The 2010 installment of the world's biggest poker tournament – the World Series of Poker – kicks off this Friday at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

And believe it or not, this year's tourney is expected to be even bigger than last year's, when some 61,000 competitors from 115 countries played.

To make room for the expected huge attendance, tournament officials have increased the number of tables to 377 each day, something that might have been hard to imagine when the first WSOP was held way back in 1970.

Fifty seven winners' bracelets are on offer this year, with the flagship $10,000 buy-in championship event scheduled to be held from July 5-17, and the final nine returning in November to play off for the title of world's best poker players.

The reigning champion of the Main Event is American Joe Cada, who used a pair of nines to defeat compatriot Darvin Moon in 2009.

The WSOP action gets started on Friday with the $500 Casino Employees no-limit hold'em event.

Meanwhile, officials of the WSOP have talked down reported plans to move the tournament to another venue in the event that Harrah's Entertainment goes through with a rumored sale of the Rio.