The WSOP Circuit is back!
The WSOP Summer Camp may be over. Now it's time to get on the road.
We’re back, baby!
After another wonderful summer in Las Vegas with the 56th World Series of Poker, the WSOP Circuit is back and better than ever!
Our first stop of the second half of the 2025 season was in one of the staples of North America’s most popular poker tour, Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant, Oklahoma.
The first 18 rings of this section of the schedule were awarded, along with a sweet new bonus for winners, a $5,000 package to WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas this December.
You, the players who follow the Circuit around the country, are fundamental to the game we love so much. You deserve recognition, coverage, and appreciation. This newsletter showcases the best stories and highlights from each stop.
Comeback kid Alex Cruz wins the Main Event
PokerOrg reporter Keegan McCann appropriately phrased it as “from short-stack ninja to Main Event Champion” regarding how Alex Cruz took down the $1,700 Main Event, and boy, was he right on the money.
Cruz needed to make an epic comeback in the late stages of the final table to claim the $241,412 first prize, along with the Main Event champion’s ring and one of those $5,000 Bahamas packages.
Down to just seven big blinds with four players remaining, and all-in with the worst of it, Cruz needed plenty of help to get to the finish line, starting with this dramatic hand:
Cruz indeed drilled the needed spade on the river to take down the hand and score a crucial double-up that started his ascent to the title.
“I was due.” Cruz said of his comeback victory.
“You know, some things are just meant to be. I had a really good feeling about this one. My friend even texted me, ‘I think you’re going to win this’. Sometimes you just get gut feelings.”
After winning that dramatic pot four-handed, Cruz proceeded to dispatch each of his three remaining opponents. First, he sent Eliaan Pilo home in fourth place before needing some more fortune to score his next elimination.
Holding a jack-high flush draw against Peter Clive’s queen-high draw with three to a straight on board on the turn, Cruz made that straight on the river to get to heads-up play against Alex Rindone.
During their match, Cruz ran a massive semi-bluff with just bottom pair and a flush draw on an ace-eight-eight-four turn that could have cost him the tournament, but instead, he got the bluff through, then gleefully tabled his hand to stick the needle into his opponent.
Soon after, Cruz had the rest of the chips and was declared the champion.
Of the heads-up match and that critical bluff, Cruz said, “It was tough. He is a very tricky opponent, and it was tough to range him. Honestly though, I kind of had a read on him from playing with him yesterday, and I think that read helped me out on that hand. If he has an ace, I’m just screwed, but I didn’t think he had it and had to go with the shove.”
Series Highlights: Lang loads up in the Mystery Bounty, Bunch gets her first ring
Jason Lang claims both five-figure prizes in Mystery Bounty event
What is it about Choctaw and these greedy Mystery Bounty players?!
In last year’s July series, Gary Ware not only pulled the largest available bounty of $20,000, but he went on to win the tournament for an additional $24,700.
This year’s event saw a top bounty of $10,000, and Jason Lang decided that he was going to ‘pull a Gary’ and duplicate the feat.
After drawing the envelope that contained the five-figure bounty on the final table bubble, he too went on to win the tournament for an additional $16,622 and one of those $5,000 Bahamas packages.
Bunch bests Belote for her first Circuit ring
With almost $300,000 on her very accomplished Hendon Mob profile, including a plethora of results from both Choctaw and nearby Hard Rock Tulsa, it seemed shocking that a WSOP Circuit ring had eluded Oklahoma native Lauren Bunch for so long over her 12-year tournament poker career.
That ring has eluded Bunch no more, and she did it in impressive fashion.
The equally-accomplished triathlete finally reached the WSOP Circuit mountaintop, defeating the most decorated woman in Circuit history, Pam Belote to win this series’ $250 Ladies Event.
Bunch entered the final table with the chip lead, then carried it to heads-up play against Belote, ultimately denying the eight-time Ladies Event ring winner to claim her first, along with the $6,639 first prize.
The first Circuit stop of the new season provided plenty of dramatic and exciting moments that were captured for all to see including quite the way to bubble a tournament, a bad beat blamed on the media team, and every trick in the book to win a key flip:
In Pictures: Choctaw ring winners
The first 18 WSOP Circuit rings were awarded at Choctaw and we were there for all of those winning moments!
Joe Giron was on-site to capture all of the series’ triumphs. Enjoy each of their moments highlighted below. For even more of our favorite photos, scroll down to the bottom of this newsletter.
In Numbers: WSOP-C Choctaw
With the second half of the season underway and plenty of excitement about what’s to come leading to WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas December 4-18, we thought we’d dedicate our ‘In Numbers’ section to what Circuit players have to look forward to along the way.
Domestic (U.S.) WSOP Circuit stops remaining in 2025: 16
International WSOP Circuit stops remaining in 2025: 12
Venues with multiple Domestic stops:
Cherokee - 2
Choctaw - 2 (including July)
Venues with multiple International stops:
Playground (Montreal, Canada) - 2
Next to act: Upcoming stops
As we just mentioned, there are a ton of stops on the back half of the 2025 WSOP Circuit schedule, and we were just getting warmed up at Choctaw.
August will see no less than five WSOP Circuit series in North America (including Playground in Montreal between August 18-September 2).
Here’s a peek at the four U.S. based stops, including a pair of marquee returns to the Circuit in Atlantic City and New Orleans!
Harrah’s Atlantic City schedule
Behind the lens: Choctaw photos
Joe Giron captured photos from the felt from every single ring event. Enjoy some of our favorites. These and hundreds more are available to download for free thanks to the official media partner of the WSOP Circuit, PokerOrg. Scroll down to see how to download yours.
Capture your own on-the-felt memory
Every time we sit at the table is a chance to make a lasting memory on the felt. Whether you capture a ring this time or not, help us bring your experience to life. Head to PokerPhotos.org to browse our free photo galleries and even request your own photo at the next Circuit stop!