WSOP no longer gone till November; EPT Deauville day 1a in the books

wsopCaesars have decided to drop the November Nine from the World Series of Poker (WSOP). World poker’s largest event has announced the dates for its latest sojourn to the desert and there’s no sign of the final nine waiting four months for their moment in the sun. It ends the WSOP’s four-year connection with the 11th month of the year and comes down to the advancements in live streaming rendering a delay useless. The news was confirmed by a tweet from @WSOP, stating: “A few hints on the WSOP schedule coming tomorrow…you won’t find the November Nine returning.”

The dates were posted to TwoPlusTwo by awesometown with event #1, Casino Employees NLHE, getting underway on Sunday, May 27. The NLHE Main Event starts on Saturday July 7 and runs for nine days. It will then resume in October, likely from 28-30.

European Poker Tour’s (EPT) stop in Deauville got underway yesterday as 350 players descended on the town’s aptly named Casino Deauville. As is par for the course most of those taking part on day 1a were purely bothered about qualifying. This would give them the extra day to do whatever it is you do with a free day in Deauville – boating on the marina we’d assume. Among those falling on day 1a was former WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. The lead was grabbed by Estonian Kristijonas Andrulis on 162,600 chips. He is 400 ahead of second placed Philippe Ma and there’s no guarantee either of them will be top of the pile after day 1b later today.