The 2011 World Series of Poker Europe starts today, and plenty of people are excited about the new changes to the event. Instead of being held at the Empire Casino in London’s Leicester Square, the tournament will now be staged at the Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette. The big reason for the change is that the 2011 WSOPE is expected to be huge, and organizers didn’t think the Empire Casino could hold the growing tournament fields.

WSOP Director Seth Palansky commented on this matter by telling reporters, “We’re committed to Cannes for the next couple of years. Capacity is an issue in London, and we would either have to convince the regulators it’s okay to hold an event in a non-gaming establishment on a temporary basis, or a location opens up that has more space.”

What’s really interesting about all of this is that the WSOPE Main Event is expected to be much bigger than last year. And this is saying something because last year’s Main Event offered a $5,337,694 prize pool, and James Bord won the largest share at $1,281,048.

Moving past the Main Event prize pool, the overall tournament pools are expected to dwarf what’s been seen in previous years as Palansky told the press, “We’re anticipating the biggest World Series of Poker Europe we’ve ever had, without a doubt. With seven events there’s a distinct possibility that we will reach the prize pool numbers of the first four years in this one year alone.”

As mentioned before, the 2011 WSOPE starts today, October 7th, and will run until the 15th. Here is a look at the entire 2011 WSOPE Europe schedule:

Event 1: 6-Handed Hold’em €2,680
Event 2: No-Limit Hold’em €1,090
Event 3: Pot-Limit Omaha €5,300
Event 4: Shootout Hold’em €3,200
Oct 12: Event 5: No-Limit Hold’em Split €10,400
Event 6: 6-Handed PLO €1,620
Event 7: WSOPE Main Event €10,400
Ladies Event: NLHE  €550