Changes in WSOP Schedule - WSOPE Returns in 2015

Caesars Entertainment has announced that the WSOP Europe and WSOP APAC festivals will rotate on an annual basis, which means the World Series comes to Europe next time as late as 2015.

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With several additional festivals next to the WSOP, EPT and WPT stops, this year’s poker schedule has grown overly crowded, at the peak of a tendency apparent in past years. Meanwhile, the number of participants has stagnated at best, more often than not falling under previous years’ numbers. As a result, WSOP has decided to change the schedule of its non-US festivals.

The first ever WSOP APAC was held this year and, while the tournaments and organisation turned out to be of high quality, player fields and media coverage fell short of the expectations of the organisers. Similar was the case with the WSOP Europe festival; even though the European instalment of the World Series was organised each year since 2007, its prestige and importance is still below that of the Las Vegas events. Do you even remember who won this year’s Main Event [4]? Consequently, Caesars Entertainment has decided to rotate the WSOP Europe and WSOP APAC festivals on an annual basis.

“We are excited to return to Melbourne in 2014 for WSOP APAC and the beginning of a new era for our international championships. The WSOP standard is bigger, better and different. Moving to a rotational approach, with one international even per year allows for better organization and more marketing in each region. We also want to do right by the players, and provide more value for their travel dollar. There is a glut of poker tournaments around the world, and our vision is to each year put on a single global showcase that can’t be missed,” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said.

The next WSOP APAC takes place in October 2014 and the WSOP Europe returns in 2015 only.