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

Who'll Be Playing in the World Series of Poker Circuit National Championship? 0001

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:

 PlayerHometownQualified
1Luke GrahamWest Palm Beach, FLHarrah’s New Orleans Main Event Champion
2Rex ClinkscalesLas Vegas, NVHarrah’s Philadelphia Main Event Champion
3Chris ReslockAtlantic City, NJHarrah’s Philadelphia Casino Champion
4Jonathan TaylorPhil Campbell, ALThe Lodge Main Event Champion
   Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino Champion
5Chris ParsonsMentor, OHThe Lodge Casino Champion
6Ryan StevensonHorn Lake, MSHarrah’s Tunica Main Event Champion
7John HolleyDestin, FLHarrah’s Tunica Casino Champion
8David TuthillSt. Petersburg FLCaesars Palace LV Main Event Champion
9Idris GencogluVancouver, BCCaesars Palace LV Casino Champion
10Joseph McKeehenNorth Wales, PACaesars Atlantic City Main Event Champion
   Harrah’s New Orleans Casino Champion
11Christopher LeongNew York, NYCaesars Atlantic City Casino Champion
12Kevin SaulWarrenville, ILFoxwoods Main Event Champion
13Timothy KelliherNorth Dighton, MAFoxwoods Casino Champion
14John BowmanHickory, NCHarrah’s Cherokee Casino Champion
15Juan MendozaWilmington, NCHarrah’s Cherokee Casino Champion
16Blair HinkleWeatherby Lake, MOCouncil Bluffs Main Event Champion
17Mark BonsackCle Elum, WACouncil Bluffs Casino Champion
18Jeff FielderDes Moines, IAChoctaw Durant Main Event Champion
19Andrew RobinsonHutto, TXChoctaw Durant Casino Champion
20Jonathan TamayoHumble, TXPalm Beach Kennel Club Main Event Champion
21Samuel PanzicaSaline, MIPalm Beach Kennel Club Casino Champion
22Baptiste ChavaillazPortland, ORBicycle Casino Main Event Champion
23Nathan BjernoChino Hills, CABicycle Casino Casino Champion
24Jonathan ChehanskeBrigantine, NJHarrah’s Rincon Main Event Champion
25Valentin VornicuSan Diego, CAHarrah’s Rincon Casino Champion
26Adam TeasdaleWilmington, NCHarrah’s Atlantic City Main Event Champion
27Brandon FishKearney, NEHarrah’s Atlantic City Casino Champion
28Cary MarshallPottsboro, TXHarveys Lake Tahoe Main Event Champion
29Daniel GilmerAshland, OHHarveys Lake Tahoe Casino Champion
30John CrncicVancouver, BCRiver Rock (Vancouver) Main Event Champion
31Sandra WongBurnaby, BC, CanadaRiver Rock (Vancouver) Casino Champion
32Josh WilliamsSouth Bend, INHorseshoe Hammond Main Event Champion
33Mike LeahLas Vegas, NVHorseshoe Hammond Casino Champion
34Dan HeimillerLas Vegas, NVHorseshoe Southern Indiana Main Event Champion
35Quan NguyenGarland, TXBossier City Casino Champion
36Jeff GibralterRockwall, TXBossier City Main Event Champion
37Kyle CartwrightBartlett, TNIP Biloxi Main Event Champion
38Cory WoodMurfreesboro, TNIP Biloxi 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:

