It is not too early to get excited for next year's World Series of Poker, and you can plan on the exact dates the festivities will begin. The dates for the 39th annual WSOP have been released by the company that runs the world's longest running poker tournament series, Harrah's Entertainment. Things will be getting under way a day earlier than this year, May 30.
The tourneys will run through July 17, 2008, giving more than a month for WSOP gold hunters to find what they are looking for. As for the last few years, the WSOP will be run out of the Harrah's owned Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and the WSOP Commissioner is still Jeffrey Pollack.
Pollack is still hammering out the scheduling details, but one juicy tidbit was released along with the dates - the poker room will be open as of May 26th in order to allow early registration. The goal here is to alleviate the agonizingly long lines that were a big problem in this year's WSOP.
The WSOP Poker Room's early opening is the first in what many hope will be a number of changes to the way the series is run. Some of the targets Pollack has hinted at previously include opening more space up, so as to relieve the need for the poorly air conditioned "Poker Pavilion" that housed a good amount of players this year
The latest World Series of Poker Circuit has ended, and the main event was won by someone who is no stranger to WSOP glory, Allen Cunningham. Down by four to one in chips on Thursday at Caesars Cunningham overcame the deficit to beat Ben Fineman for the win and nearly half a million dollars. In third place was Kelly Samson, followed by Moto Mobuchi, Justin Bonomo, Blair Hinkle, Thomas Hover, Ralph Perry, and Doug Lee. Cunningham adds a championship ring to go along with his slew of WSOP bracelets, and also has his entry into the 2008 WSOP main event paid for.
The rumors were out that the World Series of Poker this year won’t end till November, and the confirmation given by WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack on May 1st settles the matter. In an attempt to make the final table of the WSOP more dramatic, the organizers have decided to delay the game until November 9 and 10. While the main event will get started in July, the game will pause once the final nine players are determined. The reason behind the delay is TV ratings - this way ESPN will be able to produce and run all their episodes for the WSOP in order, and then run the Final Table live
The Latin American Poker Tour recently concluded their first ever event and the winner was Julien Nuijten, a young poker player from Holland. Nuitjen has a thing or two in common with some other big time poker pros: he is also a pro at another game played with cards called "Magic: the Gathering". Magic: the Gathering is a fantasy card game that involves spells and mythical creatures, where players construct decks from a huge library and try to outplay and outwit their opponents, skills Nuitjen used to win $223,000. David Williams also came from the rank of pro Magic: the Gathering players
