The third annual World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair has solidified its tournament schedule, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., owner and operator of the world’s most prestigious poker tournaments announced today.

The 2009 World Series of Poker Europe Presented by Betfair (the WSOPE) will feature four bracelet tournaments, including a new addition, the £2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha mixed event that begins on September 21st.

“The World Series of Poker Europe has quickly established itself as the most prestigious tournament outside the United States,” said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack. “Winning a gold bracelet is recognized globally as the top prize in the sport and we look forward to awarding four more bracelets in 2009 at the Casino at the Empire in London.”

The WSOPE will be held from September 17th to October 1st, 2009 in the heart of Leicester Square at the Casino at the Empire in London, England. The Casino at the Empire has been a hotbed of poker activity since hosting the WSOPE, with regular cash games and tournaments running around the clock. The casino now stays open 24-hours a day and has begun offering satellite tournaments for the WSOPE. Visit http://www.thecasinolsq.com/pages/casino-events.php for more details.

“The Casino at the Empire has quickly become the destination for poker in the UK, “said Michael Silberling, COO, London Clubs International. “”We look forward to hosting the best players in the game for the WSOPE this fall and will continue to offer the finest poker action daily for those in Leicester Square.”

Players can pre-register for the WSOPE at any London Clubs International (LCI) venue in the UK or at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Alternatively they can try and qualify online exclusively at Betfair Poker via www.betfairpoker.com.

“We are delighted to be working alongside Harrah’s again for a successful third year of our sponsorship of the World Series of Poker Europe,” said Betfair CEO David Yu. “We will remain the only place to qualify online for the WSOPE tournament and we are also very excited about the new $1 million promotion which with free entry will give the WSOPE a wider appeal and add more value than ever before.”

The complete bracelet event schedule is as follows:

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

Event #1 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (3-day event/2 start days)

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009

Event #1 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em Day 1B

Monday, Sept. 21, 2009

Event #2 – £2,500 + £150 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha (3-day event)

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009

Event #3 – £5,000 + £250 – Pot Limit Omaha (3-day event)

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

Event #4 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Day 1A (5-day event/2 start days) “Main Event”

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

Event #4 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Day 1B “Main Event”

All the above tournaments will be sanctioned gold bracelet events. Non-stop cash games will also be scheduled during the tournament, as well as a bevy of satellite tournaments in the weeks leading up to each event. The Casino at the Empire does not require membership for admission.

Betfair Poker is also proud to present a brand new WSOPE event exclusively free for Betfair poker players to enter. The FREE MILLION DOLLAR GAME is only available at www.betfairpoker.com. Qualification begins 13th April with the top 18 players traveling to London to play live at WSOPE for a first place prize of U.S. $1 million. The event will kick off the WSOPE on Thursday, September 17.

ESPN, the exclusive World Series of Poker telecaster, is scheduled to air ten original hours of coverage of the World Series of Poker Europe in the United States and distribute the tournament globally. ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband sports network, is scheduled to provide live coverage in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and Brazil.

Harrah’s Entertainment will distribute World Series of Poker Europe programming in non-ESPN markets, which totaled 170 million households in 2008 including U.K. host broadcaster Channel 4.

During the WSOP in Las Vegas (May 26-July 15), players can pre-register for WSOP Europe at the tournament cage as well as lock in poker player hotel rates via www.worldseriesofpoker.com. In addition, $1,570 Mega Satellites for the WSOP Europe Main Event will be held July 9th, 10th and 11th at 5:00 PM at the Rio® All-Suite Hotel and Casino.

WSOPE in London complements the WSOP held annually in Las Vegas. During the first two years of the WSOPE, seven gold bracelets have been awarded along with £9,997,500 in prize money.

The biggest names in poker have participated in WSOPE including: Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, Eric Seidel, Mike Matusow, Joe Hachem, Vanessa Rousso, Andy Bloch, David Benefield, Ivan Demidov, Sorel Mizzi, Jennifer Tilly, Layne Flack, Andrew Black, Barry Greenstein, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Max Pescatori, Chris Bjorin, Allen Cunningham, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Patrik Antonius, John Phan and Annette Obrestad.

