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While other tournaments have sprung up around the world in the last decade, the World Series of Poker, held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1970, is still considered the most prestigious. In its current form, the World Series of Poker is a series of tournaments, in excess of 50 bracelet events, culminating with a $10,000 buy-in Main Event.
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In 1969, Tom Moore and Vic Vickrey held an invitation only event called the Texas Gamblers Reunion at the Holiday Casino in Reno, Nevada. The multi-day affair, featuring high stakes poker, drew the well known gamblers and poker players of the day, including Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, Rudy “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone, Benny Binion, Doyle Brunson, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Johnny Moss, and Puggy Pearson. Inspired by the gathering, Benny Binion bought the rights to the event and hosted the first World Series of Poker the following year at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. [1]
The players elected Johnny Moss as the winner of the first World Series of Poker after a series of high-stakes cash games. The following year, in 1971, the event was held as a $5,000 buy-in freeze-out no limit Texas Hold'em tournament. Seven players anted up for the event, with Johnny Moss prevailing to retain his title. In 1972, the World Series of Poker was expanded to include a preliminary five-card stud event. By 1973, there were seven preliminary events, featuring no limit hold'em, draw and stud variants. [2]
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Benny Binion heavily promoted the World Series of Poker and in 1973 was able to draw a number of media outlets to cover the event, including CBS. The event steadily grew, and the Main Event drew 104 players by 1982. In 1983, Eric Drache introduced satellite tournaments whereby players could participate in lower buy-in events to win seats into the Main Event. In 1991, Brad Dougherty became the first player to win a $1 million dollars for first place, out of a starting field of 215 players.[2]
In 2003, accountant Chris Moneymaker won the Main Event after securing his $10,000 entry by winning a $39 buy-in satellite on the online poker site, PokerStars. [3] Moneymaker won $2.5 million out of a starting field of 839 players. Moneymaker's win catalyzed the growth of the WSOP, encouraging record numbers of recreational players to qualify for the Main Event online. In 2004, the Main Event starting field size grew to 2,576 players. To date, the Main Event field record was set in 2006, when Jamie Gold emerged to win the Championship from a starting field of 8.773 players.
In October 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act was signed into U.S. law, resulting in a number of larger publicly traded online poker sites to exit the U.S. market. The reduction in available online satellites is credited with the reduced field of 6,358 Main Event players in 2007. [4]
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Benny Binion died in 1989, leaving his son Jack to preside over Binion's Horseshoe. In 1998, Jack's brother Ted was forced to sell out his share of the casino to their sister Becky after losing his Nevada gaming license. In a protracted legal battle, Becky Binion Benhen wrested control of Binion's from her brother Jack, leaving him with only a 1% interest in the casino. Under Becky's control, the consistently profitable casino began to decline. The Horseshoe eventually ran afoul with regulators for failure to keep sufficient funds in the casino cage and falling behind on contributions to employee medical and pension plans. [5]
On January 9, 2004 federal marshals and IRS agents seized $1.9 million from Binion's in order to satisfy debts owed to the various casino workers' unions, effectively closing the casino for lack of funds.[6] On January 12, Becky reached a deal to sell Binion's Horseshoe to Harrah's Entertainment. [7] They closed the deal in March 2004, just a month before the 2004 WSOP was to begin. Harrah's retained the rights to the WSOP but had no interest in retaining the casino and promptly sold it to the MTR Gaming Group. [8]
The 2004 WSOP was held at Binions Horseshoe. But in 2005, Harrah's moved the event to the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. That year, all the preliminary events were played at the Rio with the exception of the final two days of the Main Event, which were played at Binion's Horseshoe as part of a deal worked out earlier with the city of Las Vegas. Since then, the WSOP has been held at the Rio in its entirety.
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In 2005, Harrah's starting hosting regional World Series of Poker Circuit events at their various properties throughout the U.S.[9] Initially the WSOP Circuit Main Events sported a $10,000 buy-in and many were televised by ESPN. Eventually ESPN passed on covering the events and in September 2006, Harrah's lowered the buy-in to the Main Events down to $5,000. In 2005 and 2006, the WSOP Circuit events also served as qualifiers for the WSOP Tournament of Champions (TOC) event. Harrah's suspended the TOC after 2006.
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Harrah's expanded the World Series of Poker outside the U.S., holding the first World Series of Poker Europe in September 2007 [10]. Hosted at a three separate London locations, the first WSOP Europe was comprised of three events, including a £10,000 buy-in Main Event. The 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event drew 362 players and was won by Annette Obrestad, an 18 year-old online player from Norway. A fourth even was added in 2008. The 2008 Main Event again drew 362 players and was won by John Juanda.
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1970 Johnny Moss
1971 Johnny Moss
1972 "Amarillo Slim" Preston
1973 Walter "Puggy" Pearson
1974 Johnny Moss
1975 Brian "Sailor" Roberts
1976 Doyle Brunson
1977 Doyle Brunson
1978 Bobby Baldwin
1979 Hal Fowler
1980 Stu Ungar
1981 Stu Ungar
1982 Jack Straus
1983 Tom McEvoy
1984 Jack Keller
1985 Bill Smith
1986 Berry Johnston
1987 Johnny Chan
1988 Johnny Chan
1989 Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
1990 Mansour Matloubi
1991 Brad Dougherty
1992 Hamid Dastmalchi
1993 Jim Bechtel
1994 Russ Hamilton
1995 Dan Harrington
1996 Huck Seed
1997 Stu Ungar
1998 Scotty Nguyen
1999 Noel Furlong
2000 Chris "Jesus" Ferguson
2001 Carlos Mortensen
2002 Robert Varkonyi
2003 Chris Moneymaker
2004 Greg Raymer
2005 Joe Hachem
2006 Jamie Gold
2007 Jerry Yang
2008 Peter Eastgate
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1. Crandall Addington in Doyle Brunson, Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker (1979) ISBN-13: 9781580420815
2. Nolan Dalla, A Brief History of the World Series of Poker at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/wsop/history.asp
3. Chris Moneymaker Team PokerStars profile at http://www.pokerstars.com/team-pokerstars/chris-moneymaker/
4. Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 (SAFE Port Act), Public Law 109-347, October 13, 2006.
5. Jeff Simpson, "Binion's Owner Forced to Inject Funds," Las Vegas Review Journal, February 11, 2003. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Feb-11-Tue-2003/business/20665159.html
6. "Gaming Commission Suspends License of Horseshoe," Las Vegas Sun, January 10. 2004.
7. Liz Benston and Jeff German, "Harrah's Expected to Sell Horseshoe," Las Vegas Sun, January 13, 2004.
8. "Binion's Sale Closes," Las Vegas Sun, March 11,2004.
9. Adam Goldman, "Harrah's Creates World Series of Poker Circuit," Las Vegas Sun, September 21, 2004.
10. Haley Hintze, "Harrah's Announces World Series of Poker Europe, PokerNews.com, February 26, 2007 at http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/2/harrahs-annouces-world-series-poker-europe.htm
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