The 40th edition of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas at the Rio will begin play May 27 and include a one-time commemorative $40,000 buy-in no-limit hold ’em tournament to mark the tournament’s 40th anniversary.
The $10,000 buy-in World Championship No-Limit Hold’em Main Event will begin play on July 3 and reach its final table of nine players on July 15. Then the players will wait four months before returning to the Rio on November 7 through 10 to play for the championship that will be televised on ESPN on a same-day taped delay.
Officials from Harrah’s Entertainment, which has owned and operated the World Series of Poker since 2004, hope the 2009 tournament will exceed the record-breaking revenue of the 2008 event, which had 58,720 players from 124 countries participating and awarded a prize pool of more than $180.7 million and awarded 55 gold bracelets for individual championships.
Vegas Backstage Access (VBA) 