The WSOP Circuit doesn't get the chance to visit a property for the first time very often these days, especially in the United States.
It's a landmark week, though, as the traveling tour makes its debut at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood was built in 2004 on land owned by the Seminole Tribe. The sprawling resort features close to 500 guest rooms and an assortment of restaurants, bars, and nightlife options. And a huge tropical pool. It also boasts a 145,000-square-foot gaming floor with most of the familiar trappings thereof.
There's more coming, too. An expansion costing more than a billion dollars is just beginning on site.
In the time since it opened, SHR has become one of the bucket list poker destinations in the US. In addition to robust cash games, the property also hosts several major tournament series each year. It knows how to cater to poker's elite, too, spreading events with buy-ins as large as $100,000.
None of the events on the upcoming Circuit calendar feature buy-ins quite that ambitious, but there's plenty of action on the docket. Highlights include a six-flight opening event, a $3,250 High Roller, and of course, the $1,675 Main Event.
Here's the full schedule for the 12-day stretch:
All ring events except #9 and #14 award points toward the season-long race for Global Casino Championship seats. Both the Main Event winner and the Casino Champion — the player who accumulates the most points for this stop — will bypass the points requirement and earn automatic entries.
Since it's the first visit to Seminole Hard Rock, there's no historical data from which to gauge potential turnouts. The venue does draw well, though, with fields of several thousand players turning up for some of the multi-flight re-entry events.
The staff seems to be optimistic, too, and the property has a history of setting large guarantees. The $1 million guarantee on the Main Event bodes well, and the opening re-entry event and the High Roller also carry big numbers of their own.
Speaking of the opener, the series begins Thursday with the first of six starting flights for Event #1.
Periodic updates and scheduling notes will be available here on WSOP.com, and more comprehensive coverage of the preliminary events can be found on SHRPO.com.
Special room rates as low as $129/night are available at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.