Like the World Series of Poker and its prestigious bracelet, all circuit stops have preliminary events that award rings as well. In March 2018, WSOP.com in New Jersey hosted the first online poker tournament to award a Circuit ring. WSOP Circuit ring winners. Below is a list of all poker players who have won at least five World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit rings. 2018/2019 WSOP Circuit - Las Vegas - $1,700 No-Limit Hold'em $1 Million GTD - Poker tournament results, including winners and their payouts and winnings.

The 16th WSOP Circuit U.S. Season promises to be the biggest ever, both in terms of stops and payouts. This year, the U.S. Portion of the WSOP Circuit gets underway just one day after the summer WSOP concludes, with the first of 35 stops beginning July 17, 2019 at Choctaw Durant in Oklahoma/Dallas area. Feb 04, '21 - Mar 03, '21 2021 Power Poker Series Kickoff Festival Bally's Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

The WSOP announced this week the schedule for the 2018-19 World Series of Poker U.S. Circuit tour. The upcoming schedule includes 28 tour stops at top US casinos over a nearly 10-month schedule lasting from August 2, 2018 to May 20, 2019.

The WSOP US Circuit touted the past season as its best ever, as the tour saw a record 133,892 entries and awarded a record $66,585,658 in prize money. The start of the fifteenth season brings more benefits for players, more starting chips, and new price points for the new WSOP U.S. Circuit.

The WSOP tour’s visit to 28 different locations will be linked by a points system connected to the WSOP seasonal leaderboard. The point system results in a gold-bracelet award and has a $1,000,000+ prize pool. The WSOP tour season ends in the Global Casino Championship.

2018-2019 WSOP Circuit Tour Begins

The 2018-19 WSOP Circuit kicked off on August 2nd at Harrah’s Cherokee in western North Carolina. The tour ends at Harrah’s New Orleans on May 9, 2019.

In between, the list of stops includes Bally’s Las Vegas in late March of 2019, as well as both Horseshoe Hammond and Horseshoe Tunica. Viewers will not be seeing Horseshoe Baltimore on the schedule this season, despite several stops there over the years. This time around, Seminole Coconut Creek has taken the spot when the tour hits Florida.

Changes to the WSOP Circuit

Though the WSOP saw big success last season, they have made some changes that they hope will spur improvements. The tournament has introduced some new opportunities for participants who vie for the title. One of the most beneficial changes, at least for players, is the increase in starting chips.

Each official WSOP Circuit ring event now provides players more starting chips compared to the previous season. The most popular buy in of $400 and the Main Event, now $1,700, will increase with starting chips of 50% each. This will make the $400 buy-in a 15,000-chip start and those playing in the Main Event will start with a stack of 30,000 chips. Players tend to prefer big stacks events.

More Buy-in Levels

Another adjustment to the buy-in process the WSOP has done some price point, to give entrants more entry options. These adjustments were made it hopes of easing the process time for both customers and cashiers. They also hope to amp up the prize pools throughout the tournament.

The 2018-19 season will have buy-ins featuring $250, $400, $600, $1,125, $1,700, $2,200, $3,250, and $5,300 ranges. The new adjustments to the 2018-19 season will be $250, $400, and $600. Though the WSOP has opted not to make any changes to the higher buy-ins which will remain the same at $1,125, $2,200, $3,250, and $5,300.

Big Blind Ante

The 2018-19 will see the introduction of Big Blind Ante to some ring events. Instead of players anteing every hand, they ante once an orbit when in the big blind. The new system means players will not slow down play by forgetting to ante. It also speeds up play, because the dealer’s chip collection is less complicated. This change hopes to bring a change of more fun and positive experience.

Jack Effel on WSOP’s 15th Season

Jack Effel, the WSOP Tournament Director, said of the upcoming year, “For our fifteenth season, the time was right to take a hard look at our offering and refreshing it to give players a better experience all around. Everyone loves more starting chips, and we think things like the Big Blind Ante and larger prize pools will be big hits for all players.”

