2015 WSOP Europe To Be Held In Germany

On Tuesday night, while 1.15 million viewers were watching the final three WSOP Main Event competitors play down to an ultimate champion, the World Series of Poker decided to use the opportunity to announce who would be the host of next year’s WSOP Europe. As the WSOP Twitter account message read:
“Seems like a good time to tell you: 2015 WSOP Europe will be in Berlin, Germany!”
The World Series of Poker brand was first expanded outside the United States in 2007, when London’s Casino at the Empire played host to the tournament series for four years. Next, the WSOP Europe was moved to Cannes in France for a further four-year stint (2010-2013) , and now Germany’s capital city, Berlin, is to become the third country to host the festival. In case you’re wondering what happened to WSOP Europe 2014, there wasn’t one as in 2014 the WSOP Europe and WSOP Asia-Pacific began rotating annually, with WSOP APAC taking place in even-numbered years and WSOPE in odd-numbered years. As WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart explained at the time:
“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 by the players, and provide more value for their 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.”
Suffice to say, over the past few years the WSOPE and WSOP APAC has suffered from lackluster attendances, with the Main Events fielding an average of less than 400 players. The new WSOP Europe in Berlin, however, is expected to be one of the largest yet seen in WSOPE history. After all, Germany is a major economic and political power located at the center of Europe, and is also the most populous member state of the EU with 80 million people. In addition, Berlin has hosted numerous major poker tournaments in the past, including the European Poker Tour Berlin which was successfully held at the Grand Hyatt Berlin, and in 2013 attracted a total of 912 players to its €5,300 Main Event.
Further details of Ty Stewart discussing the 2015 WSOPE with PokerNews’ Sarah Grant can be found here.