The World Series of Poker (WSOPE) returns to Europe in September after last year’s inaugural World Series of Poker Europe proved to be a success.  The dates and location for this year’s series has been announced by organisers Betfair Poker.  It will take place at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square.  This year’s series promises to be bigger and better with four bracelet events being contested compared with the three that were held last year.

In addition to the H.O.R.S.E, Pot Limit Omaha and World Championship No Limit Hold’Em main event which made up last year’s series, a £1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’Em event will kick off proceedings on 19th September.

The series will run until 2nd October when the WSOPE main event Champion will be crowned.  Norwegian player, Anne Obrestad made history last year by bursting on to the scene to take the WSOPE main event title and winning $2,013,102 in the process.  This is the largest amount won by a woman in a single poker tournament.  She will be back competing in September to retain her title.

However, she will face stiff competition as several top players have announced their intention to play In Leicester Square.  Some of the nine players who recently booked their place at the final table of the main World Series of Poker set for November in Las Vegas have said they will be heading to London for the WSOPE.  

Ivan Demidov, Peter Eastgate, David “Chino” Rheem and will be aiming to win bracelets at both the WSOP and WSOPE in 2008.  It gives the added incentive for other participants that they could be playing against some of the players contesting the WSOP final table and the media spotlight will surely be on these players.

Top players such as, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Erick Lindgren and Daniel Negreanu will also be competing at the Empire Casino.

The £1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’Em is a 4 day event and will be played from 19th – 22nd September.  The £2,500 H.O.R.S.E event gets going on 22nd September and lasts for 3 days.  The £5,000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha is the next one to start, this time on 24th September and will last for 3 days.  The £10,000 buy-in World Championship No Limit Hold’Em main event will begin on 27th September and run for six days.

As well as these 4 bracelet events, an extra 5 events will be held during the series although bracelets will not be awarded for these events.

The 2007 series was played in 3 different venues and tournament organisers have decided that the 2008 series should be played under one roof to make it more convenient for the players.

The series will reach a wider viewing audience than last time with increased television coverage.  American Sports channel ESPN have announced they will be showing 8 hours of live coverage of the WSOPE.  It is the first time a poker event held in Europe will be broadcast in the USA.  ESPN will also show coverage on its broadband network in the USA, Europe, Mexico and Brazil.  Sky Sports aired highlights of the 2007 event albeit in April this year and will no doubt show highlights of the 2008 series in the UK.  

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