The 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions – taking place as per usual at Vegas’ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino – is putting up a huge 1 million dollars as its ultimate prize pool.

The event will be comprised of 27 players who will participate in the No Limit Hold’em freeroll, and 20 of them will be selected by public voting. Voting begins March 15 on www.WSOP.com until June 15. Only form WSOP bracelet holders qualify as of the 20 fan-voted participants. There are over 500 WSOP bracelet winners, so whittling it down to 20 certainly isn’t an easy task.

Five entries into this tournament are automatic (the 3 form WSOP Tournament of Champions are in, along with the reigning World Series of Poker champion, and his European counterpart). What that means is Anny Duke, Mike Matusow, Mike Sexton, Joe Cada and Barry Shulman are in like Flynn.

Play will commence on Sunday, June 27, 2010. Once the final nine players are reached, play stops. Those lucky nine return to the scene on July 4, 2010 to play for their cut of the million bucks.

ESPN will air the No Limit Hold’em event in a two-hour telecast on August 3, 2010.