No Rest After the World Series of Poker

Well, if you didn't get a chance to make a name for yourself at the World Series of Poker this year, don't worry. There are tons of big events on the horizon.



In fact, the WSOP main event wasn't even finished when the next big $10,000 championship event got under way at the Bellagio Cup II. Up-and-comer Shannon Shorr took home first place and the $960,000, and moved into fourth place in Card Player's Player of the Year (POY) standings. Shannon, who just recently turned 21 and is playing great poker, says he is going on the road to take home the POY title.



The World Poker Tour kicked off its fifth season at The Bicycle Casino's Legends of Poker recently, and following that, the WPT has an extremely busy schedule, with seven events taking place over the next four months. For you road warriors, here is the schedule: Borgata Poker Open, Sept. 15-19; Festa al Lago at Bellagio, Oct. 15-19; the Canadian Poker Open, Niagara Fallsview Casino, Oct. 22-24; North American Poker Championships, Niagara Fallsview Casino, Oct. 25-29; the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, Nov. 12-16; and the Bellagio Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, Dec. 14-19.



In addition, the WSOP Tournament Circuit events start back up with the tournament at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Sept. 7, one of five Circuit events still scheduled for 2006. The rest are: Grand Casino, Tunica, Sept. 25; Caesars, Indiana, Oct. 19; and Harrah's, Atlantic City, Dec. 9.



Finally, hats off to ESPN for turning around the WSOP main-event television coverage so quickly. Its pay-per-view broadcast was excellent, and left us all guessing what cards the final-table players were playing. And now, thanks to an aggressive production schedule that was able to bring main-event footage to TV less than a month after the event concluded, we all can kick back and watch the event unfold while it is still fresh in our minds.



The WSOP is, of course, still fresh in our minds, and we have sifted through all of the highlights to present the top five moments of this year's event. Enjoy.