What to Expect for WSOP US Tour

The poker series’ event schedule for each stop will be released as the dates f0r individual tournaments approach and are approved by local regulatory bodies. Each stop will offer a minimum of a dozen official gold ring events starting as low as $250 buy-in. Each Circuit stop this season will also include a $1,700 Main Event.

Most of the stops will encompass a 12-day time-frame beginning on a Thursday and ending with Main Event beginning on the second Friday and lasting four days. Throughout the 12-day period the WSOP will offer players non-stop poker action.

How to Qualify for WSOP Global Casino Championship

In line with WSOP tradition, the Circuit season ends with the Global Casino Championship. The Championship is an invitation-only event involving a minimum prize pool $1,000,000.

There are several different ways players can qualify for the 2018-19 Global Casino Championship. One way to qualify is by winning a Circuit Main Event at any U.S. or international stop.

Players also can qualify by winning a “Casino Championship.” The player at each circuit stop who accumulates the most points for that work throughout the event at any U.S. or international stop qualifies. Finally, players who take a spot as one of the top 50 cumulative point earners over the entire season also qualify.

Each player that qualifies under these conditions will receive a “free roll” seat.

WSOP 2018-2019 U.S. Circuit Tour Schedule

WSOP Qualification through Ring Games

Another way for players to get a spot in the 2018-19 Global Casino Championship during the Circuit Season is by winning any of the official “ring events”. Players who are ring winners who do not otherwise qualify by automatic invite will have the option to buy-in to the Championship for $10,000.

The stipulation also applies to the top 100 ranked players from the previous year’s WSOP Player of the Year, who may also buy-in for $10,000. These additional buy-ins are rake-free. Every bit of all additional $10,000 buy-ins will be then added to the $1 million prize pool provide by the WSOP.

WSOP U.S. Circuit Event stops will each feature standardized tournament structures and payouts. Players who choose to attend each stop will be addressed in a consistent manner at each Circuit Event stop.

Table Of Contents

The World Series of Poker Circuit is one of the most popular mid-major tours in the game, and gives mid-stakes grinders ample opportunity to pursue gold jewelry in the bracelet off-season. While poker players everywhere dream of winning a WSOP bracelet in the summer, Circuit grinders aim to collect rings to signify their accomplishments.

Drawing primarily mid-stakes grinders and recreational players, the Circuit has become a prime avenue for female poker players to showcase their skills and compete for hardware, cash and prestige. While year-over-year female participation stats can’t be tracked due to records being venue-dependent, ladies continue to make their mark on the Circuit with leaderboard runs, final tables and ring wins in open events.

Many women have excelled on the Circuit, most notably the female ring leader and two-time bracelet winner Loni Harwood, who has collected five Circuit rings. One of her bracelets came in the 2014/2015 season-ending National Championship, which was renamed the Global Casino Championship (GCC) the following season. She bested a field of 122 to win the $10,000 buy-in event for $341,599.

Harwood’s latest Circuit win came in the $2,200 High Roller at the Rio in February 2018 for $72,802. She also won a $365 No-Limit Hold’em Reentry event for $10,801 at the previous stop at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.

While we're now past the halfway point of the 28-stop domestic Circuit schedule for the 2018/2019 season, we take a look at some ladies highlights from the first half of the season, through December's IP Biloxi stop.

Ladies Highlights, First Half of 2018/2019 Circuit Season

Excluding winners of any ladies event on the schedule, the first half of the season saw 11 female ring winners, one of those coming in a Seniors Event and two in the Online Circuit stop. One of the 13 live main event winners from August-December 2018 was a woman, and four ladies landed among the top 50 players in the season-long Circuit leaderboard at the halfway point. Let's have a look at some major highlights.

Manju Gera Wins Gold and Casino Champ

Back in the summer of 2018, Farhintaj Bonyadiwon a bracelet in Event #36: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em, joining her son Farzad 'Freddy' Bonyadi in family bracelet winners and making them the first mother-son duo to accomplish the coveted poker feat.

