WSOPE And WSOP APAC To Now Run In Alternate Years

At the beginning of this week, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) announced that its Asia-Pacific Series and its European Series would now take place in alternate years. Consequently, in 2014 the WSOP APAC will be held at the Crown Casino in Australia from October 1st to 17th, while the WSOP Europe will not run again until 2015, with the dates to be decided upon later.
Next year, WSOP Asia-Pacific (APAC) will also double in size to become a ten bracelet event, thus bringing it more in line with WSOP Europe. A major factor behind the dramatic change in strategy is to  allow the WSOP to make the most of its prestigious brand, without seeing its name diluted through numerous lower profile events. In addition, making the series a bi-annually event will allow players a better opportunity to comfortably enter both events, with WSOP Executive Director, Ty Stewart, explaining:
“Moving to a rotational approach, with one international event per year allows for better organization and more marketing in each region. We also want to do right and provide more value for the players’ travel dollar. There is a glut of poker tournaments around the world and our vision is to each year put on a single global showcase that can’t be missed.”
Back in 2007, the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) became the first WSOP-branded poker tournament to take place outside the United States, with the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP APAC) not taking place until April, this year. Since then, the WSOP Europe Main event winners have included such top names as Annette Obrestad (2007), John Juanda (2008), and Phil Hellmuth (2012), while the 2013 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific Main Event winner was none other than poker superstar Daniel Negreanu.
Finally, WSOP APAC will now take place in October, instead of April, in order to separate it from the Crown Melbourne’s other signature series, the Aussie Millions.