WSOP Expands to Africa
World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the United States is legendary. It is almost synonymous with the history of modern poker. Online poker has made poker a global phenomenon and WSOP first went overseas in 2008 with WSOP Europe in London. Now Harrah’s, the owners of the WSOP brand, have announced the WSOP Africa tournament to take place at their own Emerald Resort and Casino in Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. Both the WSOP overseas tournaments will take place between the Vegas WSOP and the November Nine final table. WSOP Europe will take place in September and WSOP Africa will take place in October. WSOP Africa will begin with two events. The first is a three-day, $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha event and the second is a four-day, $5,000 Main Event. The field will be limited to 500 players in the Main Event.
The introduction of WSOP Africa is hardly surprising. South Africa has been one of the fastest growing poker regions of recent times. Emerald Resort and Casino CEO Martin Rice reacted positively to this announcement. He said, “This is the biggest news in poker. Poker has, over the past half-decade, accelerated in popularity. Our Emerald Poker Series, and its growing fields, is testament to the unlimited success of the sport. It was only natural to follow-on its popularity with the greatest tournament on the planet.” Poker in South Africa got a fillip when Raymond Rahme finished third in the 2007 WSOP Main Event. Having won more than $3 million on that occasion Rahme is the leading South African player in the country’s all time tournament earnings. He is far ahead of the next two in the list, Ryan Dreyer and Darren Kramer, who are well below the million dollar mark.
In a similar news item the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced that it will be holding it first event in London. The WPT London Poker Classic has been scheduled from August 30 to September 5 at the Palm Beach Casino in the May Fair Hotel. The European Poker Tour (EPT) was the first to enter London in 2004, followed by WSOP in 2007.
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