WSOP Circuit Completes First Three of New Season

Timing was a bit off for everything this year. The World Series of Poker hosted its main live series in Las Vegas through October and most of November, months later than in a normal year. But since the pandemic hit in 2020, few things have been normal. So, after the 2021 WSOP in Las Vegas, the WSOP Circuit returned. Its schedule is following the same general outline; it just started a bit later in the year than usual.

The WSOP Circuit started its 17^th season in late November after the Las Vegas WSOP wrapped. It will run into the middle of May 2022, stopping just before the 2022 WSOP begins in Las Vegas.

In October, the WSOP Circuit announced its 2021-2022 schedule. There are still online WSOPC events happening on GGPoker for international players and WSOP.com for players in Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. For now, let’s just focus on the live events, the ones that played out in the past two months to kick off this latest Season 17 of the WSOPC.

Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina

The first stop of this new season brought big crowds to the tables. Players had WSOP fever.

A $400 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Double Stack event kicked off the action on November 25. It offered a $25K guarantee, but 254 entries pushed the prize pool to $83,820. Brandon Sowers grabbed that first WSOP Circuit ring and $18,798.

That trend carried through the entire series and on to the Main Event. That $1,700 buy-in tournament offered a $1M guarantee, but there were 1,375 entries to set the prize pool at $2,083,125 – more than double the promised amount. It was the largest Main Event ever at this regular tour stop.

That's a wrap! Our Circuit event has come to an end with Donald C. earning a payday of $329,828! This tournament had total 1,375 entries surpassing the $1 mil guarantee with a prize pool of $2,083,125. The largest ever for a Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event. https://t.co/bDyb4I6Ez0 pic.twitter.com/TZJE0pGKL6

— Harrah's Cherokee (@HarrahsCherokee) December 7, 2021

Bicycle Casino in Southern California

Before the Harrah’s Cherokee series even wrapped, the Bicycle Casino – the Bike – in Los Angeles got underway on December 4. There were 13 events on that schedule, and they, too, brought a lot of players into action. The first event was a $400 buy-in NLHE Double Stack. It delivered with 358 entries and a $118,140 prize pool, more than doubling the $50K guarantee. And Christina Gollins won that WSOPC ring and $24,995.

The Bike’s Main Event had no prize pool guarantee, but its 525 entries translated into $795,375. Frenchman Yoann Giminez took down the title, ring, and $156,160 in cash.

Congratulations to Yoann Gimenez for taking down the @BicycleCasino Circuit Main Event. The Frenchman topped a field of 525 entries to win $156,160, his first Circuit gold ring, and an automatic bid to the Tournament of Champions.

Full recap: https://t.co/2Qf7i3Mexh pic.twitter.com/QIPTE0t5fJ

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 15, 2021

Hilton Casino in Aruba

Considering the pandemic and travel restrictions – especially due to rising case numbers around the world in December – the WSOP probably didn’t expect big numbers for its island stop. But quite a few players did take advantage of the opportunity for some island temperatures. Several women won bracelet events during that series, which ran December 9-19.

Of the 12 events, the $1,700 buy-in Main Event offered a $200K guarantee, The final prize pool exceeded $277K with 183 entries, though the WSOP didn’t publish that information anywhere. They didn’t give most of the results to the Hendon Mob, either, and even the Hilton’s casino Facebook page, which livestreamed some events, only published pictures and some winner names. Even days after the series finished, there are no updates on the WSOP website or its social media accounts.