The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down live poker events and it remains to be seen when the card rooms and land-based casinos will reopen. The online poker rooms in New Jersey have moved their events online with great success. Recently, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) announced its Global Casino Championship (GCC) will be moved online. The WSOP also will have a Series Finale beginning June 3.
The GCC was to originally take place at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee, North Carolina, in August. With the GCC moving online, the start date is now September 13. Since the tournament is online, players will have to be within New Jersey or Nevada state lines, as those are the only states where you can play at WSOP.com.
Invitations will be sent to players have qualified in the following ways:
• WSOP Circuit Main Event winners
• Casino Championship winners
• Players in the top 50 on the overall leaderboard
The Season Finale Online Circuit Event will take place from June 3-14. From the series of online tournaments, 13 seats for the GCC will be up for grabs. There are 12 events in the Season Finale where the winners will win a seat for the GCC, while the 13th spot will be awarded to the Casino Champ of the Season Finale after all of the events in the series are completed.
There is an event every day in the Series Finale with buy-ins ranging from $215 to $1,000. The Online Finale Circuit High Roller 6-Max event is one of the bigger events in the series and has a buy-in of $1,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of $150,000. The Series Finale will close out with the Main Event, which has a buy-in of $525 and a guaranteed prize pool of $300,000.
The WSOP announced over a month back that it would be delaying the summer WSOP land-based events to this fall. Many of the best poker players around the world come to the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas every May to play for coveted WSOP gold bracelets. The schedule for the fall WSOP events is yet to be released.