That’s right.

The World Poker Tour, now in it’s tenth year, is better and stronger than ever, with six stops in Europe (so far).

The Tour competes with the European Poker Tour (EPT), but truthfully, as a reporter and amateur player, I love them both. And that’s not a cop out.

Here is the lineup:

WPT Slovenia — Casino Portorož Portorož, Piran, Slovenia, July 17 – 21, 2011: €3,300
WPT Grand Prix de Paris — Aviation Club de France, Paris, France, Sept 5 – 10, 2011: €7,500 (4 precent of prize pool withheld for casino and 2 percent for tournament staff)
WPT Malta — The Casino at Portomaso, Portomaso, St. Julian’s, Malta, Sept 20 – Sept 24, 2011: €3,500
WPT Amnéville — Seven Casino, Amnéville, France, Nov 1 – 6, 2011: €3,500
WPT Marrakech — Casino de Marrakech, Marrakech, Africa, Nov 24 – 27, 2011: €3,300
WPT Prague — Corinthia Casino, Prague, Czech Republic, Dec 1 – 5, 2011: €3,500

More European dates will likely be named as they come on board.

Next month, poker players from more than 115 different nations will converge and compete in the 42nd annual World Series of Poker. Destination? Las Vegas.

In front of ESPN cameras; with more than 70,000 entrants competing for more than $180,000,000 in prize money and poker’s most prized possession—a WSOP bracelet, this event is a two-month spectacle of luck, skills and determination.

It kicks off on Tuesday, May 31 and will continue daily, while the main event will begin on July 7, Thursday.

Registrations for the WSOP can be done in several ways. The most common way would be to show up at the Rio Convention Center, where the event will take place, and proceed to buy in. Registration is open 24 hours a day from May 30 until July 10.

Want to be a part of it?

This year, Dafa Poker is offering great opportunities to get to Las Vegas, through various ways. All you have to do is choose your dedicated path! Here is how you can win your place:

Join “WSOP Warrior Master League” events found at Dafapoker’s official website and also in a dedicated tab in the poker lobby. Join a series of 8 MTT tournaments and finish in the highest possible place.

There are 3 leagues with which a warrior can choose to begin their quest. To conquer the Warrior Master League, players will compete in 6-8 different NL Hold’em events (Depending on the league). The top 50% of registered players who accumulated the highest number of leaderboard points after the events can proceed to the WSOP Warrior Grand Final that will be held on May 24th. The 10 highest ranked players in the end will each win WSOP packages, while the ultimate warrior will win the “WSOP Warrior Package” worth $20,000!

Registration for the promo event can be done by either direct registration, by token, or by qualifying through the WSOP Warrior League satellite promotion. Players cannot qualify twice to the WSOP Warrior Super League. Once a player has qualified, he’ll be automatically registered to the WSOP Warrior League tournament.

Another way to get a seat for WSOP is playing any of the Satellites, Sit n Go’s and qualifiers in the Dafapoker lobby. You can find all these tournaments under the WSOP 2011 special tab, for as low as $0.33!

All this, and we haven’t even mentioned the WSOP Elite and Dafapoker MTT leaderboard – two major promotions already happening in Dafapoker, sending players to WSOP!

I mean, learn so much about bluffing… playing the odds, when to go all in and when not to.

So I was pretty happy when Seidel beat an elite field of 63 of poker’s best to win the seventh annual National Heads-Up Poker Championship (NHPC) presented by GoDaddy.com, at the Caesars Palace Poker Tournament Room.

Seidel, bless his poker playing heart, defeated Chris Moneymaker in the tournament’s best-of-three final table to claim the championship and the $750,000 first-place prize, up from $500,000 in last year’s competition.

Not too bad, eh?

Moneymaker takes home $300,000 as the second-place finisher, which increased $50,000 from last year after the buy-in for invited players was raised from $20,000 to $25,000.

The NHPC is taped for broadcast on NBC over six consecutive Sundays beginning April 17, noon – 1 p.m. ET.

I sure as hell will be watching.

“I have competed in the NHPC since 2005 and lost to Annie Duke in the finals at last year’s tournament, so my win today is truly special,” said Erik Seidel. “It is always exciting to compete against my fellow poker players who showcased great skill on the tables this year.”

Seidel defeated several top poker players on the way to the final table, including five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Allen Cunningham and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Jennifer Harman.

He called Moneymaker’s bluff with three 5s in the final hand of the second match, giving him the 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Seidel rules.

And yes, I have even been inside Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago mansion, even though I am not rich.

So I am happy to see this very cool event coming to the land of the rich and famous.

The World Series of Poker is coming to Florida for the first time ever – setting up shop at the Palm Beach Kennel Club for two weeks.

It’s now allowed because of a change in state law that allows high-stakes poker games.

Previously, Florida had a $100 cap on poker buy-ins, preventing it from participating in big tournaments like those of the World Series of Poker.

Which is ridiculous. Palm Beachers think of $100 like you or I think of a 1 cent piece.

“We are very excited to have the Rolls Royce of poker tours coming to Florida and partnering up with us,” said Joseph Conti, tournament director for the kennel club.

The event is expected to generate 800 room nights for Palm Beach County.

The Kennel Club is expecting 500 to 800 players each day of the tournament; buy-ins for the 10 ring events start at $300 and go to $1,600, while non-ring events start at $65.

Got a secret for you though…in the mansions along A1A, high stakes poker is always being played. Now, it’s just out in public.

Will Rush Limbaugh participate? Hell, he has a fabulous mansion in the area.

HeadsUp Entertainment , operators of the Canadian Poker Tour (CPT) and Canadian Poker Player Magazine have finalized an agreement with strategic partner World Poker Showdown and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to host a Poker Super Cruise on the “Freedom of the Seas” launching March 23, 2011 from Port Canaveral, Florida.

Based on the success of the previous poker cruise held in April of this year, the event is being expanded to 2 weeks sailing first to the Eastern Caribbean and subsequently to the Western Caribbean ports-of-call.

Sounds good to me.

By expanding to a 2 week series, profitability increases substantially as fixed costs of tournament infrastructure are covered in the first week and options for players to accommodate their vacation schedules are expanded.

Sponsorship revenue, tournament fees and cash game rake revenue is expected to exceed $2,000,000 USD over the 2 week period, with net earnings approaching $1,200,000 or $.018/share.

The Company also announces that a major television deal is currently being finalized that will allow for broadcast of the event and allow for sponsorship revenues to increase dramatically from previous events.

Now that sounds even better.

“The expansion of the poker vacation market has become a major focus for the Company as revenues are maximized in this event structure,” commented HeadsUp President and CEO Kelly B. Kellner. “The event earlier this year was testament to a growing demand in the Canadian and international marketplace.”

I love cruising, so if you do too (and love playing poker or watching high stakes poker tournaments), this might be just the thing for you.