WSOP Circuit Points Race Heating Up Going into Final Stop
The final World Series of Poker Circuit stop of the season is under way at Harrah's New Orleans, and with it, the final opportunity for Circuit grinders scrambling to lock up points to secure seats in the Global Casino Championship.
To review, the Global Casino Championship is the season-ending bonanza for WSOP Circuit players. It's an exclusive event open only to players who have won seats during the course of the 2017-18 Circuit season or players who meet certain criteria. This year's event is scheduled for Aug. 7-9 at Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina.
Every player who wins a domestic Circuit Main Event or accumulates enough points to be named Casino Champion at a given stop secures an automatic berth into the Global Casino Championship. The same is true of International Circuit stops. Furthermore, the top 50 points earners over the course of the domestic Circuit season who do not secure the aforementioned berths also win seats, which are valued in the neighborhood of $8,000 — there's a guaranteed $1 million prize pool furnished by the WSOP.
The 128 potential automatic qualifiers may be joined by a number of others who choose to buy in rake-free for $10,000. Players who have either won an open ring event over the course of the season or who placed in the top 100 of the 2017 WSOP Player of the Year race can go this route.
Several notables appear to be in the safe zone north of 190 points, including overall leader Robert "Skinny" Hankins, Josh Reichard, Kevin Eyster, Val Vornicu — who recently set the new rings record at 11 — and last year's Global Casino Championship winner, Sean Yu.
Last year's cut came at 147.5 points, but this year's looks to be quite a bit higher. The current cut line at 50th place is 165 points, accumulated by Charlie Dawson of Kentucky. With more points available in New Orleans, that will only go up, possibly to 175 or even higher depending on whether the players closing in on Dawson are able to rack up good results.
Here are the players in the most danger of losing their coveted seats, as they sit less than 10 points above the current cut line. The scoring breakdown is available here.
Players Just Above Current At-Large Cut
| Rank | Player | Current Point Total |
|---|---|---|
| 49 | Bryce McVay | 167.5 |
| 48 | Cory Smith | 167.5 |
| 47 | Mike Azzaro | 167.5 |
| 46 | Bryan Devonshire | 170 |
| 45 | Ryan McAllister | 170 |
| 44 | Jasthi Kumar | 170 |
| 43 | Charles "Woody" Moore | 175 |
| 42 | Kurt Jewell | 175 |
| 41 | Maurice Hawkins | 175 |
And here are the players with the most incentive to points chase in New Orleans, as they're within 10 points of the current cut.
Players Just Below Current At-Large Cut
| Rank | Player | Current Point Total |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Michael Cooper | 162.5 |
| 52 | Sohale Khalili | 160 |
| 53 | Raymond Walton | 160 |
| 54 | Eric Salazar | 157.5 |
| 55 | Gregory Armand | 157.5 |
| 56 | Ari Engel | 155 |
Allen Kessler, Marshall White, Alex Rocha and Ben Keeline are also within shouting distance of 165, although each would likely need at least one fairly significant result to make up the 20-plus points needed.
As of Monday evening, nine events still remain on the schedule for players to try to secure last-minute points. With a tight race looming, expect players in the hunt for seats and those trying to protect top-50 standing to be locked in on grabbing points as the season comes to a close.
