Everything You Need to Know About the 2014 WSOP National Championship

May 21, 2014

This weekend, Season 10 of the World Series of Poker Circuit will culminate with the National Championship at the newly WSOP-branded Bally’s Atlantic City poker room. The fourth-annual National Championship will be recorded for future broadcast on ESPN, and will also award the year's first WSOP gold bracelet.

“We look forward to welcoming the best poker players in the world to Atlantic City and our brand new poker room at Bally’s,” said Kevin Ortzman, general manager of the property. “We are dedicated to making our new room the best in New Jersey, and are excited for players to see all the great things happening in Atlantic City with the convergence of online and land-based gaming.”

Throughout the season, players have been qualifying for the National Championship by either winning the Main Event or Casino Championship at each stop, seeing 44 total qualifiers advance. In addition, 50 players qualified via at-large bids, which come from accumulating points on the National Leaderboard. Additionally, the 100 players atop the WSOP World Rankings are eligible to buy into this event for $10,000, which will then be added to the prize pool. That means the final field will be between 100-200 players and generate a prize pool somewhere between $1-2 million.

“The WSOP National Championship is really about toasting the most consistent and dedicated players of the World Series of Poker brand,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “They have shown strong performance across our events and we’re delighted to provide a platform in Atlantic City for the first time to showcase and award these championship caliber players.”

The Main Event/Casino Champ qualifiers are:

Player	Route	City	Rings	Cashed	Earnings
Jed Hoffman	Council Bluffs Casino Champ	Reno, NV	2	9	$54,142
Aaron Frei	Harrah's Tunica Casino Champ	Longmont, CO	0	13	$36,988
Mike Leah	Bicycle Casino Champ	Toronto, ON	2	7	$68,488
Patricia Till	Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino Champ	Avon, IN	1	7	$37,776
Samuel Panzica	Horseshoe Cincinnati Casino Champ	Saline, MI	2	9	$58,626
Craig Varnell	Lodge Casino Champ	Ft Collins, CO	1	6	$82,743
Andrew Merrick	Harrah's Rincon Casino Champ	San Diego, CA	2	3	$37,039
Daniel Heredi	Cesars Palace Las Vegas Casino Champ	N/A	2	4	$50,435
Ryan Rinker	Harveys Lake Tahoe Casino Champ	Vacaville, CA	0	4	$90,744
Ylon Schwartz	IP Biloxi Casino Champ	Austin, TX	1	3	$29,532
Marc Carpentier-Perrault	Lac Leamy Casino Champ	Blainville, QC	1	5	$28,643
Peter Nigh	Lumiere Place Casino Champ	St. Louis, MO	0	3	$76,981
Richard Block	Harrah's Atlantic City Casino Champ	Alden, NY	1	4	$48,215
Robert Panitch	Lumiere Place Main Event	Northbrook, IL	1	9	$160,521
Eric Suarez	Harrah's Philadelphia Casino Champ	Glen Mills, PA	1	3	$26,288
Sukhpaul Dhaliwal	River Rock Casino Champ	Langley, BC	1	2	$41,845
Juan Mendoza	Harrah's Cherokee Casino Champ	Wilmington, NC	0	5	$26,023
Johnny Donnelly	Bossier City Casino Champ	Carrollton, TX	1	2	$18,548
Jeffrey Gunnip	Palm Beach Kennel Club Casino Champ	Berkley, MI	1	2	$18,143
Jonthan Gaviao	Harrah's Tunica Main Event	Gainesville, TX	1	5	$340,598
Michael Oshana	Horseshoe Hammond Casino Champ	Hanover Park, IL	1	2	$73,071
Ryan Methia	Foxwoods Casino Champ	Acushnet, MA	1	3	$23,617
Tyler Morris	Choctaw Resort Main Event	Tyler, TX	1	5	$392,458
Zal Irani	Horseshoe Southern Indiana Main Event	Chicago, IL	1	7	$120,231
Eric Blair	The Lodge Main Event	Las Vegas, NV	1	2	$160,632
James Dorrance	Horseshoe Hammond Main Event	Hershey, PA	1	2	$439,785
Shahin Edalatdju	Harrah's Rincon Main Event	San Diego, CA	1	2	$120,405
Lincoln Milne	River Rock Main Event	Chilliwack, BC	1	1	$253,015
Nipun Java	Bicycle Casino Main Event	Northridge, CA	1	1	$226,785
Bradford Albrinck	Horseshoe Cincinnati Main Event	Cincinnati, OH	1	1	$221,994
Christian Pham	Caesars Palace Main Event	St. Paul, MN	1	1	$214,332
Jason Sandling	Harrah's Cherokee Main Event	Clayton, NC	1	1	$204,487
Ruslan Dykshtein	Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event	Brooklyn, NY	1	1	$202,335
Jason Strasser	Foxwoods Main Event	New York, NY	1	1	$186,600
Joseph Lapinta	Harrah's Atlantic City Main Event	Toms River, NJ	1	1	$182,070
Thomas Creel	Bossier City Main Event	Monroe, LA	1	1	$144,537
Daniel Harmetz	Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event	Sacramento, CA	1	1	$128,699
Charles Sylvestre	Lac Leamy Main Event	Saint-Bruno, QC	1	1	$122,435
Kyle Bowker	Harrah's Philadelphia Main Event	Walton, NY	1	1	$115,920
Martin Zenter	IP Biloxi Main Event	New Orleans, LA	1	1	$106,455
Blair Hinkle	Council Bluffs Main Event	Weatherby Lake, MO	1	1	$90,770
Chris Bowen	Choctaw Casino Champ	1	2	$131,224
Tim West	Harrah's New Orleans Casino Champ	1	9	$75,815
Bryan Campanello	Harrah's New Orleans Main Event	2	5	$190,358

Here's a look at the 50 players that qualified by amassing enough points on the National Leaderboard:

Also, here is a look at the 100 players atop the WSOP World Rankings that are eligible to buy into the National Championship for $10,000. Of course, not all of these players will do so. It's estimated around 30 will participate, while former WSOP champs Ryan Riess and Greg Merson have already confirmed their participation.

In addition, the Bally’s Atlantic City Freeroll was held on Monday to showcase their brand new tournament room. The live tournament awarded one seat into the National Championship, which ended up going to Carl Javier. Meanwhile, Michael Wang won a $1,125 satellite into the National Championship.

Finally, the following players won their way in via WSOP.com freerolls:

PokerNews will be providing daily updates on the National Championship from May 22-24, so be sure to check back then to see who will win the first gold bracelet of the summer.

_{*Photos courtesy of WSOP.com.}

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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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