Poker grinders had their down time. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) wrapped up mid-July and players enjoyed a nice month-long break, but now it is time to get back to business as the World Series of Poker Circuit presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof begins on Thursday. The Circuit is back for its ninth season and this year is bigger and better than ever with 20 stops across North America.
The WSOP National Championship presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof is back this season, but with a new home in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the road to the Championship begins in Biloxi, Mississippi at the IP Casino Resort and Spa. This Circuit season will start and finish in the Deep South and the battle for one of the 100 spots in the WSOP National Championship begins Thursday.
IP Biloxi debuted as a Circuit stop back in 2010 and is back for a third year of action. Jerry Monroe will likely be hoping his third trip to Biloxi is just as charming as the first two. After final tabling the first-ever WSOP Circuit Main Event in Biloxi back in 2010, finishing seventh, Monroe made his way back to the final table last year and went on to win the title, the ring, and more than $112,000.
Monroe was one of 337 players who took part in last year’s event along with Allen Kessler, Kathy Liebert, Matthew Waxman, Dwyte Pilgrim, Chris Tryba, and former November Niner John Dolan. The stop will once again have a Main Even final tablist in the house as Rob Salaburu will make an appearance and get some practice in on the felt before October’s final table. Expect plenty of other notables to show up for this event too. The tournament series’ attendance went up over 25% last year and that number is expected to go up even higher this time around.
Last season, 21 of the 60 at-large qualifiers for the National Championship were in attendance at IP Casino Resort and Spa and racked up 620 points that helped them all punch their ticket to the Championship. Gene Dudek earned his seat in the National Championship in Biloxi as well thanks to a trio of cashes that earned him the title IP Casino Champion and an automatic berth. This year plenty of these grinders will be back, but Biloxi might be the spot where a new WSOP Circuit hotshot breaks onto the scene.
The cards get in the air on Thursday, August 9th with a $365 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em two-day event. The action continues for the next 11 days as the stop doles out 12 Circuit rings and plays host to countless other daily tournament, side events, and cash game action.
The three-day Main Event kicks off on Saturday August 18th. Like previous years, there will be two flights on Day 1 and players eliminated from Day 1A of the $1,500 + $175 buy-in event have the option to buy back in during Day 1B. The complete schedule of events for the IP Biloxi Circuit stop is available on WSOP.com's Circuit Home Page as are the structure sheets for the Ring Events. This year these structures will be used at every ring event at each of the 20 stops on the Circuit.
Special poker room rates are currently available through IP Biloxi’s Poker Room. More information on room rates is available here. Information about travel and dining is also available on IP Biloxi's official website. There is still time to get down to the Mississippi Gulf for some seafood, golfing, fishing, and, of course, some poker.