Yorky Pud

The 2011 World Series of Poker does not even start for another couple of weeks but already Harrah's Entertainment, the owners of the WSOP brand, have started their marketing campaign for the fifth annual World Series of Poker Europe.

You may recall that earlier in the year we brought you the news that the 2011 edition of the WSOPE was leaving London for the first time in its brief history to its new home in Cannes, France. One of the reasons Harrah's chose Cannes as the WSOPE's new location was the fact the Hôtel Majestic Barrière / Le Croisette Casino Barrière is much larger than The Casino at the Empire and can therefore accommodate more players and more tournaments.

And they have certainly been true to that latter part as this year's WSOPE is going to see a total of eight tournaments played, with seven of them awarding bracelets to the eventual winners. Kicking off proceedings on Friday 7 October is the €2,680 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event with the €1,090 No Limit Hold'em, a five-day event, starting the very next day. Monday 10 October sees the €5,300 Pot Limit Omaha Event begin, then on Tuesday 11 October is the starting day for the €3,200 No Limit Hold'em Shootout.

A brand new event, the €10,400 No Limit Hold'em Split format starts on Wednesday 12 October and the organisers say this tournament will prove who is the best No Limit Hold'em player in the world. Day 1 will see players at nine-handed tables, Day 2 changes to six-handed then any subsequent days will be played heads-up. Personally I am not too sure what this event is trying to achieve but it could make interesting television.

Another new event starts on Thursday 13 October and should be an extremely well attended tournament. The €1,620 six-handed Pot Limit Omaha event could see records broken for PLO tournaments because the relatively low entry fee coupled with the fact that the majority of PLO online is played short-handed should make it very appealing indeed.

The crowning jewel of the series, the €10,400 No Limit Hold'em Main Event Championship is the tournament everyone is looking forward to. The four years it was played in London saw an average of 351 players take part but Harrah's believe they can accommodate and attract 700 players to this years. Whilst this may seem slightly optimistic, the €10,000 EPT Grand Final attracted 686 players so it is within the realms of possibility for sure.

The closing event is a €550 Ladies Event that will not award a bracelet to the winner.