When the coronavirus pandemic shut down casinos and all live poker options, the World Series of Poker Circuit was not exempt. The WSOP Circuit cancelled events across the United States and around the world per government and travel restrictions pertaining to COVID-19.
As the WSOP knew that people wanted to access poker games online, they quickly set up the first-ever WSOP Online Super Circuit Series to run through the last weeks of March. There were 18 events open to players in Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, the only sites in which the WSOP.com site was licensed.
And it was a smashing success. Most of the tournament guarantees were exceeded by two or three times. The original guarantees totaled $1.24 million, but the series ultimately awarded $3,945,350 in prize money. And well-known poker pro Matt Stout emerged as the series’ champion.
Inevitably, the WSOP is ready to host another Online Super Series, but the next one will happen with an interesting twist.
Partnership with GGPoker
The next WSOP Super Circuit Online Series will begin sometime in early May and last approximately three weeks. But the 18 events will not be on WSOP.com as in the past. The tournaments will play out on GGPoker.
What is GGPoker?
The online poker site is a global poker site, one that does not accept customers in the United States. It is licensed in Curacau and allows players aged 18 and up.
GGPoker launched in 2014 with a focus on Asian players but expanded to other parts of the world, such as Canada and some parts of Europe.
The poker site had several ambassadors earlier in 2019, the best known of whom was Bryn Kenney. But it wasn’t until November 2019, when Daniel Negreanu accepted a sponsorship with the site, that it increased its traffic significantly. Felipe Ramos is another ambassador, and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier just joined the company this month.
https://twitter.com/elkypoker/status/1250783745445158914?s=20
International Circuit
Since the last Super Circuit Series in March was reserved for players in three American states only, the May series will offer the same kind of action to international players.
GGPoker does list countries from which it will not accept players, but the list is buried in the terms and conditions section of the website. The list is “but not limited to”:
--Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Cuba, Curacao, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Isreal, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, United States of America, and Yemen.
It should be noted, however, that players from Australia, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the UK may also have difficulties signing up for a new account due to their restrictive online poker laws.
WSOP Circuit Normalcy
Other than the virtual location of the tournament – on GGPoker, not WSOP.com or its usual partner 888poker – most aspects of the series will remain the same.
There will be online satellites for all of the tournaments, on GGPoker, of course. Players can win WSOP Circuit gold rings, and they will earn points throughout the online series to try to win the Casino Champion title and a seat into the WSOP Global Casino Championship in August. The Main Event winner will also receive a seat.
Head of GGPoker, Jean-Christophe Antoine, noted his excitement: “A GGPoker and WSOP partnership brings together two like-minded global organizations.”
And WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart commented, “We’re thrilled to partner with an operator on the rise who is both aggressive and passionate about growing poker engagement around the world. It was unfortunate that we were forced to cancel so many offline WSOP Circuit events this spring, but with vast reach, GGPoker plans to dwarf the prize pools of the suspended events all at once in one truly super WSOP Circuit.”
https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1250450723529093120?s=20
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