Obrestad won the largest amount ever for a female, £1 million – or U.S. $2,013,102 when she won the inaugural WSOPE Main Event in 2007. John Juanda, the winner of the 2008 event, won in an epic battle. The final table lasted 21 hours and Juanda took home a cool £868,800 in prize money and a coveted WSOP bracelet for his remarkable efforts.

The host country is still looking to win its first bracelet on home soil, while six different nations have captured a WSOPE bracelet: Denmark (2), Afghanistan, Germany, Italy, Norway and USA.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Pro Players, Poker Tournaments, WSOPE | No Comments » April 20th, 2009

Harrah’s Entertainment has announced the dates for World Series of Poker Europe that is presented by Betfair. Casino Empire in London is hosting the event for the year 2009, which will run from 17th of September to October Ist, the series is featuring a total of four bracelet events.

World series of poker Europe 2009 will be kicking off with several events. The Schedule for 2009 World Series of Poker Europe is as follow

- September 18 – 21 – £1,000 + £60 – No-Limit Hold’em (two starting days)
- September 21 – 23 – £2,500 + £150 – Pot Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha
- September 23 – 25 – £5,000 + £250 – Pot Limit Omaha
-September 26 – October 1 – £10,000 + £350 – World Championship No-Limit Hold’em
(two starting days)

In past all World Series of poker Europe events are officially designated as Gold bracelets events.

Commenting on the occasion world series poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack mentioned “The World Series of Poker Europe has quickly established itself as the most prestigious tournament outside the United States”.

Staging of the World Series of poker Europe in September and October makes it similar to 2008, as the WSOPE and main event will be tacking place during the conclusion of play in the main event of WSOP at Las Vegas in July and the completion of the WSOP’s Main Event, or the “9th November.”

Players can pre register for the event at London Clubs International venue in the United Kingdom; also players participating in the Las Vegas world series of poker can pre register at the Rio Hotel and Casino. Players can also qualify for the WSOPE via Betfair poker site.

ESPN will be broadcasting the WSOPE event this year; they have plans to air 10 hours of coverage in the United States. ESPN360 will broadcast the event live in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and Brazil.

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker Articles, Poker News, Poker Pro Players, WSOP | No Comments » April 17th, 2009

The World Series of Poker Europe 2008 came to a fitting climax this week with John Juanda emerging as the champion in the GBP 10 000 buy-in NLHE Main Event.

It was a tough contest with an initial entry field of 362 players, many of them top names in the international game, generating a prize pool worth GBP 3.62 million, and a star-studded final table that ground on for an exhausting 22 hours and 484 hands.

In the end, a methodical and skilled John Juanda met Stanislav Alekhin in the heads up and triumphed after 242 hands and nearly eight hours of play, winning his fourth WSOP bracelet and a bank-booster main prize of GBP 868 800. Alekhin took home a well deserved GBP 533 950 second place purse.

“It’s been so long ago since I won my last bracelet, I can’t remember. It’s embarrassing,” said a modest Juanda, referring to his last bracelet win in Las Vegas in 2003.  Exhibiting good sportsmanship, he said reading his youthful opponent in the heads up had been almost impossible, and he also paid tribute to the skill of third finisher, Ivan Demidov.

“Today there are so many young excellent tournament players from all over the world. Like the two young Russians and the Scandis. Much more than it used to be, ” Juanda said.

His reference to Demidov was an appropriate salute to the remarkable young Russian player, who was one of the outstanding players at the final table and made it to a third place finish and a pay check of GBP 334 850.

Last year Demidov used the WSOP Europe to get up to speed for the WSOP Vegas event, and made the final table. In Vegas he went on to finish one position back from the chip leader among the WSOP final nine who are yet to play for poker’s biggest prizes on November 9th.

Demidov is the first player to final-table both Main Events in Europe and the US with his third-place finish in London.

To say the overall main event field in this year’s London spectacular was impressive is an understatement. Starting fields included names like 2007 WSOPE Main Event Champion Annette Obrestad, 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, 2008 WSOP HORSE winner Scotty Nguyen and 2008 WSOPE PLO Champion Theo Jorgensen.

