Poker news

Harrah's has announced the official schedule for the 2009 World Series of Poker, the 40th annual gathering for the world's largest poker extravaganza.

The 2009 WSOP will again be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, running May 26 – July 15, 2009. Contrary to rumors of a possible trimming of the series, the WSOP will instead offer its largest-ever schedule of events. 57 different bracelet tournaments (two more than in 2008), will make up the bulk of the schedule, to be joined by a handful of special events and a continuous menu of satellite tourneys and cash games.

The complete 2009 schedule as announced will again include the much-discussed delay for the Main Event final table, with 2009's eventual "November Nine" slated to return to the Rio on November 7th for the prestigious title. Denmark's Peter Eastgate survived the 117-day delay in 2008 to win the WSOP's top honor, the first time that such a pause had been introduced. ESPN will return to provide special prime-time coverage of the final table.

This year's WSOP schedule introduces a handful of new ideas, along with the return of many of the most popular events and traditional World Series of Poker offerings. Among the new wrinkles is a $1,000 no-limit hold'em "Stimulus Special" to be held on the WSOP's opening weekend, May 30-31. WSOP officials project this tourney to be the largest-ever event outside the Main Event itself, shattering the mark established in 2008. The event's prize purse is expected to approach $5 million.

The stimulus special will be joined by a second distinctive offering later in the series, a $40,000 buy-in NLHE event designed to commemorate the WSOP's 40th edition. That event begins on May 28th, assuring that the WSOP jumps from the starting blocks in the last days of May.

The 2009 Main Event runs July 3-15, 2009 and will again feature four Day 1's, two Day 2's, and an off day in the middle of its two-week run.

See the complete 2009 WSOP schedule here.