BY TOM SOMACH

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., owner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), has announced the dates for the 2008 WSOP.

The 2008 WSOP will run from May 30 through July 17, 2008, Harrah’s announced.

As usual, the event will be held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Harrah’s announced.

The 2008 WSOP will be the 39th annual WSOP.

“The team is still hard at work on the schedule of events for next year, but we’ve received so many requests for the dates that we decided to announce them now,” said WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

“We’ll actually open the WSOP tournament room the week of May 26th for two special events,” said Geno Iafrate, vice-president and assistant general manager of the Rio.

“This soft opening will give players a chance to register early and avoid the lines we had last year during opening weekend, our busiest time,” Iafrate said.

Next year’s WSOP will begin earlier in the year than this year’s WSOP did.

The 2007 WSOP ran from June 1 through July 17.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)