European World Series of Poker

Harrah's Entertainment announced Monday it was bringing the World
Series of Poker to Europe, launching an inaugural 10-day, three-event
tournament in September at the company's recently acquired London Clubs
International casinos.

The competition will take place following the 38th World Series of
Poker, which is scheduled for June and July at Rio. The European tournament
will include its own version of the world championship main event.

"This is not a substitute for the World Series of Poker and it's an
expansion on a global footprint in order to breathe continued life into
the brand," World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said.
"This new tournament has been designed with European players in mind, but
registrants from every country are welcome. It will have a style and a
flair that is all its own."

In December, Harrah's completed a $570 million purchase of London
Clubs, which operates seven casinos in the United Kingdom and has four
others under development. Pollack said he had always intended to expand the
World Series of Poker internationally and the London Clubs deal speeded
up the process.

World Series of Poker Europe is scheduled Sept. 6-16 at three of London
Clubs' British casinos: Fifty, Leicester Square and the Sportsman. The
championship event, a no-limit Texas hold'em game with a buy-in of
approximately $19,600 dollars, will start Sept. 10 and last six days at the
Leicester Square casino. The buy-in is almost double the $10,000 buy-in
in the traditional world championship event.

This could be a very interesting MTT with a lot of pros sitting at the same tables. Would make for very good TV. I hope it is picked up by a network.

Good stuff...will be some great poker going on with 2X the buyin.

Hopefully fewer players and better quality.

I agree, most likely, this will allow pros to not be overwhelmed by the amatuer players, and there will probably be a network that picks up these tourneys. I'm guessing ESPN has rights on the World Series events, and they'll probably show these events.

That should be fun too watch. I too, hope that somebody picks it up and televises it here. It's an opportunity that someone's going to capitilize on I would think.