Roughrider Poker Tour Casino State Championship to Award WSOP Main Event Seat
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The Roughrider Poker Tour (RPT) Casino State Championship in St. Michael, North Dakota will have an estimated $300,000 or higher prize pool, and the winner will also take home a 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event seat.
All the action in the $250 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament will take place inside the Spirit Lake Casino & Resort, starting on New Years Day. PokerNews will be on-site live reporting the event, so make sure you stop back here to check in on updated chip counts and the most exciting hands played during the event.
Championship Event Details
The tournament starts Jan. 1 with the first two of six Day 1 starting flights — one at 9 a.m. and the other at 5 p.m. Flights C and D run on Jan. 2, followed by Flights E and F on Jan. 3.
Players are allowed to rebuy as many times as they'd like through the first nine levels of each Day 1 session. Jan. 4 is Championship Day, the day where every player who found a Day 1 bag will come back to play it down to a winner. A $710 buyback on double bags will be offered.
There will also be a separate event at Spirit Lake on New Years Eve, and that is a $220 buy-in Kickoff Tournament starting at 5 p.m. The tournament will play down to a winner before the day concludes.
Registration for the championship event will open each morning at 8:30 a.m. Players can earn qualifying points for both the Roughrider Poker Tour and Dakota Poker Tour. The WSOP Main Event package is valued at $10,700, but could be worth millions more as the winner of poker's most prestigious annual tournament wins millions of dollars. Michael Mizrachi won it last summer for exactly $10 million.
The RPT Casino State Championship is the biggest event of the year in North Dakota. PokerNews is excited to stop out at Spirit Lake Casino for the first time live reporting what figures to be an entertaining event. Players in the tournament are encouraged to send their friends and family to our live reporting blog during the tournament so they can follow along on your journey to the championship.
Roughrider Poker Tour (RPT) Casino State Championship Schedule
| Date | Time | Event | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Dec 31 | 5:00 PM | Kickoff Tournament (Trophy Event) | $220 |
| Thursday, Jan 1 | 9:00 AM | Main Event - Flight A | $250 |
| Thursday, Jan 1 | 5:00 PM | Main Event - Flight B | $250 |
| Friday, Jan 2 | 9:00 AM | Main Event - Flight C | $250 |
| Friday, Jan 2 | 5:00 PM | Main Event - Flight D | $250 |
| Saturday, Jan 3 | 9:00 AM | Main Event - Flight E | $250 |
| Saturday, Jan 3 | 5:00 PM | Main Event - Flight F | $250 |
| Sunday, Jan 4 | 11:00 AM | Championship Day! (Day 2 Finals) | — |
| Sunday, Jan 4 | 12:00 PM | Last Chance Tournament | $120* |
