The WSOPE will once again take place at the Majestic and Gray d’Albion in sunny Cannes with more than 40 additional tournaments and side events set to take place, including cash games and high roller events.
Last year Cannes became the center of the poker world for two weeks as Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Tristan Wade and Elio Fox posted notable victories.
This year – for the first time ever – there will be a €50,000 Re-Entry High Roller tournament. Although it's a non-bracelet event, it will likely offer a multi-million dollar first-place prize.
The WSOPE €50k high roller will take place on Oct. 2 and run for three days.
Malaysian businessmen Richard Yong and Paul Phua have already verbally committed to playing the tournament. Both played the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop at the WSOP this summer.
Here’s a closer look at the upcoming official gold-bracelet events in this year’s WSOPE:
Event 1 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max
Starts: Sept. 21, 2012
Buy-in: €2700
Last year: Swiss player Guillaume Humbert outlasted a field of 360 players to take down a first place prize of $288k but most of the talk surrounded Phil Hellmuth.
The Poker Brat, who was in the midst of a POY battle with Ben Lamb, finished seventh, just missing out on the final table.
Anton Wigg, David Benyamine and Freddy Deeb also made deep runs in the tournament.
Event 2 No-Limit Hold’em
Starts: Sept. 22, 2012
Buy-in: €1100
Last year: The €1,100 buy-in event took advantage of the increased space in Cannes last year and became the biggest tournament in WSOPE history.
A total of 771 players combined to create a massive $988,752 prize pool.
Welsh poker-stud Roberto Romanello made the final table but it was Aussie Andrew Hinrichsen who took the tournament down for $197,748. Not a bad return on a €1,100 investment. It is the lowest buy-in bracelet event of the WSOPE.
Hinrichsen was just the sixth Australian to win a WSOP bracelet.
Erik Cajelais, Dan Kelly, Toby Lewis and Nicolas Chouity also made the money in last year's tournament.
Event 3 Pot-Limit Omaha
Starts: Sept. 24, 2012
Buy-in: €5300
Last year: One of the best tournaments in last year’s WSOPE as far as star power goes.
Steve Billirakis, the youngest player to ever win a WSOP event in the U.S., won his second gold bracelet by outlasting all 180 entrants.
Billirakis edged Italian pro Michele Di Lauro heads-up to take down the $318k first-place prize.
The final table also included pros Michele Di Lauro, Ramzi Jelassi and Sam Trickett.
David Benyamine and Jason Mercier were among the pros who cashed.
Event 4 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout
Starts: Sept. 25, 2012
Buy-in: €3250
Last year: Popular poker pro Tristan Wade finally took down his first WSOP bracelet by beating 258 players in this event last year.
The final table also included James Dempsey, Emil Patel, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Richard Toth and Max Silver. Silver went on to final table the Main Event of the WSOPE as well.
A long-time grinder, Wade was thrilled to finally win his first WSOP bracelet. He earned $243,191 for his efforts in the contest.
Event 5 No-Limit Hold’em Split
Starts: Sept. 26, 2012
Buy-in: €10450
Last year: Perhaps the most intriguing event held last year as it was the first time the split format had ever been utilized at the WSOP.
Day 1 was nine-handed, Day 2 switched to six-handed and from Day 3 on it was heads-up.
Jason Mercier, Erik Seidel and Matt Waxman were among the players who cashed but it was none other than poker superstar Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi who took down the grand prize of $448,861.
Mizrachi beat Shawn Buchanan heads-up to claim his second WSOP bracelet. A total of 125 players entered the tournament.
Event 6 Pot-limit Omaha 6-Max
Starts: Sept. 27, 2012
Buy-in: €1650
Last year: Europeans love Pot-Limit Omaha and the 6-Max PLO event proved to be one of the most popular events in last year’s WSOPE.
Roberto Romanello, Ludovic Lacay, Matt Stout and Antony Lellouche were among the notables who cashed in the tournament.
Canadian Phillipe Boucher outlasted the entire 339-player field to take down the first-place prize of $166,427.
Event 7 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event
Starts: Sept. 30, 2012
Buy-in: €10450
Last year: The showcase event of the 2011 WSOPE saw 593 players combine to create a massive $7.6 million prize pool.
The tournament offered several interesting storylines with both Patrik Antonius and Arnaud Mattern bubbling the final table.
The final table was compelling in its own right with pros Brian Roberts, Chris Moorman, Jake Cody, Max Silver and Moritz Kranich looking for European World Champion status.
Instead it was lesser-known New Yorker Elio Fox who slipped out the door with the $1.8 million first-place prize.
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