Major Events Starting 2008 Off With a Bang

With 2007 in the dust, 2008 is kicking off with four major events right off the bat. This week, preliminary events for the World Poker Tour World Poker Open, World Series of Poker Circuit event in Tunica, and the Aussie Millions Poker Championship begin, as well as the European Poker Tour PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure main event.

Players can get their first chance at Player of the Year points for 2008 at the WSOP Circuit event taking place at the Grand Casino Tunica. Today, the first of 18 preliminary events starts, and it is a $300 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. The series ends with a $7,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship on Jan. 19.

The World Poker Open begins at the Gold Strike Hotel Casino in Mississippi tomorrow, also with a $300 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. Last year, the preliminary events attracted more than 5,600 entrants, which created more than $4.55 million in prize-pool money. The $10,000 buy-in WPT main event is scheduled for Jan. 20-23. In 2007, 294 entrants created a more than $2.8 million prize pool for the championship. Bryan Sumner defeated Daniel Negreanu heads up for the title and the almost $914,000 first-place prize.

To view a video interview with both Negreanu and Sumner just after the event, click here.

The Aussie Millions kicks off on Jan. 5 with a $910 buy-in no-limit hold’em event. This tournament series is unique because along with a $9,100 buy-in main event taking place on Jan. 14, there is also going to be a AUD $100,000 buy-in tournament on Jan. 12. This event waswon by Erick Lindgren last year which earned him $800,000

The first Aussie Millions in 2006 attracted a number of players across the ocean to the Crown Casino in Australia. Lee Nelson outlasted a field of 418 entrants to win the first-place prize of almost $973,000. The growth and popularity of the event was proven the next year as the number of entrants for the main event grew to 747, creating a prize pool of more than $5.9 million. Gus Hansen beat the barely legal Jimmy Fricke heads up to take home $1.2 million.

For those who would rather not play preliminary events and would prefer to dive straight into main-event action, the $10,764 buy-in PokerStars.com Caribbean Adventure tournament begins Jan. 5 at the Atlantis Resort and Casino. The exotic location and WPT title lured a staggering 937 players to the main event last year. Ryan Daut snagged more than $1.5 million of the $7 million prize pool for snagging in the No. 1 spot.

Click here to view an interview with Daut after his win.

For complete schedules on these events as well as all other upcoming events, check the tournament tracker on CardPlayer.com by clicking here.

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