2012 Tournament Poker Calendar Not Completed Yet

Although the 2012 World Series of Poker Championship Event is now in the books, crowning a worthy World Champion in Greg Merson, the conclusion of that tournament by no means is spelling the end to the 2012 tournament poker calendar.

The World Poker Tour will be continuing its Season XI schedule next week with a stop at what has become one of its more popular venues. BestBet Jacksonville in Florida, which hosted a stop on the Season X calendar, will be back with the BestBet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble beginning next Friday (November 9). The $3500 buy-in tournament is a re-entry event with two Day Ones on the schedule and it has already drawn some prominent names for the proceedings next week.

With a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000, it isn’t surprising that many poker professionals will be trekking to the Sunshine State for the festivities. Phil Hellmuth, fresh off his second consecutive runner-up finish in the WSOP Player of the Year race, has confirmed he will be a part of the action in Florida. Joining him on the felt will be WPT Champions Club member Daniel Negreanu, making an appearance at a WPT event for the first time in what seems like forever. Although not a part of the television schedule for Season XI (it will be live streamed over the WPT website), it is still expected that several pros will make the journey for the Florida stop.

Two other WPT stops will finish off the calendar year for the circuit. Beginning on November 15, the Playground Poker Club in Montreal will play host to the WPT, the first stop by the circuit in Canada since 2008. To wrap the calendar year, the WPT will head back to the Bellagio in Las Vegas for the Five Diamond World Poker Classic on December 4 before taking a break until 2013.

The WSOP Circuit has three stops left on its 2012 calendar year schedule. Currently running in Richmond, British Columbia, the WSOPC River Rock is in action as we speak. The $1675 Main Event for that tournament will begin tomorrow and should draw the best that Canada poker has to offer. The WSOPC will also make stops at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe for a $1675 Main Event beginning on November 17 and Harrah’s Atlantic City for its $1675 Main Event beginning December 8 before pausing for the holidays.

The Heartland Poker Tour is looking to jam in three events during the month of November, including their Championship Event later this month. First, the HPT will be stopping in Albuquerque, NM, for a Main Event that begins this weekend before heading up the road to Las Vegas and the Palms Casino Resort for another $1650 Main Event on November 9. The 2012 calendar year will conclude for the HPT at the HPT Championship Open, scheduled for November 16 at the Belterra Casino Resort in Florence, IN.

Holding to its guns of only eight tournaments on its Season Eight schedule, the European Poker Tour will only have one more event this year before the calendar flips to 2013. The EPT will journey to Prague, the Czech Republic on December 9, giving the international poker community a last chance to get together before the holidays set in. With the plethora of side events that have become a part of the EPT stops, it promises to be a grand occasion for all the players in attendance.

These are just the stops remaining for the major tournament circuits for the rest of 2012. When you add in such events as the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza IV (currently running in Las Vegas until November 18), the highly anticipated Pro Poker Championship (currently running in Dover Downs, DE, until November 19), the Borgata Fall Poker Open (November 7-21) and Larry Flynt’s Holiday Poker Classic (November 23-December 17 at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles), there are plenty of opportunities for players to get their last live poker fix before the Christmas and New Year’s holidays set in. It will also be the last chance for many to earn points in the various Player of the Year races, which are always exciting to watch with the calendar year’s close.