy-in option and defeated Athanasios Polychronopoulos to pick up his first WSOP bracelet.
There are still four stops left on the WSOPC calendar for the current season, so the final players who will be eligible for the tournament are yet to be determined. The 2015 WSOP National Championship will be a highly competitive event and should draw a sizeable field when it is contested in July.
