The second annual World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) got underway at the Empire Casino in London, England,=A0 Friday with the start of the first of four tournaments.

Event #1, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tourney with a buy-in of 1,500 British pounds (about 3,000 U.S. dollars), began and opened the WSOPE action.

The event is scheduled to last four days.

Next on tap will be WSOPE Event #2, scheduled to begin on Monday, September 22, 2008, and also last four days.

Event #2 is a H.O.R.S.E. tournament with a buy-in of 2,500 British pounds (about 5,000 U.S. dollars).

H.O.R.S.E. is an acronym for the five types of poker played in this particular tournament: H for hold ‘em, O for Omaha, R for razz, S for stud and E for eight or better stud.

Players will alternate playing the five types during the tourney.

After that will be WSOPE Event #3, a pot-limit Omaha tournament with a buy-in of 5,000 British pounds (about 10,000 U.S. dollars).

Event #3 is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, and also last four days.

The signature event of the WSOPE will be the Main Event or Event #4, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament with a buy-in of 10,000 British pounds (about 20,000 U.S. dollars).

The Main Event is scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 27, 2008, and last five days.

The four event winners will earn cash prizes and also gold championship bracelets.

As happens at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas every year, whoever wins the WSOPE Main Event will be considered the “winner” of the WSOPE, since the Main Event is the highest-stakes tourney at both the WSOP and WSOPE.

Among the WSOP veterans expected to compete in the WSOPE Main Event are Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, Phil “Poison” Ivey, Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu, Phil Gordon, Ted Forrest, Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth Jr., Patrik Antonius, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Andy Bloch, Andy Black, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Kenny Tran, Gus “The Great Dane” Hansen and last year’s WSOPE Main Event winner, Annette Obrestad.

Obrestad, the portly teen from a small Norwegian village, was only 18 when she won last year’s WSOPE Main Event.

The big victory made her the youngest person ever to win a WSOP or WSOPE event.

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