WSOP Releases 2008 Tournament Dates:

The World Series of Poker is back and warming itself up for another exciting poker championship. The dates have been released, and with exclusive special events also revealed, this is a must see for all WSOP hopefuls.

Harra's Entertainment, inc. has announced the dates of their 39th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), to be presented by Milwaukee's Best Light at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Next year's championship will take place between May 30th and July 17th, and although the exact event schedule has not yet been announced to the public, this timeline will allow interested players and the general poker community to plan a program accordingly.

The WSOP commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack, explained that "the team is still hard at work on the schedule of events for next year, but we've received so many requests for the dates that we decided to announce them now." Similarly, Geno Iafrate, vice president and assistant general manager of the Rio, elucidated that "this 'soft opening' will give players a chance to register early and avoid the lines we had last year during opening weekend – our busiest time." Iafrate let slip that the doors to the Amazon Room (in which many previous WSOP tournaments have been held) will be opened four days early for a couple of exclusive events that will precede the regular WSOP schedule.

In addition, the WSOP Circuit schedule, which began only last month at the Grand Casino in tunica, will be holding several $5,000 buy-in no Limit Texas Holdem events at each location, through which winning players will be awarded seats to the 2008 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. So for all WSOP hopefuls, here are the remaining stops on the Circuit tournament:

Caesars Indiana - Oct. 17-Nov. 2, 2007
Harvey's Tahoe - Nov. 3-13, 2007
Harrah's New Orleans - Nov. 26-Dec. 5, 2007
Harrah's Atlantic City - Dec. 8-18, 2007
Grand Casino Tunica - Jan. 3-22, 2008
Harrah's Rincon San Diego - Jan. 27-Feb. 7, 2008
Horseshoe Council Bluffs - Feb. 18-27, 2008
Caesars Atlantic City - Mar. 5-15, 2008
Caesars Indiana - Apr. 2-16, 2008
Caesars Palace Las Vegas - Aril 20-May 1, 2008
Harrah's New Orleans - May 9-21, 2008

The exact event schedule will be posted on the WSOP official website shortly.