World Series of Poker Circuit

The World Series of Poker Circuit is a series of poker tournaments held annually at a variety of casinos since 2005 as a build-up to the World Series of Poker (WSOP).^[1]

All Championship events are competed in no limit Texas hold 'em; preliminary events may be different poker variants.

In 2015, the WSOP International Circuit was launched, with rounds in Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa.^[2] The International Circuit has expanded to 13 tournaments for the 2017/18 season.^[3]

WSOP Circuit bracelets

WSOP Circuit National Championship

Starting in 2010–11, the WSOP Circuit National Championship was held as a closed event for participants of various circuit events. The winner of the WSOP Circuit National Championship won a World Series of Poker bracelet.^[4]

Starting in 2011–12, qualification for the WSOP Circuit National Championship was significantly changed. A total of 100 players now receive automatic seats in the WSOP Circuit National Championship. The winners of each Circuit main event and the highest point earner at each circuit stop receive seats, with the remaining automatic seats filled by the top points earners throughout the Circuit season who are not already qualified. Additionally, the top 100 players in the "WSOP World Rankings", a points race determined on results in open events of the previous two WSOPs, are eligible to enter. The Circuit qualifiers play the National Championship on a freeroll, while the WSOP World Rankings qualifiers must pay a $10,000 buy-in.^[5][6]

Season	Series Name	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
2005	event not held
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2008–09
2009–10
2010–11	WSOP Circuit National Championship	Sam Barnhart	$300,000	James Anderson
2011–12	WSOP Circuit National Championship	Ryan Eriquezzo	$416,051	Nikolas Stone
2012–13	WSOP Circuit National Championship	Jonathan Hilton	$355,599	Max Steinberg
2013–14	WSOP Circuit National Championship	Dominik Nitsche	$352,800	Athanasios Polychronopoulos
2014–15	WSOP Circuit National Championship	Loni Harwood	$341,599	Alexandru Masek

WSOP Global Casino Championship

In 2015–16, the WSOP National Championship was renamed to the WSOP Global Casino Championship, featuring the winners from both WSOP Circuit and WSOP International Circuit.^[7] The winner of the WSOP Global Casino Championship won a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Season	Series Name	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
2015–16	WSOP Global Casino Championship	Said El-Yousfi	$343,256	Yasin Ahmady
2016–17	WSOP Global Casino Championship	Sean Yu	$296,941	Alexander Lakhov
2017–18	WSOP Global Casino Championship	Warren Sheaves	$282,113	Jeremy Meacham
2018–19	WSOP Global Casino Championship	Ryan Eriquezzo (2)	$279,431	Eric Salazar
2019–20	WSOP Global Casino Championship (Online)	Andrew "AJ" Kelsall	$275,632	Michael Trivett
2020–21	season not held

WSOP Tournament of Champions

Season	Series Name	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
2021–22	WSOP Tournament of Champions	Benjamin Kaupp	$250,000	Raul Garza
2022–23	WSOP Tournament of Champions	Ronnie Day	$200,000	Brent Gregory

WSOP Circuit rings

WSOP Circuit ring

Like the World Series of Poker and its prestigious bracelet, all circuit stops have preliminary events that award rings as well.

In March 2018, WSOP.com in New Jersey hosted the first online poker tournament to award a Circuit ring.^[8]

WSOP Circuit ring winners

Below is a list of all poker players who have won at least five World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit rings.^[9]

Information correct as of 21 November 2021.

Rings	Player	Bracelets
14	Maurice Hawkins	0
13	Daniel Lowery	0
12	Joshua Reichard	0
12	Valentin Vornicu	0
10	Ari Engel	2
9	Robert Hankins	0
9	Alexandru Masek	0
9	Martin Ryan	0
9	Jeffrey Trudeau	0
8	Daniel Buzgon	0
8	Kyle Cartwright	1
8	Roland Israelashvili	0
8	Michael Lech	1
8	Chris Reslock	1
8	Sean Yu	1
7	David Larson	0
7	Vincent Moscati	0
7	Andrew Robinson	0
7	Joshua Turner	0
7	Cory Waaland	0
6	Steve Foutty	0
6	John Holley	0
6	Mark Smith	0
6	Matt Stout	0
6	Arkadiy Tsinis	1
6	Nicholas Verderamo	0
6	Blake Whittington	0
6	Maxwell Young	0
6	Timothy Bishop	0
6	Michael Setera	0
5	Austin Apicella	0
5	Mark Fink	0
5	Brandon Fish	0
5	Loni Harwood	2
5	Raymond Henson	0
5	Blair Hinkle	1
5	Kurt Jewell	0
5	Martin Kabrhel	2
5	Jasthi Kumar	0
5	Mike Leah	1
5	Christopher Leong	0
5	Kevin McColgan	0
5	Cody Pack	0
5	Soheb Porbandarwala	1
5	Ian Steinman	1
5	Scott Stewart	0
5	Caufman Talley	0
5	Corey Paggeot	0

Most WSOP Circuit Rings in Shortest Period of Time

In July 2022, Sergio Ramirez became the first player to win 4 WSOP Circuit rings in 12 days: $500 PLO WSOPC Online (July 15), $600 PLO WSOPC Choctaw (July 19), $400 NLHE WSOPC Choctaw (July 25), and $400 NLHE WSOPC Choctaw (July 26)^[10]

WSOP Circuit Main Event Winners

The World Series of Poker Circuit now has 22 stops along the national tour.^[11] Each stop ends with a $1,675 buy-in Main Event. Originally they were $10,000. However, it changed rapidly with each succeeding WSOP Circuit season.

