WSOP National Championship Set for May 22-24 at Bally's Atlantic City
The World Series of Poker Circuit, currently in its 10th season, will culminate at the new WSOP-branded Bally’s Atlantic City poker room from May 22-24, 2014 with the fourth-annual National Championship. The tournament will be recorded for future broadcast on ESPN, and will also award a WSOP gold bracelet to the winner.
“We look forward to welcoming the best poker players in the world to Atlantic City and our brand new poker room at Bally’s,” said Kevin Ortzman, general manager of the property. “We are dedicated to making our new room the best in New Jersey, and are excited for players to see all the great things happening in Atlantic City with the convergence of online and land-based gaming.”
Throughout the season, players have been qualifying for the National Championship by either winning the Main Event or Casino Championship at each stop, seeing 44 total qualifiers advance (10 of those are yet to be determined). In addition, 50 players will qualify via at-large bids, which come from accumulating points on the National Leaderboard. That leaves six seats unaccounted for, and on Tuesday the WSOP revealed how those seats will be awarded.
- WSOP National Championship Seat Freeroll -- Two seats will be awarded on WSOP.com websites in both Nevada and New Jersey through online freerolls on May 10 and May 17 respectively. To participate in the freeroll, players must simply make a deposit during the month of April. Once a deposit is made, players will receive a freeroll tournament ticket.
- Knockout Series — Two more seats will be awarded on WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey through mirrored knockout tournaments online from April 20 to May 3. To qualify, players may enter any of the 14 consecutive nightly tournaments in the Knockout Series and walk away the victor. The 14 individual tournament winners will each then be free-rolled into the 14-person Knockout Series Champions Freeroll taking place on May 4, where the winner of that freeroll earning the WSOP National Championship seat.
- Bally’s Atlantic City Freeroll — To showcase their brand-new tournament room, Bally's will host a live tournament freeroll on Monday, May 19 at 6:00 p.m. that will award one seat.
- $1,125 "Last Chance" Qualifier — One seat will be awarded in a two-day qualifier at Bally's Atlantic City on Tuesday, May 20. The tournament will also see the winner take home the lion’s share of the prize pool.
Finally, the 100 players atop the WSOP World Rankings are eligible to buy into this event for $10,000, which will then be added to the prize pool. That means the final field will be between 100-200 players and generate a prize pool somewhere between $1-2 million.
“The WSOP National Championship is really about toasting the most consistent and dedicated players of the World Series of Poker brand,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “They have shown strong performance across our events and we’re delighted to provide a platform in Atlantic City for the first time to showcase and award these championship caliber players.”
There are still five circuit stops remaining in the season, meaning players still have a chance to qualify for the National Championship the "old-fashioned" way. Here's a look at the remaining 2013/2014 WSOP Circuit schedule:
| Location | Dates | Main Event Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) | April 3 - 14, 2014 | April 12-14 |
| Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Iowa) | April 10 – 21, 2014 | April 19-21 |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | April 17 – April 28, 2014 | April 26-28 |
| The Lodge Casino at Black Hawk (Colorado) | April 24 – May 5, 2014 | May 3-5 |
| Harrah’s New Orleans | May 8 – May 19, 2014 | May 17-19 |
| WSOP National Championship Bally’s Atlantic City | May 22-24, 2014 | *Last chance tourney |
| May 20 - $1,125 NLH |
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