Dates are set for 2008 World Series of Poker

Just three months after Jerry Yang was crowned the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, Harrah's announced the 2008 event will be held from May 30 to July 17, 2008 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

"There's just so much interest in the World Series of Poker, and in poker in general, we felt it was necessary to at least announce the dates of the event as soon as possible," said WSOP spokesperson Gary Thompson. "We're still working with the Players Advisory Council on the actual timeline of events, but we've had so many requests for the new dates we wanted to get that information out there as soon as we could."

In addition to publicizing the 2008 tournament dates, Harrah's also announced Monday that players will be allowed to register for the event earlier than usual.

"We'll actually open the WSOP tournament room the week of May 26 for two special events," said Geno Iafrate, vice president and assistant general manager of the Rio. "This 'soft opening' will give players a chance to register early and avoid the lines we had last year during opening weekend – our busiest time."

Thompson said that the two "special events" will be private tournaments hosted by two "well known" organizations that will make formal announcements soon.

"We'll start setting up shop over Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26) and open the floor for cash games and these two private events on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week," Thompson added. "This will allow us to get a head start on things and work out any bugs that might be a problem before the actual World Series begins."