2005 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
January 18, 2005	Harrah's Atlantic City	Nghi Tran	$780,615	Erick Lindgren
March 2, 2005	Harrah's Rincon	Chris Ferguson	$655,220	Prahlad Friedman
March 23, 2005	Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino Las Vegas	Doug Lee	$695,970	Jennifer Harman
May 8, 2005	Harrah's Lake Tahoe	Jeff Lisandro	$542,360	Phil Ivey
May 28, 2005	Harrah's New Orleans	Walter Chambers[12]	$787,340	Corey Bierria

2005–06 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
August 25, 2005	Grand Casino Tunica	Gregg Merkow	$561,175	Robert Law
September 16, 2005	Harrah's Las Vegas	Chris Ferguson	$362,088	Chade Layne
November 2, 2005	Caesars Indiana	Vinny Vinh	$437,760	Men Nguyen
November 22, 2005	Paris Las Vegas	Thang Pham	$453,456	J. C. Tran
December 9, 2005	Showboat Casino, Atlantic City	Chris Reslock	$335,235	John Juanda
January 26, 2006	Grand Casino Tunica	Daniel Negreanu	$755,525	Bryant King
February 17, 2006	Harrah's Atlantic City	Abraham Korotki	$433,008	Brian Jensen
March 7, 2006	Harrah's Rincon	Darrell Dicken	$372,780	Weikai Chang
March 31, 2006	Caesars Atlantic City	Jeffrey King	$345,708	Rep Porter
May 11, 2006	Caesars Palace	John Spadavecchia	$648,320	Sean McCabe
May 28, 2006	Harrah's New Orleans	Peter Feldman	$532,950	Gavin Smith
June 19, 2006	Harrah's Lake Tahoe	Clint Baskin	$372,240	Brian Fidler

2006–07 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
September 17, 2006	Harrah's Lake Tahoe	Michael Arents	$196,005	Jerrt Renfroe
October 4, 2006	Grand Casino Tunica	Mark Smith	$306,003	Manelic Minaya
November 3, 2006	Caesars Indiana	Chad Batista	$262,002	Hoyt Lance
December 19, 2006	Harrah's Atlantic City	Rick Rossetti	$368,096	Alex Gomez
January 17, 2007	Grand Tunica	Dennis Perry	$563,402	Gioi Luong
February 7, 2007	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Kosta Sengos	$219,576	Paul Kraus
February 22, 2007	Harrah's Rincon	Peter Feldman	$372,780	Davidson Matthew
March 14, 2007	Caesars Atlantic City	Mehrdad Yousefzadeh	$488,828	John McMahon
April 6, 2007	Caesars Indiana	Men Nguyen	$238,756	Young Phan
May 2, 2007	Caesars Las Vegas	Cory Carroll	$505,176	Justin Pechie
May 23, 2007	Harrah's New Orleans	Louie Esposito	$516,801	Clint Schafer

2007–08 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
September 13, 2007	Grand Casino Tunica	Jordan Morgan	$216,852	Terry Hawkins
November 2, 2007	Caesars Indiana	Carlos Uz	$175,034	Marc Fratter
November 18, 2007	Harrah's Lake Tahoe	Chris Ferguson	$203,649	Dustin Fox
December 5, 2007	Harrah's New Orleans	Andy Philachack	$247,860	Josh Arieh
December 18, 2007	Harrah's Atlantic City	John Racener	$379,392	Eric Buchman
January 22, 2008	Grand Casino Tunica	Bart Tichelman	$428,210	Donald Nicholson
February 7, 2008	Harrah's Rincon San Diego North	Mike Pickett	$229,002	David Peters
February 27, 2008	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Ben Hock	$169,327	Michael Martin
March 15, 2008	Caesars Atlantic City	Eric Haber	$431,136	Dan Hicks
April 14, 2008	Caesars Indiana	Wilbur Futhey	$180,289	Steve Merrifield
May 1, 2008	Caesars Las Vegas	Allen Cunningham	$499,162	Ben Fineman
May 21, 2008	Harrah's New Orleans	Nick Ceci	$382,928	Timothy Miles

