The 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP) has kicked off its 43rd installment at Rio Las Vegas.

The longest-running and richest poker event in the world features 58 events spanning 50 days, through July 16, 2012.

This year’s World Series of Poker even has a fancy new Main Event winner’s bracelet.

Nobody does bling like Sin City, baby.

Learn more, and possibly far too much, about the redesigned WSOP bracelet.

The new Main Event bracelet features rubies and black diamonds, as well as more than 160 grams of 14 karat gold, which would be truly impressive if anyone in America knew what a “gram” was.

Let’s watch a video about the new bracelet, shall we? Because what visit to this blog would be complete without a video about jewelry-making?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iovhq59-syY

Last year’s WSOP drew more than 75,000 participants, at least 26 of which didn’t wear either sunglasses, a hoodie or earbuds at some point during the tournament.

Read our stunningly inept coverage of last year’s World Series of Poker Final Table thingy.

Pius Heinz, a 22-year-old college student, won the 2011 WSOP and $8.7 million. That’s a lot of pizza and kegs.

Get all the latest tournament news on the World Series of Poker Web site, on Facebook or Twitter.