The first major poker tournament series of 2009 will begin tomorrow at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The WPT Southern Poker Championship will continue until the seventh of January after fifteen poker tournaments have taken place over the two week period.

Players can buy-in for as low as $300 and as high as $10,000, for the televised event. The Main Event will take place on the 14th and continue until the 17th where the winner will take home a $1 million first place prize and a gold and diamond bracelet. The winner will also receive a $25,000 to the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in April.

There will also be a new event taking place at this year’s Southern Poker Championship. A $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Championship will take place as well as a Ladies International Poker Series on January 10th. Also available will be a nightly No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $175 plus $25 buy-in.

Ken Lambert the director of poker operations in Mississippi for MGM-MIRAGE commented: "We're going to be the center of the poker universe in what will be the first major poker tournament of 2009. Whatever poker games our players want to play for whatever limits, we are going to offer it at Beau Rivage. Ask anyone of the thousands of players who made us an annual destination and they will tell you the poker action here is perhaps the best in the world." The MGM-MIRAGE owns and operates the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Mississippi.



- 2009-01-01