Just The Facts!

World Series of Poker

The Poker World Series is the biggest set of poker events in the world. This popular tournament that last for more than a month is annually held Las Vegas Nevada. A gold bracelet is given to the winner of every of the more than fifty events which include every one of the major array of poker.

The series ends with the 10,000 dollar "Main Event" no limit Texas Hold'em poker, which in current years has catch the attention of poker players around the world entry fields numbering by the thousands, with the winner getting a mega-million dollar prize.

Origins

The first World Series an invitational tournament was started by Tom Moore, a Texan from San Antonio in 1968, at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno. This initial event was captured by Crandell Addington who was a consistent top 10 finisher of WSOP for a record eight times. The brainchild of World Series of Poker tournaments is Benny Binion a well-known casino owner from Las Vegas and also a part time poker player and his sons Ted and Jack.

The Binion family not only takes care of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), but poker as a whole. Before 1970, poker was not present at various casinos because of the trouble of taking cheaters out of the game. With better and improve security systems in addition to the family's tireless sponsorship through various events similar to the WSOP, poker turn into a very popular casino game.

In 1970, the inaugural World Series of Poker took place at Binion's Horseshoe that is meant to be as a set of money games that included razz, 5-card stud, 2-7 lowball draw, 7-card stud and the popular Texas Hold'em poker. The Main Event format as a drive away Texas Hold 'em poker game materialize the following year.

Johnny Moss the winner of the event held in 1970, was voted by his contemporaries as the first Poker World Champion and as prize is awarded a silver cup.

Some poker players who eked a mark at the WSOP include: Phil Hismuth, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Eric Seidel, Billy Baxter, T.J. Cloutier, Jay Heimowitz, Men Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, Allen Cunningham, Ted Forrest, Berry Johnston, Stu Ungar, Mickey Appleman, Bobby Baldwin, Bill Boyd, David Chiu, Artie Cubb, Mike Hart, Lakewood Louie, Tom McEvoy, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Thomas Preston, Huck Seed, Eli Balas, Lyle Berman, John Bonetti and the list continues to grow.