WSOP Circuit Kicks Off International Schedule in Sochi

Last updated on July 23rd, 2019

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The World Series of Poker may have just ended its marathon 90-tournament summer series in Las Vegas last week, but that doesn’t stop the organization from moving forward with its WSOP Circuit kickoff.

The WSOP International Circuit is a spinoff from the American series that travels the United States with gold Circuit rings for players who win the mid-stakes tournaments. The international schedule continues to grow, and the 2019/2020 season will be no exception.

As of now, only half of that schedule has been solidified and made available to the public. It does run through the end of 2019, though, and it gives players a good idea of where to go outside of the US for WSOP action after the Vegas series is done and dusted.

Starting in Sochi

It seems that the 2019/2020 season is underway at Sochi Casino in Sochi, Russia. The dates for the tournaments are July 19-28, 2019, and PartyPoker is the sponsor of the events.

There will be 15 tournaments in total, in addition to satellites, but only seven of the events will award a WSOP Circuit gold ring. But those seven events will guarantee more than 135 million rubles.

The Sochi Main Event will require a 71,050-ruble buy-in but guarantee 65 million rubles for the prize pool.

While the WSOP website does not offer any tournament schedule for the Sochi tour stop, and there have been no posts since the July 19 start date regarding any action at Sochi Casino for this WSOP International Circuit stop, but several Russian media outlets did report that the series was set to happen.

International Schedule Beyond Sochi

Per the WSOP website, there are stops listed on the WSOP International Circuit tour through the rest of the year as follows:

August 22 – September 2: Playground Poker in Montreal, Canada
September 11-17: Belmond Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
September 26 – October 14: King’s Resort in Rozadov, Czech Republic
October 11-21: Cintermex Convention Center in Monterrey, Mexico
November 14-22: Holland Casino in Rotterdam, Holland
November 14-24: Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino in Aruba
November 14 – December 9: The Star Sydney in Sydney, Australia
December 6-14: Enjoy Punta del Este Resort in Punta del Este, Uruguay

Playground Promotes Next Stop

While there is little information coming in about the Russian tournament, Playground Poker is seriously promoting the second stop on the tour.

Playground has posted the entire schedule, which shows seven events with Circuit rings up for grabs, including a CA$1,100 buy-in Main Event with its own $2 million prize pool guarantee. In all, there will be $4 million in guarantees.

Overall Series Information

According to the WSOP website, each stop on the International Circuit tour will feature two ways to qualify for the season-ending WSOP Global Casino Championship, which takes place in the United States after the summer’s WSOP. In 2020, as is happening this year, it will be held at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina.

The two ways to qualify for that championship entry is to win a Circuit stop Main Event or to win the title of Casino Champion, which is done by accumulating the most points in ring events at that particular stop.

Since there are no schedules for any of the WSOP International Circuit events on the WSOP website, we can only surmise that there are seven events at each stop, including a Main Event.

Even with little promotion, WSOP Director Gregory Chochon says the series is growing. “The WSOP International Circuit continues to grow internationally,” he said, “with more demand from additional properties to host these prestigious events.”