A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the announcement of the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series on GGPoker. In the announcement, the WSOP said that it would be made up of “hundreds” of tournaments. To that, I had the hottest of takes, “Hundreds is a lot of tournaments, if you ask me.”
And holy jeez, the World Series of Poker was not exaggerating when it said “hundreds.” The full schedule for the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series was released on Monday and it consists of 595 events. Five hundred ninety-five. And it doesn’t look like it’s one of those series with three tiers of buy-ins for each event. It’s really 595 separate tournaments. Sure, there are going to be a lot of repeats in there, but my god.
Now, there is a solid amount of time to cram that all in. The WSOP Super Circuit Online Series will run for most of May, from May 3rd through May 31st. Buy-ins range from $50 to $25,000, so while there might not be something for everybody, there is something for most.
The primary attraction of the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series is the set of 18 official gold ring events. Since brick-and-mortar WSOP Circuit stops are a no-go for the foreseeable future (as is the 2020 World Series of Poker), the WSOP has developed online replacements.
And just like the land-based WSOP Circuit stops, both the Main Event champ and the player who earns the most points across the 18 ring events will receive free seats in the season-ending Global Casino Championship. The Global Casino Championship has a $1 million guaranteed prize pool and is invitation-only. The only players who are eligible to play aside from the two who earn free seats at each stop are the top 100 in the previous year’s WSOP Player of the Year standings and those who won Circuit rings this season. Those players, though, must pony up $10,000, the entirety of which is added to the prize pool.
SPEAKING of prize pools, total guarantees for the WSOP Super Circuit Online Series add up to $100 million. That is the first time the guarantees in an internet tournament series have hit the nine-figure mark. The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), which starts in a couple days, briefly held the record for guarantees at $85 million.
One-third of the 18 ring events are phased tournaments, a fancy name for tournaments with multiple starting days. The $1,000 buy-in, $5 million guaranteed Main Event has three weeks of Day 1’s, starting on May 10th. All survivors from those flights will compete on the final day, May 31st.
Another notable ring event is the very first one, a $1,111 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed tournament. The WSOP will donate entire $111 entry fee from each player’s purchase to Nevada COVID-19 Task Force.
Unlike the WSOP.com Online Super Circuit Series in March, this series is not open to players in the United States. GGPoker does not accept U.S. players.