WSOP CIRCUIT TOUR ANNOUNCES TWO ADDITIONAL STOPS

LAS VEGAS – November 23, 2010 – The World Series of Poker Circuit Tour has added its final two stops to the 2010-11 schedule – Palm Beach, Florida and Chester, Pennsylvania.

Both stops will occur in the 2011 calendar year, with the Palm Beach stop running from February 17 to March 1, while Chester is slated for April 28 to May 9.

With a third of this year’s November Nine hailing from the great state of Florida, it is clear poker is a popular game in the southern state.  So, the WSOP Circuit will stop at Florida’s largest and highest grossing poker room, the 60-table Palm Beach Kennel Club, which is adjacent to the Palm Beach Airport, in the beautiful beachside locale north of Miami.

The Poker Room at the Palm Beach Kennel Club (PBKC) becomes just the third non-Caesars property to be awarded a WSOP Circuit event (joining IP Biloxi and Choctaw Durant).  Always looking for the biggest and best place to hold poker tournaments, the WSOP chose PBKC after visiting several Florida poker destinations, when laws in Florida changed to add high-stakes poker action. 

“I visited the Palm Beach Kennel Club last summer and had a wonderful time,” said 2007 WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang.  “The staff, the accommodations and the poker players were all top notch.”

The tournament dates, February 17 to March 1 come at a great time for poker players looking to escape the winter weather.  The schedule for the 13-day series of tournaments in February is being finalized, but one can expect a similar event schedule to other WSOP stops, with ten official ring events offering points good towards the WSOP Circuit National Championship in Las Vegas, as well as two automatic qualifiers for the Main Event winner and the Casino Champion.

“Florida was definitely a market we wanted to serve, as the residents of the sunshine state have been loyal participants at the WSOP in Las Vegas,” said WSOP Vice President Ty Stewart.  “After careful consideration of our options, it was clear that the Palm Beach Kennel Club could accommodate the kind of numbers we expect for a Circuit Event in this market.  Players who have visited there rave about the staff and the unique dynamic of playing poker overlooking the live action on the track.”

The second and final addition to the WSOP Circuit Tour schedule in 2010-11 is Caesars Entertainment’s own property in Chester, Pennsylvania, the highest-grossing poker room in Pennsylvania.  The property is just south of the Philadelphia airport on the Delaware River waterfront.

The addition of Chester coincides with the recent change in the law in Pennsylvania to allow table games.  The 25-table WSOP-branded Poker Room is new and ready to host its first WSOP Circuit event, which is sure to become a regular stop on the tour.

The property’s convention space will be turned into a tournament facility to offer more than fifty tables for WSOP Circuit action. This Circuit stop will also award points towards the cumulative total, along with two automatic seats into the season-end 100-seat televised tournament for a WSOP gold bracelet.

Chester’s Circuit Event will be unique in that it corresponds with multiple days of live horse racing on-site and the Main Event will be played over the “First Saturday in May” which is the biggest simulcast wagering event of the year.

“This is the ultimate double-up,” commented Stewart. “We’re going to have a lot of fun with the opportunity to combine the thrill of WSOP tournament poker with the pageantry of live horse racing.”

Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack is guaranteeing poker players a $400,000 prize pool for its Main Event, as part of a unique promotion from the Harrah’s Pennsylvania and Atlantic City properties.

Players participating in Harrah’s Atlantic City WSOP Circuit (December 4-22); Caesars Atlantic City (March 2-13, 2011); or Harrah’s Chester (April 28-May 9), will each be playing in a guaranteed Main Event, with the three properties combining for a “$1 Million Tri-State Swing” to encourage the region to participate and garner points or an automatic seat in the WSOP Circuit National Championship taking place May 27-29, 2011 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The seventh season of the WSOP Circuit tour has been a smashing success thus far, with the four properties hosting WSOP Circuit events thus far each setting records for Main Event participation.

ABOUT THE WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world awarding millions of dollars in prize money and the prestigious gold bracelet, globally recognized as the sport's top prize. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker's longest running tournament in the world, dating back to 1970.  In 2010, the event attracted 72,966 entrants from 117 different countries to the Rio in Las Vegas and awarded over $187 million in prize money.  In addition, the WSOP has formed groundbreaking alliances in broadcasting, digital media and corporate sponsorships, while successfully expanding the brand internationally with the advent in 2007 of the World Series of Poker Europe.  The WSOP Circuit Tour is in its seventh season in 2010-11, and features 15 stops throughout the U.S.. For more information on the World Series of Poker, please visit www.WSOP.com.