WSOP ANNOUNCES QUALIFIERS & DATES FOR WSOP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Top 100 Performers over Past Two Calendar Years at WSOP Events Announced

 

Participants Able to Pay $10,000 to Compete For Shot at WSOP National Championship Including $1 Million+ Tournament and Gold Bracelet

 

Event to Take Place July 6-7, 2012 at Rio with Final Table Taped for ESPN on July 11

 

LAS VEGAS – March 5, 2012 – David vs. Goliath: A classic theme that has defined some of the greatest moments in World Series of Poker history. It will be seen again at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for the second annual WSOP National Championship on Friday, July 6, 2012.

 

The tournament will feature the top 100 performers from the record-breaking 2011-12 WSOP Circuit. In all, 17 event winners and 17 casino champions will earn automatic bids with 66 at large bids awarded to those garnering the most cumulative points. With a guaranteed $1,000,000 prize pool, it’s the potential for a big score for players regularly grinding away in $300-$1600 events.

 

To win the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and claim their national notoriety though, these players are going to have to earn it against some of the game’s greats. As previously announced before the start of this year’s WSOP Circuit season, the tournament will allow the top 100 performers from WSOP and WSOP Europe events during the past two calendar years to buy-in for an equivalent equity of $10,000.

 

The 100 players who accumulated the most points while playing in the 2010 WSOP, 2010 WSOP Europe, the 2011 WSOP and the 2011 WSOP Europe are eligible to pay a $10,000 entry fee to join the 100 players who have/are qualifying via the 2011-12 WSOP Circuit tour. The 100 qualifiers from the WSOP Circuit will pay no entry fee, but will share in the entire tournament prize pool with $1,000,000 added by Caesars Interactive Entertainment.

 

See the list of current qualifiers from the WSOP Circuit here: http://www.wsop.com/circuit/2011-qualified.asp (A complete list of the Top 100 in the WSOP World Rankings is found below).

 

All monies coming from additional buy-in entries will be added directly to the prize pool (no take-out) and the payout for the 200-player capped event will be consistent with other WSOP bracelet events.  

 

“This marks the first time we will take the best of the best from all our events to compete against one another to determine a true WSOP National Champion,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart.

 

In order to better determine a true WSOP National Champion, the World Series of Poker announced this new wrinkle for its $1,000,000 freeroll National Championship. The culminating event will take part as part of the 43rd Annual WSOP and is scheduled to be contested beginning Friday, July 6, 2012.

 

Day 2 will be played the following day, on July 7, 2012 and the final nine players will resume play on Wednesday, July 11, where ESPN cameras will cover the action for airing later in the month as part of 2012 WSOP television coverage.

 

The following players are eligible for the WSOP National Championship and can enter the event by simply paying the $10,000 entry fee upon registration. Their cumulative points earned during the past two years are also included in order of 1st through 100th by clicking the following link HERE.

 

