No rest for the weary
The World Series of Poker has released the 2022-2023 WSOP Circuit schedule, which kicks off as soon as this summer’s WSOP ends. The first stop is at Choctaw Durant in Oklahoma, just north of the Texas border, about an hour and a half from Dallas.
All told, there are 25 stops on the WSOP Circuit slate; ten more stops will soon be announced for WSOP.com.
“The World Series of Poker is back with the Circuit returning in just short of a month,” said senior vice president and executive director of the World Series of Poker Ty Stewart in Wednesday’s announcement. “With record breaking attendance so far this summer, we expect a huge response to the full-scale return of our regional mid stakes tour.”
Most of the casinos on the schedule were part of the WSOP Circuit last year. The one new stop on the Circuit is the Grand Victoria Casino in Chicago November 10-21, 2022. There are also two “heritage” stops, which we assume means venues that were not on the 2021-2022 schedule, but have been part of the Circuit in the past: Harveys Lake Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada (October 20-31, 2022) and Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana (May 11-22, 2023).
All WSOP Circuit stops will have at least 12 official gold ring events. Circuit events are overall more affordable than most WSOP tournaments, with buy-ins starting at $250 and the Main Events having a $1,700 buy-in. All events have a big blind ante format and their blind and payout structures are standardized so that players know what to expect, no matter where they are (local regulations could create some variation).
Seniors and Ladies events are not guaranteed to be on the schedule for each Circuit stop, but are encouraged (I would expect to see them at most casinos).
Tournament of Champions
The 2022-2023 will once again conclude with the Tournament of Champions, which underwent a change for this past season. The invitation-only, $1 million prizepool freeroll used to be somewhat complicated, with qualifiers including Circuit stop winners, overall season points leaders, and WSOP Player of the Year leaders.
Now it’s all a bit more streamlined. All official gold ring winners during the season – live or online – qualify for the tournament. And though the WSOP did not mention this in Wednesday’s press release, we are assuming that, like this past season, bracelet winners from the 2022 WSOP are invited, as well.
The Tournament of Champions will be held at the 2023 World Series of Poker next summer; the winner will receive an official gold bracelet in addition to the prize money.