WSOP Circuit Awards $14M in First Half of Season
The World Series of Poker may be months away from its 2023 Las Vegas series, but the WSOP Circuit rolls on throughout the year.
As the 2022 WSOP had barely put most of its tables and chairs into storage, the WSOPC crew had gone to Choctaw in Durant, Oklahoma. They kicked off Season 18 of the Circuit with an 11-day festival. Each of the stops along the way have offered a festival of approximately one dozen tournaments, each including a Main Event with a $1,700 buy-in. Some had guarantees on their prize pools, though some did not.
In the end, the totals were significant, as the 12 stops brought in nearly 10K entries and awarded more than $14.6M in Main Event prize pools alone.
Surpassing Guarantees
The dozen tournament stops in the first half of the 2022-2023 WSOP Circuit season brought out thousands of players for the Main Event tournaments alone. With their reentries, the entries totaled 9,668. And that brought the total prize money awarded in said Main Events to $14,602,317.
The two largest wins came at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. In the August series, there, Brett Bader won $364,104 for his first-place finish, and Donovan Dean won the November/December stop there for $356,963.
Note that not all Main Events offered guarantees, but those that did saw them surpassed by quite significant margins.
| July 20-31, 2022 | $1,700 buy-in ME | Choctaw Durant (Oklahoma) |
| Total entries: | 931 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,410,465 | ($1M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 141 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,914 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Daniel Marx (TX) $246,820 |
| August 4-15 | $1,700 buy-in ME | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) |
| Total entries: | 1,558 | |
| Total prize pool: | $2,360,370 | ($1M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 233 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,275 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Brett Bader (FL) $364,104 |
| August 17-28 | $1,700 buy-in ME | Hard Rock Tulsa (Oklahoma) |
| Total entries: | 646 | |
| Total prize pool: | $978,690 | |
| Players paid: | 98 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,547 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Arthur Morris (TX) $182,379 |
| September 15-26 | $1,700 buy-in | Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Iowa) |
| Total entries: | 368 | |
| Total prize pool: | $557,520 | |
| Players paid: | 55 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,534 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Joshua Reichard (WI) $120,445 |
| September 22 – October 2 | $1,700 buy-in | Aruba Hilton Caribbean |
| Total entries: | 300 | |
| Total prize pool: | $409,797 | ($250K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 45 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,550 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Vincenti Anthoni (Aruba) $101,051 |
| September 29 – October 10 | $1,700 buy-in | Thunder Valley (California) |
| Total entries: | 726 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,099,890 | ($500K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 109 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,559 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Robert Grossglauser (CA) $205,203 |
| October 13-24 | $1,700 buy-in | Isle of Capri Pompano Beach (Florida) |
| Total entries: | 726 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,099,890 | ($500K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 106 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,536 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Mike Chiappetta (FL) $200,196 |
| October 20-31 | $1,700 buy-in | Harveys Lake Tahoe (Nevada) |
| Total entries: | 513 | |
| Total prize pool: | $777,195 | |
| Players paid: | 72 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,535 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Jarod Minghini (CA) $153,368 |
| November 3-13 | $1,700 buy-in | Choctaw Durant (Oklahoma) |
| Total entries: | 1,076 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,630,140 | ($1M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 161 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,567 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Sami Bechahed (CA) $274,916 |
| November 10-21 | $1,700 buy-in | Grand Victoria Casino (Illinois) |
| Total entries: | 1,070 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,621,050 | ($500K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 162 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,521 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Frank Lagodich (OH) $275,896 |
| November 24 – December 5 | $1,700 buy-in | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) |
| Total entries: | 1,502 | |
| Total prize pool: | $2,275,530 | ($1M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 219 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,547 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Donovan Dean (AL) $356,963 |
| December 3-14 | $1,700 buy-in | Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles) |
| Total entries: | 252 | |
| Total prize pool: | $381,780 | |
| Players paid: | 40 | |
| Minimum payout: | $2,440 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Andrew Merrick (CA) $87,120 |
Andrew Merrick wins the @BicycleCasino Circuit Main Event!
The San Diego native outlasted 252 players to earn the $87,120 top prize, the third gold ring of his career, and a seat in the Tournament of Champions!
Interview & Event Recap: https://t.co/njQnYLzX8X pic.twitter.com/rIiBqARD0t
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 15, 2022
There are many more stops on the US version of the WSOP Circuit, as they start 2023 at Choctaw in Oklahoma and quickly head to Thunder Valley in Northern California and Tunica, Mississippi. The rest of the season will hit stops in Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Illinois, California, Oklahoma, New York, Mississippi, and Indiana.
Traveling the Globe
The WSOP International Circuit has also been trekking across the globe in the first part of Season 18. It started at King’s Casino in the Czech Republic, where the WSOP Circuit served as an opener to the WSOP Europe. The tour then hit Brazil, Australia, Netherlands, and Uruguay.
| Sept 21 – Oct 11 | €1,700 buy-in | King’s Resort (Rozvadov, Czech Republic) |
| Total entries: | 748 | |
| Total prize pool: | € 1,101,430 | (€1M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 80 | |
| Minimum payout: | € 3,395 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Denis Gergoc (Switzerland) €200,000 |
| Oct 18-28 | R$4K buy-in | Unique Hotel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) |
| Total entries: | unlisted | |
| Total prize pool: | R$2,646,380 | (R$2.5M GTD) |
| Players paid: | 119 | |
| Minimum payout: | R$6,000 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Christian Poras (Brazil) R$500,000 |
| Nov 24 – Dec 6 | A$2,500 buy-in | Star Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) |
| Total entries: | 1,001 | |
| Total prize pool: | A$2,252,250 | |
| Players paid: | 151 | |
| Minimum payout: | A$3,778 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Po Hu (Australia) A$386,542 |
| Nov 25 – Dec 3 | €1K buy-in | Holland Casino (Rotterdam, Netherlands) |
| Total entries: | 719 | |
| Total prize pool: | € 690,247 | (€500K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 107 | |
| Minimum payout: | € 1,933 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Joey Cheung (Netherlands) €103,950 |
| Dec 2-10 | $1,100 buy-in | Enjoy Punta del Este Resort (Uruguay) |
| Total entries: | 558 | |
| Total prize pool: | $613,800 | ($300K GTD) |
| Players paid: | 70 | |
| Minimum payout: | $1,715 | |
| Winner: | 1st place: | Juan Ignacio Repetto (Argentina) $103,765 |
¿Podrán llegar a la #WSOPUruguay en @EnjoyPuntaPoker con tanta onda como @MLampropulos, @pamelabalzano y @DieVentura? 😎😎
Sigue la cobertura en vivo del torneo en nuestro Liveblog➡️https://t.co/NdDStWzQdA pic.twitter.com/qaqG2eEDYF
— CodigoPoker (@CodigoPoker) December 6, 2022
This international version of the Circuit kicks off the new year back at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, overlapping a stop in Calgary, Canada, as well as one in Marrakech, Morocco. February takes the tour to Senegal, and St. Maarten will cap off the WSOPC International at Casino Royale.
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