On October 25, 2004 Harrah's announced the creation of the World
Series of Poker Tournament Circuit that marked the beginning of
the 36th annual World Series of Poker season. And with it began
their efforts to evolve the World Series of Poker from a month
long frenzied rush into a year long sport. The Tournament
Circuit is a set of poker tournament stops at different casinos
that will host all-comer events for players seeking high-level
top quality poker action. It also allows players based on their
performance at the tournament circuit events and the World
Series of Poker, to qualify them for entry into the Tournament
of Champions event. The Tournament of Champions is a freeroll
event meaning that no player who will participate has to put up
any of his or her own funds to play. Harrah’s determines the
number of players from each of the tournament circuit events who
will qualify.
With the popularity of poker on the rise, Harrah's sought to
capitalize on this movement by having 5 legs of the circuit that
would be open to anyone who wanted to play regardless of skill
level. In 2005 events were held in Atlantic City, NJ during
January, San Diego, CA in February, Las Vegas, NV in March, Lake
Tahoe, NV in April and New Orleans, LA in May. Each of the
events were taped and will be aired on ESPN. All champions who
won their events received a WSOP championship gold ring and a
sizable amount of cash, which easily reached the six-figure
level in the Main Events. The buy-ins for the tournaments ranged
from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 per person for
participation in the Championship Main Event held at each
circuit leg. The game for each of the Main Events was Texas
No-Limit Hold'Em poker.
The response from the poker playing public was well received
drawing noted professionals like Erick Lindgren, Mimi Tran,
Chris Ferguson, Chad Brown, Dewey Tomko, Robert Williamson III,
Andy Bloch, J.C. Tran, Jennifer Harman Traniello, Tony Ma, Phil
Ivey, John Cernuto, David Pham, Joe Awada, Antonio Esfandiari
and others to the tables. It also brought out many superior
regional poker players who are well known and respected in their
areas of the country.
Since the acquisition of the World Series of Poker name and
brand in 2004, Harrah's has been on a mission to expand the name
into their properties and new areas of which the tournament
circuit is one, so you can trust that this will be around for a
number of years. Now the amount of "rake" the company earns from
event prize pools is 6%, and this money is used to pay dealers
and other expenses. Given the magnitude of tournament
operations, that can't leave that much for profit. So why do
they do it? A company spokesperson stated that the international
exposure, newspaper and media coverage they are receiving on
these events is priceless to them. It is helping to lay the
groundwork for the corporation to expand greater than what they
already are. So you can count on Harrah's to continue the effort
to make the World Series of Poker bigger and better than it
presently is.
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