The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.

In 2004, Harrah's Casinos purchased the rights to the WSOP label. Harrah's later purchased London Clubs International (LCI). LCI operates three casinos in the London area: Fifty, Leicester Square, and The Sportsman. After the purchase of these casinos, Harrah's decided to expand its WSOP label into Europe. European casinos typically have a different environment than those in the U.S. Jeffrey Pollack, the WSOP Commissioner, indicated that the WSOPE would have a "style and flair that is both unique and appropriate to the setting. So don't be surprised if we require participants to wear blazers at the tables. If James Bond were hosting a poker tournament it may look like the World Series of Poker Europe."

In marketing the WSOPE, Harrah's Casino did not rely upon the reputation of Harrah's or the WSOP alone. On 5 July 2007, Harrah's announced its alliance with England-based Betfair, one of the largest online gaming companies in the world. The agreement, the largest-ever union of an online and offline gaming company, is intended to build on Betfair's European reputation in advertising the WSOPE. Due to changes in U.S. laws, effective in 2007, the WSOP could no longer accept money from online gambling companies. This prevented the WSOP from acknowledging WSOP qualifiers from online events. The WSOPE is not bound by this limitation. The United Kingdom Gambling Act of 2005 allows for legal regulated online poker sites.World Series of Poker (WSOP) Comes to Europe This Fall 27 February 2007. Pokerpages.com. Accessed 25 July 2007 Furthermore, as the laws that govern the age of gambling differ in England than the U.S., the WSOPE admits younger players. In 2007, one of these younger players, 18-year-old Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad became the youngest player to win a WSOP bracelet event.

The third WSOPE took place between 17 September and 1 October 2009. It consisted of four events held at the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square, London. The first event saw J.P. Kelly emerge as the winner of a less-than-an-hour long heads up battle, overcoming a 3-to-1 chip deficit against Fabien Dunlop and earning his second World Series of Poker bracelet of the year. Kelly won most of his final chip stack in a flush-over-flush situation, leaving Dunlop with only 1% of chips in play. In the second event, Erik Cajelais easily defeated runner-up Mats Gavatin after entering the heads up phase with an almost 6-to-1 chip lead. The third event saw Finnish Full Tilt Poker pro Jani Vilmunen defeat Howard Lederer, the owner of Full Tilt brand, over the course of a 90-minute-long match with nearly even stacks. The Main Event featured a heated battle between Barry Shulman and Daniel Negreanu that lasted over five hours before Shulman eventually eliminated Negreanu by hitting a three-of-a-kind on the river. However, even in second place, Negreanu still topped the All Time Money List, the list of WSOP players ranked by total winnings.

Key *Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame (#/#)This denotes a bracelet winner. The first number is the number of bracelets won in 2009. The second number is the total number of bracelets won. Both numbers represent totals as of that point during the tournament. Place What place each player finished Name The player who made it to the final table Prize (£) The amount of money, in British Pounds (£), awarded for each finish at the event's final table

Results Event 1: £1,000 No Limit Hold'em

4-Day Event: 17 September 2009 to 21 September 2009 Number of buy-ins: 608 Total Prize Pool: £608,000 Number of Payouts: 63 Winning Hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize 1st J.P. Kelly (2/2) £ 2nd Fabien Dunlop £ 3rd Adnan Alshamah £ 4th Richard Allen £ 5th Anthony Roux £ 6th Neil Suarez £ 7th William Martin £ 8th Thor Drexel £ 9th James Tomlin £

Event 2: £2,500 Pot Limit Hold'em/Omaha 3-Day Event: 21 September 2009 to 23 September 2009 Number of buy-ins: 158 Total Prize Pool: £395,000 Number of Payouts: 18 Winning Hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Erik Cajelais (1/1) £ 2nd Mats Gavatin £ 3rd Robin Keston £ 4th Men Nguyen (0/6) £ 5th Richard Gryko £ 6th Chris Bjorin (0/2) £ 7th Hoyt Corkins (0/2) £ 8th Ian Frazer £ 9th Howard Lederer (0/2) £

Event 3: £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 3-Day Event: 23 September 2009 to 25 September 2009 Number of buy-ins: 154 Total Prize Pool: £770,000 Number of Payouts: 18 Winning Hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Jani Vilmunen (1/1) £ 2nd Howard Lederer (0/2) £ 3rd Aarno Kiveliö £ 4th Ross Boatman £ 5th Ville Haavisto £ 6th Daniel Hindin £ 7th Roberto Romanello £ 8th Jeff Kimber £ 9th Robert Williamson III (0/1) £

Event 4: £10,000 No Limit Hold'em

6-Day Event: 26 September 2009 to 1 October 2009 Number of buy-ins: 334 Total Prize Pool: £3,340,000 Number of Payouts: 36 Winning Hand: Reference:

+ Final Table Place Name Prize 1st Barry Shulman (1/2) £ 2nd Daniel Negreanu (0/4) £ 3rd Praz Bansi (0/1) £ 4th Jason Mercier (1/1) £ 5th Markus Ristola £ 6th Chris Björin (0/2) £ 7th Antoine Saout £ 8th Matt Hawrilenko (1/1) £ 9th James Akenhead £

References

External links Tournament results at the World Series of Poker