RankPlayerPointsRingsCashesEarnings
1Ari Engel252.5214$116,149
2Trevor Deeter225112$74,277
3Pedro Rios222.5013$171,848
4Aaron Massey222.5210$99,788
5Nancy Birnbaum197.527$67,005
6Charles “Woody” Moore195011$55,692
7Yossi Azulay192.5013$82,908
8Shawn Daniels192.5010$49,782
9Stephen Hesse190112$71,669
10Sean Small182.5012$128,988
11Michael Sanders182.519$119,881
12Carter Myers182.518$75,915
13Caufman Talley18026$104,914
14Ray Henson18035$82,273
15Ting Ho180012$53,616
16David Nicholson177.5111$79,377
17Josh Pender177.5116$62,755
18DJ Mackinnon177.5111$57,106
19Phillip Hui177.5114$46,417
20Robert Panitch17518$66,542
21Tripp Kirk172.509$237,515
22Benjamin Reason172.518$90,651
23Jonathan Hilton167.518$87,766
24Mark Maletic167.5010$81,137
25Travell Thomas167.519$57,383
26Jarod Ludemann165010$57,451
27Wendy Freedman162.517$59,147
28Nicolas Vaca-Rondon160110$103,621
29Blake Barousse16026$86,590
30Chris Conrad157.518$38,217
31Thomas Beckstead155010$44,119
32Drennon Rackley152.5012$51,494
33David Pecaski152.507$41,794
34Allen Kessler152.5110$39,147
35Michael Jukich15008$96,860
36William Byrnes150110$41,774
37Alex Masek15028$39,396
38Josh Reichard147.5011$69,567
39Nick Jivkov147.527$50,389
40Everett Carlton147.5010$49,510
41Pavlin Karakikov147.5011$38,404
42Ryan Riess145010$266,349
43Ashly Butler14516$42,879
44Frederic Roetker14518$35,074
45Krzysztof Stybaniewicz14517$33,818
46Ping Liu142.509$119,679
47Ryan Lenaghan142.517$68,200
48Cord Garcia142.517$60,655
49Austin Apicella142.525$51,574
50Paul Sokoloff142.509$42,712
51Josh Palmer142.5011$34,371
52Bryan Campanello14015$154,115
53Kurt Jewell14016$57,001
54Austin Buchanan140012$53,488
55Cory Waaland13514$134,832
56Jessie Bryant13518$65,530
57Alex Bylicki132.518$44,845
58Allan Farber130110$41,985
59Jason Mayfield13019$38,677
60Wade Woelfel127.5012$142,221
61Doug “Rico” Carli127.5016$23,057
62Kevin Eyster12515$121,421

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:

PlacePlayerPoints
1Phil Hellmuth1,644.58
2Greg Merson1,007.38
3Michael Mizrachi978.70
4Ben Lamb909.05
5John Monnette884.13
6Jason Mercier818.64
7Brian Rast775.30
8Chris Moorman753.10
9Antonio Esfandiari753.10
10Shawn Buchanan739.37
11Andrew Frankenberger721.86
12David “ODB” Baker692.71
13Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier683.77
14Joseph Cheong609.13
15Oleksii Kovalchuk597.63
16Viacheslav Zhukov570.50
17Pius Heinz570.00
18Phil Ivey568.70
19John Juanda565.60
20Tristan Wade563.21
21David “Bakes” Baker546.80
22Matt Matros544.25
23Timothy Adams532.78
24Nick Schulman531.23
25Vanessa Selbst523.67
26Andrew Lichtenberger501.19
27Roger Hairabedian499.75
28Simon Charette497
29Mikhail Lakhitov487.50
30Amir Lehavot487.50
31Mark Radoja481.88
32Barry Greenstein478.13
33Daniel Idema473.13
34Ali Eslami469.15
35Jeremy Ausmus467.94
36Stephen Chidwick462.29
37Martin Staszko446.00
38Jake Cody445.23
39Konstantin Puchkov441.18
40Eddie Blumenthal435.55
41Brent Hanks434.25
42Foster Hays429.25
43Brandon Cantu426.00
44Daniel O’Brien420.56
45Andy Bloch420.30
46Mark Schmid419.50
47Roland Israelashvili418.05
48Marvin Rettemaier417.98
49Sam Stein416.13
50Maria Ho416.00
51Jonathan Aguiar414.25
52Joe Ebanks410.25
53Jason Somerville408.25
54Owais Ahmed408.03
55Brock Parker407.49
56Steve Billirakis406.89
57Chris Bjorin401.88
58Hans Winzeler396.73
59Chris Klodnicki396.51
60Athanasios Polychronopoulos396.13
61Erik Cajelais395.55
62Chris DeMaci386.53
63Kyle Julius383.32
64Elio Fox382.50
65Jarred Solomon376.75
66Andrew Badecker376.75
67John Racener372.27
68Sean Getzwiller370.88
69Neil Willerson370.13
70Taylor Paur369.18
71Brian Hastings367.80
72Mitch Schock364.81
73Jeff Gross364.19
74Joey Weissman363.00
75Jason Koon362.07
76Jesse Sylvia361.50
77Antonin Teisseire359.05
78Eric Froehlich357.55
79David Bach354.75
80Dominik Nitsche351.13
81Layne Flack350.78
82Sam Trickett350.30
83Matt Glantz349.20
84Max Steinberg348.44
85Eugene Katchalov348.06
86Vladimir Mefodichev347.25
87Nelson Robinson343.00
88Joe Tehan341.29
89Dan Smith340.38
90George Lind339.30
91Dung Nguyen337.50
92Matt Stout336.00
93Joe Kuether335.13
94Rep Porter335.08
95Randolph Lanosga334.70
96Allen Bari373.26
97Dror Michaelo335.50
98Fabrice Soulier369.38
99Jon Lane354.24
100Steve Landfish363.27

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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Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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