WSOP bracelet champs lines up for inaugural European poker extravaganza

Pre-registration for the World Series of Poker Europe presented by Betfair.com has been open for only two weeks and already some of the biggest names in poker have paid the GBP10 000 entry fee to the main event, a company spokesman announced this week.

Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Roland de Wolfe, John Juanda, Allen Cunningham, Todd Brunson, Eli Elezra, Howard Lederer, Humberto Brenes and Jennifer Harman are prominent in a long list of poker's elite who have already secured their seats.

"There are over 60 WSOP bracelets between the pre-registrants so far," said World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

"The inaugural World Series Europe will have a world-class field."

Phil Hellmuth recently won his record breaking eleventh WSOP bracelet. In a statement to the press he said: "I'm going to London to make history again by winning the first WSOP bracelet ever awarded outside of Las Vegas."

Betfair has set aside 125 seats for online qualifiers. "We want to have a strong presence on the ground at this event," said Head of Poker Ben Fried. "It's a fantastic opportunity for our players to compete against some of the greatest in the world."

Former [2006] WSOP main event winner Jamie Gold has also announced plans to play in the WSOP Europe, which debuts in London September 6-16, 2007. The first World Series event to be held outside North America, it will be hosted at three casinos operated by London Clubs International - Fifty, in St James; The Casino at the Empire, in Leicester Square, and The Sportsman, at Marble Arch.