The 2008 World Championship of Poker – collectively known as the WCOOP – kicked off its official festivities last night with Events #1 ($215 6-Handed NL) and #2 ($215 5-Card Draw). A combined 8,241 entrants would occupy seats for these first 2 events alone! The WCOOP, which is held annually by industry giant PokerStars, is the richest poker tournament series in the world. 33 events in total will be played from now until September 23rd, when the 2nd day of the $5,200 Main Event will conclude.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour’s stop in Macau had a record-setting field of 538 players assemble this week for its Main Event. The tournament, which is being hosted by PokerStars, attracted Asia’s best poker specialists and other world-famous players such as Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, and John Phan.

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ESPN gets started with coverage of the mammoth main event of the 2008 World Series of Poker tonight at 8pm EST. Of course, since coverage can only cover what’s actually happened, it will be quite awhile until you’re seeing the final table of the event, but the two hours of programming tonight will at least get us started on the path to the November Nine. The program should cover most of day 1A and day 1B