Wsop Circuit Schedule 2018-19

Another mother-son duo now has now claimed Circuit rings as Manju Gera, mother of two-time ring winner Nikhil Gera, is now a ring winner. The mother in the duo won her ring in the $400 H.O.R.S.E. event held during the Thunder Valley Circuit event in September. She outlasted a field of 74 players to claim the $8,303 top prize.

She went into the final table with the chip lead and held on to it, beating out a tough cast of opponents whom she said she knew nothing about.

“I think, with me being a middle-aged woman, they thought that they could bluff a lot of hands against me… and I just happened to get cards,” she said.

“I think, with me being a middle-aged woman, they thought that they could bluff a lot of hands against me.'

She may have gotten the cards, but she clearly also has the skill. She has 40 cashes on her Hendon Mob, many of those coming in Omaha hi-lo or mixed game variants, and she went on to add two more cashes including a final table after her win. Gera finished 10th in the very next event, the $400 Omaha Hi-Lo, and followed that up with a seventh-place finish in the $400 Pot-Limit Omaha event.

Gera's three cashes at Thunder Valley secured her Casino Champ, making her the first female to win that title since Wendy Freedman (lead image, right) did so at the Bicycle Casino in December 2015. It also appears that she is the first player to capture Casino Champion honors by racking up points solely in non-hold'em events.

Heather Alcorn Takes a Break from Pitching Cards to Win a Main

In October 2018, Heather Alcorn became the third-ever female WSOP Circuit Main Event by outlasting a field of 389 entries at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. A professional dealer and familiar face at the WSOP Circuit and summer WSOP, Alcorn couldn't work the Southern Indiana stop, but popped in to say hi to friends and play one event while driving through town. It turned out to be a fortuitous decision, as she explained to WSOP Circuit reporters after the win.

'I thought I was going to stay one night and play one tournament, ended up final tabling, so I stayed the next day and final tabled that one. So I went ahead and played the main.'

She later told PokerNews contributor Bernard Lee for a strategy article that she gets to practice poker skills while dealing, skills that are useful when she finds herself on the other side of the deck.

'One advantage of getting to watch these players all the time is practicing my reading ability,' Alcorn said.

Having dealt in a variety of poker settings, including the WSOP Main Event final table in each of the last five years, Alcorn has had plenty of chances to practice reading poker players. The skills seem to be paying off, as she is now the proud owner of her own WSOP Circuit ring, which has also automatically qualified her into the $10,000 GCC for a shot at more.

Alcorn became the third woman to take down a Circuit main event, following in the footsteps of Yashuo “Michelle” Chin(Horseshoe Council Bluffs, April 2015) and Vanessa Truong(Harrah’s Cherokee, April 2017).

More Ring Winners

In addition to Gera and Alcorn, who both qualified for the GCC during the first half of the 2018/19 Circuit, nine more ladies captured gold. Loretta Sax won hers in the Seniors event of the Thunder Valley stop, and there were two online ring winners: Tara Cain (lead image, center) and Kathryn Stone Cappuccio (lead image, center right).

Wendy Freedman's Omaha hi-lo victory at Horseshoe Hammond in October earned her ring No. 3, putting her tied for second in most rings for a female player. The other owners of three rings include La Sengphet, Nancy Birnbaum and Janet Fitzgerald.

The following is a complete list of female ring winners (excluding Ladies Event winners) for the first half of the 2018/19 WSOP Circuit Season, in chronological order.

Top 100 on Season-Long Circuit Leaderboard

Wsop Circuit 2018 2019 Results

Besides gaining a freeroll $10,000 GCC entry by winning a Circuit main event or casino champion title at a domestic stop during the season, the 50 overall season leaderboard finishers also qualify. Just past the halfway point at the time of writing, four ladies occupy places in the top 50: Irene Carey (20th), Kinda Sakkal (29th), Lakisha Slaughter (34th) and Freedman (42nd).

The second half of the 2018/19 season is underway, now in the second domestic stop of the year at Thunder Valley. You can read the full recap from January's Choctaw stop here. A full list of ladies WSOP Circuit ring winners and GCC qualifiers for the season will be posted after the final stop in New Orleans in May.

_{Images and data courtesy of WSOP Circuit.}

Wsop Circuit 2018 2019

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