The 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions will take on an All-Star Game format, Harrah’s officials announced on Monday. A special 27-player tournament will take place on June 27th at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and play down to a final table. One week later, on July 4th, the event will resume and determine a winner. In a unique twist, poker fans around the world will be able to vote for the field.

Of the 27 players in what’s being called the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions Freeroll, five will receive automatic bids in a similar fashion to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. The three previous Tournament of Champions winners will all gain entry into the event. The very first installment took place in 2004, when UB.com face Annie Duke (pictured at left) claimed a $2 million winner-take-all prize. Duke defeated Phil Hellmuth heads-up and her brother, Full Tilt Poker’s Howard Lederer, came in third.

In 2005, the Tournament of Champions field mushroomed to 114 players and the top nine finished in the money. Mike Matusow came out on top this time around, outlasting Hoyt Corkins. The last year the Tournament of Champions was held was 2006, when World Poker Tour (WPT) Host Mike Sexton blasted through a field of 27 players to claim a $1 million top prize. Sexton was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame last November.

In addition to the three previous Tournament of Champions winners, the reigning WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Event champs will receive automatic bids. Therefore, Joe jcada99 Cada (pictured at right) and CardPlayer Magazine owner Barry Shulman will be headed to the Rio for the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions. Two sponsor exemptions also exist.

Duke commented in a press release distributed by the WSOP on Monday, “Tournaments like the Tournament of Champions help elevate poker to the level it deserves and I am honored to participate. Winning the TOC marks one of the most memorable events in my poker career and I’m ecstatic that the WSOP is hosting this prestigious event.” Duke is fresh off a win in the 2010 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which emanated from Caesars Palace in Sin City and will air on NBC next month.

Poker fans will have a chance to vote for the other 20 members of the All-Star Game field. Voting opened today on WSOP.com and will be available until June 15th at Midnight ET. WSOP officials explained the requirements for entry: “To qualify as one of the 20 eligible fan-voted participants, players must be a WSOP bracelet-holder. All living WSOP bracelet holders are able to receive votes and currently there are 521 eligible players.” Click here to vote.

A bevy of members of the online poker community are bracelet holders, including recently PocketFives.com Podcast guest Jason treysfull21 Mercier (pictured at left), Brock t soprano Parker, and Eric basebaldy Baldwin, all of whom won pieces of hardware in 2009. Only the top 20 vote-getters will receive entry into the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions and one vote is allowed per e-mail address. Harrah’s officials are already preparing to combat “ballot-stuffing.”

What’s at stake in poker’s very first All-Star Game? A bundle of cash is on the line, as the tournament’s champ will bank $500,000. The second place finisher will earn $250,000, while whoever finishes third will collect a check for $100,000. Finally, the fourth through ninth place finishers will each earn $25,000. The tournament will air on ESPN on Tuesday, August 3rd in a two-hour telecast.

Last year at the WSOP, a Champions Invitational pitted 20 former Main Event champions against each other in a made-for-television freeroll for a classic car. In the end, 1983 champion Tom McEvoy (pictured at right) took down the title. This year, in addition to the Tournament of Champions All-Star Game, a $50,000 Player’s Championship will take place. The Eight-Game tournament will likely feature the toughest field of the 2010 WSOP and replaces the $50,000 HORSE Championship.

Visit WSOP.com or this thread in Poker Discussion for more information on the 2010 Tournament of Champions.