Weekly Poker Roundup: November 28, 2016

New WSOP Circuit International Stops Announced

The World Series of Poker Circuit is generally thought of as a United States poker tour, but many don’t realize that it has become a fairly significant international tour, as well. Recently, the WSOP announced the additional of the following six stops to the international portion of the Circuit:

• Sydney, Australia – November 22 – December 12, 2016 – The Star, Sydney
• Marrakech, Morocco – January 14-22, 2023 – Casino de Marrakech
• Campione, Italy – March 6-20, 2023 – Casino Campione D’Italia
• Cannes, France – April 17-24, 2023 – Casino Barriere Cannes le Croisette
• Estoril, Portugal – May 1-7, 2023 – Casino Estoril
• Brussels, Belgium – May 19-28, 2023 – Grand Casino Brussels VIAGE

“We are very pleased to add these additional stops to the WSOP Circuit,” said WSOP Director Gregory Chochon in a press release. “We have been very judicious on which locales and casinos we will work with and believe we have found terrific partners in each of these markets to help bring the WSOP brand to a local and regional audience.”

One more stop might be added to the 2016-2023 international schedule, which would bring the total number of stops to fourteen.

Maurice Hawkins Wins Third WSOP Circuit Main Event Title of the Year

Speaking of the WSOP Circuit, Maurice Hawkins became the first poker player in history to win three WSOP Circuit Main Events in the same year. He won the WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Main event early last week, giving him his first Circuit gold ring of the season but fourth overall on the calendar year.

Hawkins’ phenomenal 2016 began in early April, when he won the monster stack event at WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs and then, two  days later, won the Main Event. That same month, he won the 1,008 player Main Event at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. And then, of course, there was the Palm Beach Kennel Club, giving Hawkins his third Main Event win and eighth gold ring of his career.

Just two other players – Blair Hinkle and Chris Ferguson have ever won three Main Events, but theirs were spaced years apart. Hawkins is now just one ring behind Alexandru Masek on the all-time WSOP Circuit rings list and is just the second player, after Ferguson, to have earned $1 million in Circuit events.

PokerStars Christmas Festival Underway

PokerStars launched its Christmas Festival promotion last week, promising giveaways equating to over $5 million through the end of December. First up is the $1 Million Poker Freeroll, the last of its kind for 2016, to be held on December 1^st. Players can qualify for the tournament by completing daily challenges through November 29^th. The completion of a challenge grants entry to the next day’s All-In Shootout Qualifier. The top 8,192 finishers in each Shootout will gain entry into the $1 Million Poker Freeroll. There will also be one more challenge issued on November 30^th, giving people a chance to play in the Last Chance Skill Qualifier to earn a ticket to the freeroll.

When Christmas starts, so will the Christmas Calendar part of the promo in which players can unveil some sort of poker offer each day. The offers will include such things as “CardHunt, Challenges, Freerolls, Christmas Giveaways and Mega Bonuses.”

We already know one of the offers: the MicroMillions Marathon day on December 11^th during which there will be 21 events and a $22 buy-in Main Event with a $1 million guarantee.

The day after Christmas is the final part of the Christmas Festival. On that day, the regular Sunday Million will morph into a special, $2 million Monday Million with $200,000 guaranteed to the winner.