Who'll Be Playing in the World Series of Poker Circuit National Championship?

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May 21, 2013 6 min read Last updated May 22, 2013

This past weekend, the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit came to a close as the last of gold 12 ring events, the $1,675 Main Event, finished at the Harrah’s New Orleans stop. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team was on hand to report on the 762-player tournament including Luke Graham’s run to the winner’s circle. Graham not only won the $228,600 first-place prize, he also earned a seat into the National Championship, which will take place at the same venue on Wednesday, May 22, 2013.

That event is expected to draw a mix of amateurs, WSOP Circuit regulars and top pros. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst has already been spotted in New Orleans, as have Joe Tehan, David “ODB” Baker, Matt Glantz and Allen Bari. There’s even rumors that some players (i.e. Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey) may make the trip to New Orleans after busting the World Poker Tour $25,000 Championship.

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be covering that tournament, which is why we thought we’d set the stage with a comprehensive guide recapping who qualified and who’s eligible to buy in. Remember, there are only three ways to get a set into the prestigious event:

• Win a WSOP Circuit Main Event or become the Casino Champion by earning the most points at a given stop
• Earn enough points to finish in the top 60 on the National Leader Board
• Be amongst the top 100 on the WSOP Player of the Year List and buy in for $10,000

The Main Event and Casino Champion Qualifiers

The 2012-13 WSOP Circuit, which consisted of 19 stops across the United States and one in Canada, began way back in August 2012 at the IP Biloxi stop. Each of those stops hosted 12 gold ring events, meaning 240 rings were awarded throughout the season (including three that went to Chris Reslock, who now holds the record for most WSOP Circuit rings with seven). Of those, 20 were $1,675 Main Event championship rings, each of which came with a seat into the National Championship.

In addition, the best all-around player at each stop was set to be the Casino Champion, which awarded a seat into the National Championship. Here's a look at the players who have qualified for the National Championship by either winning a Main Event or becoming the Casino Champion:

The At-Large Qualifiers

In addition to the qualifiers, players who collected enough points on the National Leader Board earned a spot into the National Championship. Only 60 seats were supposed to be awarded through this process, but since two players won two seats by winning a Main Event and capturing a Casino Championship — Joseph McKeehen won the Caesars Atlantic City Main Event and finished as the Harrah’s New Orleans Casino Champion, while Jonathan Taylor took down The Lodge Main Event and finished as Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino Champion — two extra seats were added to the pool. That meant there were 62 at-large seats for grabs, which was good news for Doug “Rico” Carli and Kevin Eyster, who were just below the initial cutoff.

With that said, the National Championship bubble boy was Brett Schwertley, who had the same number of points as Eyster, but lost the money-earned tiebreaker by nearly $40,000.

Here are the players who earned a seat:

The Eligible 100 WSOP POY Players

Finally, there are 100 Player of the Year qualifiers who’re eligible to play, albeit with the caveat that they fork over a $10,000 buy-in. It’s hard to say how many of those players will enter, but early estimations have it between 20-30 players.

With that said, PokerNews has learned that the following players will be making the trip to New Orleans: Vanessa Selbst, Jason Koon, Jeff Gross, Kyle Julius, Allen Bari, Matt Glantz, David “ODB” Baker, Dominik Nitsche and Joe Tehan.

Here are the players from the WSOP POY who are eligible to buy-in:

Remember, PokerNews will be live reporting the WSOP National Championship in its entirety, which you can follow on our live reporting pages. Who’ll win the prestigious event and take home the coveted WSOP bracelet? We’ll have our answer by the end of the week.

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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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