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WSOP officials have just announced the schedule for the 2011 World Series of Poker, and the proceedings look to be bigger than ever. 58 bracelet events will be included in the 42nd annual WSOP, up from 57 last year. The events will take place over the course of 50 days at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, from May 31st til July 19th. The new bracelet event will consist of a $25,000 heads up NLHE tournament with 256 players.

Each weekend in June will include lower buy-in NLHE tournaments, including $1k events on Sundays and $1.5k events on Saturdays. Other events posted in the schedule include a $2.5k buy-in Six-Handed/10-Game Mix event, a $2.5k 7 Card Stud Hi Lo 8 or Better/Omaha tournament, and a $5k Six-Handed/PLO event.

The biggest names in poker will undoubtedly sign up for the July 2 $50k 8-Game Poker Players Championship event to seek the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, currently held by Michael Mizrachi. A Triple Chance tournament, Ladies-Only Championship and Seniors-Only Championship are also scheduled.

The “big dance” will begin on July 7 with the final table to be set on July 19. Final table contestants and fans will need to wait until November 5-7 when the winner will be decided. As usual, the Main Event will include a $10k buy-in.

The World Series of Poker is by far the biggest annual event in competitive poker. The 2010 WSOP alone played host to 9 of 17 biggest tournaments in the history of poker. As in years past, the 2011 WSOP will completely dominate the event space at the Rio, with tables filling the Pavilion (58k sq. ft.) and the Amazon Room (38k sq. ft.).

Registration for all events will be available at the Rio and at WSOP.com starting on February 7. Registration closes after four levels of play have been completed for all bracelet events except the Main Event, which will close following two levels of play.