Vegas poker events planned

Thursday, July 14, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

Big-time poker is on its way to a few more Las Vegas casinos, including Caesars Palace and Paris Las Vegas, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. announced Thursday.

Starting next month, Harrah's will begin hosting the second season of its World Series of Poker Circuit.

Harrah's inaugurated the circuit in January as a way to build interest and extend its brand in the months leading up to its signature event, the World Series of Poker. That event is slated to end Friday at Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.

The first circuit consisted of five poker tournaments, while the second season will feature 12 different events hosted by various Harrah's casinos nationwide, including three casinos recently acquired in the buyout of Caesars Entertainment Inc.

Each circuit stop will feature several tournaments with buy-ins ranging from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 for the no-limit hold 'em circuit championchip. The winner of each final circuit event will qualify for the Tournament of Champions, a finale held June 28-29 at the Rio prior to the start of the World Series of Poker. The TOC first prize will be $1 million.

The first tournament event will be held Aug. 11-25 at the Grand Casino Tunica. The second will be held Sept. 6-16 at Harrah's Las Vegas, which was not on last year's circuit and has not had a significant poker tournament in years.

The fifth event will be held Nov. 9-22 at Paris Las Vegas and Bally's Las Vegas and the other Las Vegas event, the 10th on the circuit, will be held April 3-14 at Caesars Palace.

Caesars Palace has not yet opened its new poker room, which would be the property's first in several years.

The final event will be held June 6-16 at Harrah's Lake Tahoe.