Then there was Phil Laak, Chris Ferguson, David Ulliott, Antonio Esfandiari, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Marco Traniello, Nenad Medic, Jennifer Tilly, Gus Hansen, David “Chino” Rheem, Roland de Wolfe, Juha Helppi, Allen Cunningham and Daniel Negreanu.

The nine final-table competitors were a mix of grizzled WSOP veterans and new kids on the block with Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman and John Juanda combined holding nine prior WSOP bracelets, and newcomers Chris Elliott, Toni Hiltunen and Stanislav Alekhin making their first WSOP final tables.

All but one of the nine final tablers picked up six figure pound sterling checks, with the big money list after Juanda, Alekhin and Demidov featuring fourth placed Bengt Sonnert on GBP 271 500; Daniel Negreanu in fifth place for GBP 217 200; sixth placed Scott Fischman on GBP 171 950; Robin Keston in 7th place with GBP 135 750 followed by Toni Hiltunen in the number 8 spot for a worthwhile GBP 108 600 and 9th placed Chris Elliott who took home GBP 81 450.

Other events in this year’s WSOP Europe, and the winners were:

GBP 1 500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em taken by Jesper Hougaard, who collected GBP 144 218 for his first placing.

GBP 2 500 buy-in H.O.R.S.E., won by Sherkhan Farnood for GBP 76 999.

GBP 5 000 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha, where the victor was Theo Jorgensen who’s winning check was GBP 218 626.

source:online-casinos.com

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News | No Comments » October 5th, 2008

The “big names” that sat down at the final table of the World Series of Poker Europe’s Main Event when play began on Thursday in London were Daniel Negreanu and John Juanda.

The “big story,” however, was Ivan Demidov, who carved out a piece of poker history for himself by becoming the first player to make the final table at the Main Event of both the World Series of Poker and the World Series of Poker Europe.

But the 27-year-old Russian pro fell short in his bid of trying to win both events. That’s because after a grueling 22-hour final table, veteran John Juanda was the last man standing and was crowned the WSOPE Main Event champ.

Juanda, who was the chip leader coming into the final table when it started play on Thursday afternoon, is the first American player to win a WSOPE event after taking out Stanislav Alekhin following a seven-hour heads-up match.

Demidov ended up finishing in third place, but will now head to Las Vegas in five weeks with a ton of momentum as the WSOP returns from its 117-day hiatus to crown the 2008 champion.

At 23 years old, Alekhin was the youngest player at the final table, which was a good omen for him heading into Thursday since Annette Obrestad was the youngest player at last year’s inaugural WSOPE Main Event final table and she went on to win. The appearance of both Alekhin and Demidov marked the first time in WSOP history that two Russian players made the same final table.

The casual fan knows all about Negreanu and Juanda. Heading into this event, the two veterans had seven WSOP bracelets between them. But Juanda, who last won a bracelet in 2003, has now caught “Kid Poker” by winning his fourth bracelet while adding to his more than $7 million in career lifetime earnings.

Negreanu, meanwhile, is one of the most recognizable stars in the game today. With four bracelets – including one that he won this past summer in a $2,000 Limit Hold’em event – he had more than any other final tableist in London, but his quest for No. 5 fell short early Friday morning in London when he finished fifth.

Sonnert, who finished fourth, is a 27-year-old professional from Sweden who was making his first appearance at a WSOP final table. He came into the day as the short stack but played well enough to make it to the late-evening, early-morning portion of the event.

The four other players eliminated from the final table Thursday night included Robin Keston, Chris Elliot, Toni Hiltunen and Scott Fischman.

Keston cashed in at a WSOP event for the ninth time in his career while Elliot, who was in 176th place when there were 179 players remaining in the tournament, is an online player who was making his first appearance in a live tournament.

Hiltunen is a 31-year-old poker pro from Finland who fell short in trying to become the first Finnish WSOP gold bracelet winner in history. Fischman is a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner from Las Vegas. He won both of his bracelets at the 2004 WSOP and is the author of the poker book, “Online Ace: A World Series of Poker Champion’s Guide to Mastering Internet Poker.”

source:online.casinocity.com

Posted by Diana Sterling in Poker News | No Comments » October 4th, 2008