2008–09 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
October 14, 2008	Horseshoe Southern Indiana	Samuel Oberlin	$143,064	Jerry Martin
November 2, 2008	Harrahs Horseshoe Casino Hammond	Steve Billirakis	$208,885	Thomas Koral
November 16, 2008	Harveys Resort & Casino, Lake Tahoe	Michael Binger	$181,379	Ty Stewart
December 16, 2008	Harrah's Atlantic City	Brent Roberts	$280,940	Phillip Reed
February 2, 2009	Harrah's Casino Tunica	Kai Landry	$183,974	David Dao
February 25, 2009	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Jesse Hale	$113,020	Dennis Meierotto
March 14, 2009	Caesars Atlantic City	Samuel Chartier	$322,944	John Nixon
April 1, 2009	Harrah's Rincon San Diego	Dwyte Pilgrim	$125,775	Esther Taylor
April 30, 2009	Caesars Palace	Justin Bonomo	$227,692	Michael Mizrachi
May 20, 2009	Harrah's New Orleans	Jean Gaspard	$211,722	Billy Kopp

2009–10 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
October 25, 2009	Harrah's Horseshoe Casino Hammond	Daniel Livingston	$291,749	Thanasi Floros
November 2, 2009	Horseshoe Southern Indiana	Gabriel Cook	$92,430	Christopher Tryba
November 17, 2009	Harveys Resort & Casino, Lake Tahoe	Matt Keikoan	$106,435	Justin Hallstrom
December 15, 2009	Harrah's Atlantic City	Chris Klodnicki	$215,915	Kyle Bowker
February 10, 2010	Harrah's Casino Tunica	Paul Wasicka	$139,422	Larry Gurney
March 2, 2010	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Jovan Sudar	$95,455	Gerald Walter
March 14, 2010	Caesars Atlantic City	Roland Isra	$264,715	Chris Mitchell
March 31, 2010	Harrah's Rincon San Diego	Bryan Devoshire	$114,975	Dan Schreiber
April 15, 2010	Harrah's St.Louis	Jeffrey Roper	$170,814	Jason Mo
April 30, 2010	Caesars Palace	Andrew Lichtenberger	$190,137	Dan Casetta
May 19, 2010	Harrah's New Orleans	Fred Berger	$197,584	Mike Beasley

2010–11 season

Date	Location	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
August 31, 2010	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Blair Hinkle[13]	$88,555	Shiva Dudani
October 12, 2010	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	Charles Moore	$98,878	Kevin Calenzo
October 31, 2010	Emerald Casino	Warren Zackey	$231,956	Melanie Banfield
November 9, 2010	IP Casino Resort & Spa	Travis Lutes	$95,253	Farid Nasserazad
November 10, 2010	Harveys Lake Tahoe	Stanley Quinn	$86,789	John Mcneilly
December 22, 2010	WSOP Regional Championship - Harrah's Atlantic City	Chris Bell	$358,295	Chris Klodnicki
January 24, 2011	Choctaw Casino Resort	Huy Nguyen	$232,706	Traci Brown
February 15, 2011	Harrah's Tunica	Sam Barnhart	$148,612	Jesse White
March 1, 2011	Palm Beach Kennel Club	John Riordan	$210,180	Mike Morton
March 13, 2011	Caesars Atlantic City	Brian Ali	$139,284	John Andress

2011–12 season

2012–13 season

2013–14 season

2014–15 season

2015–16 season

2016–17 season

2017–18 season

2018–19 season

2019–20 season

2020–21 season

This season was not held due to the ongoing situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021–22 season

Spencer Smith won back-to-back Monster Stack rings in Cherokee, NC both in 2200+ entry fields, for a total of $205,000.

References

1. Holloway, Chad (2020-09-10). "History of the WSOP Circuit – Global Casino Championship". PokerNews. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
2. Holloway, Chad (2015-02-26). "WSOP Announces Launch of Global Circuit Events in Italy, Mexico and Morocco". PokerNews. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
3. Collson, Brett (2017-07-16). "WSOP International Circuit Schedule Announced for 2017-18". PokerNews. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
4. Feldman, Andrew (2011-05-31). "Sam Barnhart crowned National Champion". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
5. Feldman, Andrew (July 29, 2011). "'11-'12 WSOP Circuit to feature 16 stops". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
6. Feldman, Andrew (July 23, 2012). "WSOP Circuit expands for 2012–13". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
7. WSOP Finalizes Details for 2016 Global Casino Championship - Pocket Fives, 5 April 2016
8. "WSOP Circuit Will Finally Put A Ring On NJ Online Poker Players". Online Poker Report. 2018-03-12. Retrieved 2018-03-13.
9. "WSOP Players". WSOP. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
10. "NJ's Sergio Thorne Ramirez Scores 4 WSOP Circuit Rings in Single Month". www.uspoker.com. 2022-08-16. Retrieved 2022-10-04.
11. Palansky, Seth (July 14, 2014). "WSOP ANNOUNCES 2014-15 WSOP CIRCUIT TOUR SCHEDULE". wsop.com. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
12. Meehan, Jim (2005-08-19). "Spencer acquired ethic early". Spokesman.com. Retrieved 2024-11-15.
13. Harwood, Elissa (2010-09-01). "WSOP-C Horseshoe Council Bluffs: Blair Hinkle Earns Ring and First Circuit Championship Seat for Main Event Victory". PokerNews. Retrieved 2024-11-15.

External links

• WSOP Circuit at the World Series of Poker