The World Series of Poker 2010 isn’t happening for another 5 months, but Harrah’s has announced the tournament schedule and I’m already getting excited!

There haven’t been many major changes made to the WSOP lineup for next year. However, there are several changes that I think are important to note. For starters, the tournaments $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament won’t be taking place in 2010. I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise to many players, as last year’s H.O.R.S.E. tournament suffered a major decrease in entrants. In 2008 there were 148 players in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament whereas last year’s tournament only had 95 entrants.

Of course, Harrah’s didn’t just do away with the $50,000 tournament and not give us something back in return. The 2010 schedule has added a $50,000 mixed event. This event will consist of a mix of poker variations, including Seven Card Stud, Omaha Hi-Lo, No Limit Hold’em, Limit Hold’em, Seven Card Razz, Pot Limit Hold’em, and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball. Harrah’s also announced that ESPN will broadcast the final table of this new event. Some of the mid level Stud and Omaha tournaments that did not draw in a lot of entrants last year are being replaced with more Hold’em No-Limit $1,000 tournaments.

Finally, Harrah’s announced that next year they will be taking a bigger rake off the entry fees for the tournaments with $1,000 and $1,500 buy-ins. The rake is being raised from 9% to 10%, but this small number shouldn’t have a great effect on the money the winners will take home.