World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker is the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. It is held annually in Las Vegas, lasting just over a month. A bracelet is awarded to the winner of each of the fifty-plus events which include all the major varieties of poker. The series culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold’em “Main Event”, which in recent years has attracted entry fields numbering in the thousands, with the victor receiving a multi-million dollar prize.

The original World Series of Poker was started in 1968 by Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas, at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno and was an invitational event. This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington who went on to place in the top ten of the World Series of Poker Main Event eight times, a record that still stands as of 2007. The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion, as well as his two sons Jack and Ted.

The Binion family nurtured not only the WSOP, but poker in general. Prior to the 1970s, poker was not found at many casinos because of the difficulty of keeping cheaters out. Through better security techniques as well as the Binion’s tireless promotion through events like the WSOP, poker became a very popular game.

In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion’s Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold ‘em. The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold ‘em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize.

From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973 a new event, Five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas hold ‘em. Since then new events have been added and removed. In 2006 there were 45 events at the WSOP, covering the majority of poker variants. Currently, Texas hold ‘Em, Omaha hold ‘em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants (if any) are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Each event winner gets a coveted gold bracelet as well as the grand prize money, which by tradition is paid in cash brought in cardboard boxes.

Phil Hellmuth has the most bracelets with eleven. Runners-up Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan have each won ten bracelets. Doyle’s son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a $2,500 Omaha Eight-or-better event in 2005, making them the first and only father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel, Jan Vang Sørensen and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998, 2002 and 2005 respectively.

The number of participants in the WSOP has grown almost every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. In the main event alone, the number of participants grew from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006. This was known as the “Moneymaker Effect”, named after unknown rookie Chris Moneymaker, who won the main event after having qualified for just $39 through a satellite tournament. Much of this growth can also be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker.

Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increases with more players. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with $7.5 million to first prize.