by Mario Alfonsi | Published on May 4, 2020 | Updated on May 5, 2020
With the postponement of many live poker events including the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) which has disappointed a lot of players and fans around the world who had everything planned out for their poker summer holiday in Las Vegas. However, with organizers expressing strong interest in holding the festival during the fall, there’s real chance that the 51st WSOP will still take place in 2020.
For the meantime, let’s turn our attention to the next big WSOP-related event this year – the WSOP Circuit Global Casino Championship, which is set to take place from August 11-13 at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. It’s too early to make a decision on whether the Global Casino Championship will take place in August or not.
For those who are not familiar with the Championship, here is a short history of why this tournament is so popular.
History of the WSOP Global Casino Championship
The Global Casino Championship event serves as season finale for the WSOP Circuit. It debuted in 2011, then known as the “National Championship” at Caesars Palace, with 100 WSOPC qualifiers battling it out for a massive $1,000,000 prize pool.
When the dust settled, it was Sam Barnhart who was crowned the winner, walking away with $300,000. He won his way into the event after taking down the WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica three months earlier. After clinching the Global Championship trophy, he went on to finish in 17th place during that year’s WSOP Main Event where he won a career-best score of $378,796.
In 2012, the National Championship was participated in by an expanded field of 157 players, who were eventually outclassed by Ryan Eriquezzo to claim his first WSOP bracelet, alongside $416,051 in first-place prize. The 34-year-old won the event for the second time in 2019 for $279,431.
In 2014, German poker pro Dominik Nitsche bested a 126-player field279 to capture the tournament for $352,800. He was able to enter the event after paying $10,000 making him the first player to win the event via direct buy-in.
In 2015, the event crowned its first female champion – Loni Harwood. She topped a field of 122 players for $341,599. Interestingly, Daniel Negreanu sat with Harwood at the final table but settled for 6th place.
In 2016, the National Championship was rebranded to its current name, the Global Casino Championship, following the launch of the international circuit. It was taken down by French pro Said El-Yousfi for $343,256.
In 2017, Sean Yu kicked off what would become one of the biggest years of his career by winning the Global Casino Championship for $296,341. The following year, the event crowned a “controversial” champ, Warren Sheaves. He won the event for $282,113 alongside his first bracelet which he considered to be just a “medium” bracelet that did “not fit his ego”. So far, Eriquezzo is the only player to win two Global Casino Championship titles.
