World championship of poker begins Saturday at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino

LAS VEGAS -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- The 43rd running of poker’s ultimate championship returns to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino this Saturday, with thousands of players expected to enter the $10,000 buy-in event in hopes of claiming poker’s ultimate prize.

Officially, Event #61, the last and final event of the 43rd Annual World Series of Poker, has three starting flights: Saturday, July 7, Sunday, July 8 and Monday, July 9, all beginning at 12 noon, with playing running until 12:45 a.m. nightly.

The prize pool is expected to be more than $60 million, with the winner walking away with a prize near $9 million.

The WSOP is the gaming industry’s premier event, each year drawing tens of thousands of poker enthusiasts from around the globe to Las Vegas to compete for millions in prize money and the game’s most coveted trophy – a World Series of Poker Champion’s Bracelet. Amateurs, poker pros, celebrities and poker enthusiasts from more than 85 different countries are expected to take to the felt. Last year, 6,865 players participated, and the winner, Germany’s Pius Heinz, collected $8.7 million.