The World Series of Poker Circuit is heating up. Just kidding; it’s already on fire. Big crowds have been crushing guarantees at every stop on the 2021-2022 WSOP Circuit. One of those that did particularly well was the January stop in Calgary at Deerfoot Casino. It was so popular that the WSOPC added another visit there in May. It will be the last stop of the season.
Recalling Calgary in January
Just a few weeks ago, the WSOP Circuit wrapped up its stop at Deerfoot’s poker room in Calgary, Alberta. Not only did the series of 12 events award more than $3.8M to players, it also set a new local record.
The Main Event was a $1,700 buy-in affair, and it attracted 1,179 entries. That put together a $1,786,185 prize pool for that event alone. And when it finished, Cody McKay of Alberta won $294,389 to go with his WSOPC gold ring.
While the Circuit was rather short on international stops this season, King’s Casino in the Czech Republic and Deerfoot in Calgary were such successes that they added second series for both. (The WSOP also added a series in Senegal.)
Next Calgary Schedule
The WSOP website shows only the start and end dates for the next visit to Deerfoot Inn & Casino. The series will run May 17-30, wrapping just one day before the 2022 World Series of Poker begins in Las Vegas. But Deerfoot did post the schedule this week:
- 17 May (Event 1): $400 NLHE Double Stack (30K chips)
- 18 May (Event 2): $600 NLHE Mystery Bounty (20K chips)
- 19-21 May (Event 3): $400 NLHE (4 flights, 15K chips)
- 21-22 May (Event 4): $600 PLO (25K chips)
- 21 May (Event 5): $300 NLHE Ladies (12K chips)
- 22 May (Event 6): $300 NLHE Seniors (12K chips)
- 22 May (Event 7): $400 PLO Bounty (20K chips)
- 23-24 May (Event 8): $1K NLHE (25K chips)
- 23 May (Event 9): $250 NLHE Double Stack (25K chips)
- 24-26 May (Event 10): $400 NLHE Monster Stack (2 flights, 30K chips)
- 24 May (Event 11): $1K NLHE Turbo (25K chips)
- 26-30 May (Event 12): $1,700 NLHE Main Event (3 flights, 30K chips)
- 29 May (Event 13): $400 NLHE Black Chip Bounty (15K chips)
For those who want to book rooms at Deerfoot for the series, the promo code is “WSOP2022.”
Deerfoot will post the structures on the poker room page of its website when available.
Upcoming US Circuit Stops
With Covid-19 cases decreasing, travel is becoming easier. And since there are not many large tournament series in Canada, poker players could head south of the border to play in America.
There are still a number of stops on the schedule before the season ends. As mentioned, the Calgary stop will be the final regular stop of the season. The only thing to follow will be the WSOP Tournament of Champions. It is scheduled for 1 July in Las Vegas, but they must release more details in the coming months.
For now, let’s look at the dates and locations of US Circuit tour stops:
- 17-28 February: Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina (16 events, $1M GTD Main Event)
- 5-16 March: Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, California (13 events)
- 17 March – 3 April: Bally’s Las Vegas in Nevada (18 events)
- 17-28 March: Turning Stone Casino in New York (15 events, $500K GTD Main Event)
- 7-18 April: Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina (schedule unavailable)
- 21 April – 2 May: Horseshoe Tunica in Mississippi (schedule unavailable)
As mentioned, there are a few international WSOPC series in the coming months. Besides the aforementioned series in Calgary, there are a few others:
- 23 March – 4 April: Sonesta Maho Beach Casino in Sint Maarten, Caribbean (13 events)
- 30 March – 17 April: King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic (12 events, €1M GTD Main Event)
- 13-22 May: Casino Plaza in Dakar, Senegal (9 events)
Guarantees or No Guarantees
Some WSOP Circuit stops offer guarantees on their prize pools, though most do it only for larger tournaments, like Main Events. With or without them, though, turnout for the 2021-2022 season thus far has exceeded expectations.
The first Circuit stop of this year was at Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma. They put a $1M guarantee on the Main Event, but more than 1,400 entries pushed the prize pool to more than $2.1M. The next stop in Americas was at Thunder Valley Casino in Northern California. The Main Event promised at least $500K, but the 587 entries made it almost $890K. January wrapped at the Horseshoe Tunica in Mississippi. Its Main Event drew 674 entries to create a prize pool of more than $1M, far beyond the $400K guarantee.
The most recent tour stop was at the Isle Casino Pompano Park in Florida. There were several tournaments with guarantees, each of them left in the dust for larger prize pools. The Main Event was one of them, with 725 entries to send the prize pool to nearly $1.1M, wildly surpassing the $500K guarantee.
Poker players have waited a long time to return to the poker tables. And the WSOP Circuit is clearly on their radar.