Eligible Player Name

Cumulative Points

Michael Mizrachi

1195.8

Ben Lamb

1019.83

Shawn Buchanan

973.37

Phil Hellmuth

888.9

John Juanda

837.35

Chris Moorman

833.45

Jonathan Duhamel

740.13

John Racener

728.13

David (Bakes) Baker

712.43

Frank Kassela

711.75

Richard Ashby

692.23

Steve Billirakis

665.89

Jason Somerville

637.25

Brian Rast

615.25

Daniel Idema

613.63

Eugene Katchalov

610.25

Bertrand Grospellier

602.25

Jeffrey Papola

597

Tristan Wade

585.33

Pius Heinz

570

Jason Mercier

558.58

Matthew Matros

557.63

Daniel Kelly

554.3

Sam Trickett

528.3

Michael Chow

520.33

Allen Kessler

509.75

Valdemar Kwaysser

494.75

Vladimir Shchemelev

492

Joseph Cheong

490.63

Men Nguyen

490.5

David (DB) Baker

490.33

Joe Ebanks

490

David Chiu

487.33

Owais Ahmed

478.83

Mikhail Lakhitov

478.6

Tomer Berda

476.15

Sam Stein

474.88

Mitch Schock

450.31

Eric Buchman

449

Miguel Proulx

448.75

Martin Staszko

446

Jake Cody

445.23

Christian Harder

440.75

David Peters

438.88

Daniel Alaei

438.3

Matt Jarvis

432

Tom Dwan

421.09

Sean Getzwiller

419.51

James Dempsey

417.5

Ian Gordon

416.25

George Lind

415.43

Will Failla

414.13

Gavin Smith

405.63

Amir Lehavot

402.75

Nick Schulman

397.8

Joshua Tieman

396.25

Alexander Kostritsyn

394.45

Mark Radoja

394.38

Allen Bari

387.81

Matt Glantz

386.13

Jarred Solomon

385.63

Maxwell Troy

385.25

David Bach

384.25

Elio Fox

382.5

Mark Schmid

378.25

Ayaz Mahmood

378

Nick Binger

377.5

Matt Keikoan

377

David Sands

373.7

Yevgeniy Timoshenko

371.63

Arkadiy Tsinis

366.88

Jason Dewitt

366.25

Fabrice Soulier

365.63

Robert Mizrachi

365.1

Matt Marafioti

364

Steve Landfish

359.45

Maxim Lykov

358.88

Chris Bjorin

354.63

Jon Turner

350.78

Sammy Farha

348.75

John Dolan

344.55

Pascal LeFrancois

341.25

Viacheslav Zhukov

340

Victor Ramdin

339.51

Joshua Brikis

338.05

Nicolas Fierro

335.25

Gabriel Nassif

334.38

Scott Montgomery

334

Kirill Rabtsov

329.53

Jesse Rockowitz

325.5

Peter Gelencser

322

David Diaz

321.35

Tyler Bonkowski

321.25

Eric Cloutier

321.2

Michael Michnik

319.38

Owen Crowe

316.85

Vitaly Lunkin

313.8

Steve Sung

311.8

Eric Rodawig

311.5

Sami Kelopuro

311.25

 

The WSOP Circuit tour began September 8, 2011 with a brand new-stop in Bossier City, Louisiana and continues all the way through the May 10-21, 2012 stop at Harrah’s New Orleans.  

 

Each WSOP Circuit stop Main Event winner receives an automatic berth into the National Championship. Automatic bids will also go to the “Casino Champions” at each participating venue. A Casino Champion is defined as the player at each stop whom accumulates the most points throughout the 12-event gold ring schedule.

 

The WSOP Circuit stops will award 34 players with an exempt seat to the National Championship, while 66 players qualify based upon rankings points.

 

Thus, the National Championship could feature as many as 200 players – who have proven their excellence at WSOP sanctioned events. One-hundred players will come from the WSOP Circuit, and the other 100 may be made up of those who enjoyed success in the open bracelet events at the 2010 or 2011 WSOP and WSOP Europe.

 

As expected, the majority of the 100 WSOP World Ranking qualifiers have won gold bracelets, ensuring an exciting mix of well-known superstars and true tournament grinders discovered throughout the season-long journey on the WSOP Circuit Tour.

 

The remaining 2011-12 WSOP Circuit schedule is as follows, with 10 more stops to try and qualify.

 

WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2011-2012 CIRCUIT TOUR REMAINING SCHEDULE

 

TOURNAMENT DATES

TOURNAMENT LOCATION

March 1-12, 2012

Caesars Atlantic City

March 15-26, 2012

Harrah’s Rincon (San Diego area)

March 29 – April 9, 2012

Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Iowa)

April 12-23, 2012

Harrah’s St. Louis

April 26 – May 7, 2012

Harrah’s Chester (Philadelphia)

May 10 – May 21, 2012

Harrah’s New Orleans

  

*The WSOP Circuit Events and culminating championship are subject to tournament rules and restrictions to be released at a later date. The timing, number and location of events are subject to change and all applicable gaming regulations.