WSOP.com's Caesars Palace Online Circuit Event begins today on the NV/NJ client, with a $320 buy-in 6-max tournament. The series will award twelve gold rings, and is the last chance for players to win WSOP jewelry before the 52nd annual WSOP begins in Las Vegas.
The series mirrors a similar one with Rio badging held in August. Eleven of the twelve events carry over directly from the Rio to the Caesars Palace version, albeit arranged in a different order. The only exception is the $2,000 buy-in super high-roller featured in the August series. This has been replaced by a generic $215 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament.
Dropping the highest buy-in tournament is somewhat puzzling, particularly given early arrivals for the live WSOP might be expected to add to the usual high-roller player pool. Further, the $2k event in August, won by Ankush Mandavia, attracted a healthy 74 entries.
Turning rings into bracelets
While the online Caesars Palace schedule lacks imagination, WSOP.com has found a multitude of ways of leveraging the appeal of the series.
First, there is the curiously-named "Player of the Month Leaderboard." This leaderboard applies not to the month of September, but to the 12 gold ring events held September 15-26. Tournament tickets are awarded to "the top 10 players in the Gold Ring events." The fine print includes an algorithm involving square roots explaining how leaderboard points are calculated.
The winner of this leaderboard challenge gains entry into an end-of-year $250k tournament, which awards a WSOP gold bracelet to first place. Other paths into this event include winning a gold ring or winning a freeroll. To win a freeroll, players must finish in the top ten of the aforementioned leaderboard.
The devilish complexity of these promotions is in stark contrast to the mundane tournament schedule, but it at least suggests the WSOP team includes some highly-creative individuals.
All eyes on the turn-out
As the final WSOP-branded series before the 52nd annual WSOP, participation levels in this online event will be closely monitored. Historically, international players in particular have flown out to Las Vegas early, so that they're at their sharpest when the series begins. The fact that the Caesars Palace online series awards WSOP rings enhances its accuracy as a barometer for participation in the live event.
There's also good news for the live series on the COVID front. Playing the online series from a hotel room is an effective method of self-isolation.
Featured image source: Twitter
