WSOP HISTORY

The World Series of Poker - History

World Series of Poker (WSOP)

The World Series of Poker began as a modest gathering of sorts between poker buddies. It was organized by Jack Binion - the longtime owner of the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. The year was 1970 and the players numbered less than 10. Many participants would continue on to legendary poker status, including names like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, and Johnny Moss. That first year, Moss was voted best player amongst his peers and thus technically was the first WSOP Champion.

In 1971, Johnny Moss won the winner-take-all event and $30,000. Since the inaugural days the Main Event has has a $10,000 buy-in and has always been No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Moss beat out familiar faces from the previous year: Pug Pearson, Doyle Brunson, and Sailor Roberts to name a few. Around the mid-70s the event finally started to attract more players and Doyle Brunson won back-to-back titles in 1976-77 and took over half a million for his wins. Both of his titles were sealed with the "Doyle Brunson" holding: 10-2.

During the 1980s, the World Series began to incorporate more side events into the mix including games like Limit Hold'em, Stud, and H.O.R.S.E - a mixed game. NBC began to air coverage of the Championship in 1981. Stuey "The Kid" Ungar took back-to-back titles in 1980-81. A few years later, Johnny "The Orient Express" Chan captured back-to-back titles in '87 and '88 and has been a force in poker ever since. Chan defeated Erik Seidel in 1988 with what proved to be a famous hand because of its exposure in the 1997 film Rounders. The next year, Chan finished second to Phil Hellmuth, who become the youngest player to win the Championship at age 24.

The 1990s featured increasing exposure, prize pools, and entrants with first place money topping $1 million by 1991. Some notable finishes include Dan Harrington's title in 1995 in which he only entered 2 WSOP events... and won both. Stu Ungar made a surprising appreance in 1997 and became the only three-time WSOP Champion in history. He did it against a record field of 311 opponents. During the late '90s, the Horseshoe ran a promotion to hold the final table outdoors on Fremont Street. Heck, even I could've told you that hosting an outdoor poker event in August in Las Vegas wasn't a good idea.

The new millennium was ushered in with enormous prizes and the advent of online poker. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson took the title away from T.J. Cloutier in 200 as a 3-to-1 underdog. The aggressive Carlos Mortensen captured the title in 2001. Robert Varkonyi, 2002's Champion, is often overlooked but he captured a $2,000,000 prize for his efforts. Then, everything changed. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker turned a $40 satellite at Poker Stars into a $2.5 million first prize when he beat out Sammy Farha for the title. Prior to the 2003 WSOP, Moneymaker had only played online. Following his footsteps, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer also won a satellite from Poker Stars and took the $5 million prize from a 2,000+ field of opponents in 2004. Finally, a record 5,600 entrants lost out to Australian Joseph Hachem in 2005 who won an enormous $7,500,000 for the finish.

Where will the WSOP go from here? Well, it hasn't peaked yet. In 2006, the Rio will make room for 8,000 players to battle for over a $10 million first prize. With online poker offering more and more satellites into the Main Event, we'll continue to see record fields. It's the ultimate win for a poker player and online poker is making the dream more affordable to everyday players.

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