The opening weekend (June 4-5), features a $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament, which in the past has drawn more than 6,000 entrants.  The event includes two starting flights – one each on Saturday and Sunday at 12 noon.  Day 2 for all surviving players will be Monday, June 6.

Throughout June the weekends will remain focused on the “weekend warriors” with affordable buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournaments for WSOP gold bracelets at $1,500 on Saturdays and $1,000 on Sundays.  July 2 and 3 will feature our only other multi-day start $1,000 tournament and we will conclude with one last No Limit Hold’em extravaganza on Tuesday, July 5 at 12 noon.

The 42^nd annual WSOP will conclude with the grandest spectacle in all of gaming – the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship (aka “The Main Event”), which begins play Thursday, July 7 and will reach its final table (nine players) on Tuesday, July 19, at which time play will be halted.

The WSOP Main Event will feature four starting flights -- one each day at 12 noon on July 7, July 8, July 9 and July 10.  The only way to guarantee your starting day is to pre-register for the event prior to the WSOP commencing.

The famed tournament’s culmination will be held with the play of the “November Nine®” from November 5-7, before a live audience with special primetime coverage from ESPN on Tuesday, November 8, 2011.

"Something for everyone is the best way to describe the 2011 World Series of Poker schedule,” said WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, who will oversee the event for the sixth consecutive year.  "It’s staggering to think that last year alone the WSOP hosted nine of the 17 largest tournaments in poker history.  We had 44 events produce more than a $1 million prize pool, so we can’t wait to get at it again and offer players at all levels the best poker action on the planet."

The entire convention center of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino once again will be exclusively dedicated to the 2011 World Series of Poker, with tournament tables in the 58,000 square foot Pavilion and the 38,000 square-foot Amazon Room.  The final number of tables in play is subject to regulatory approval, given just prior to the tournament commencing, but is expected to be similar to the 370 which were utilized in 2010.

Player comfort is also being addressed by new rules regulating the duration of daily play.  Excluding the Main Event, gold bracelet tournaments will begin at 12 noon and 5 PM Pacific Time each day, with a maximum of 10-one hour levels being played for the noon starts; the 5 PM events will be comprised of a maximum of eight one-hour levels on Day 1.   Day 1 play is expected to conclude at 12:45 AM for noon starts and 2:00 AM for the 5 PM starts.  For those advancing past the first day, re-starts for noon bracelet events will be at 2:30 PM, and 5 PM tournaments will restart at 3 PM, with a maximum of 10 levels being played each day until a champion is crowned.  The Main Event features two-hour levels, with play beginning at 12 noon each day.

Registration for all bracelet events will remain open through four levels of play – or until all available seats have been sold.   This is twice as long as previous years.  The only exception to this is the Main Event, which will remain open for it’s customary two levels (or four hours of play).

Pre-registration for the 2011 WSOP will be available on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio in Las Vegas and online through www.WSOP.com beginning February 7, 2011.

All Caesars Entertainment properties in Las Vegas offer special reduced hotel room rates for entrants of WSOP bracelet events.  Rates start as low as $69 for players staying at the host property, the Rio.  Imperial Palace offers rates as low as $35, and Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Paris and Caesars Palace provide WSOP player rates as low as $45-$110 a night.  Click here for the special WSOP player hotel rates.

The 2011 WSOP marks the 42^nd running of the game’s most prestigious annual tournament.   In 2010, the WSOP generated the most entries ever (72,966) from 117 different countries.  Players competed for more than $187 million as a total of 57 championship gold bracelets, globally recognized as the game’s top prize, were awarded.  Attendance in 2010 was up 20 percent year-over-year.

WSOP Schedule of Events.