Online Poker » World Series of Poker - WSOP History

The World Series of Poker is the most exciting and world renowned poker tournament in the world. It is all over TV and of course all the biggest and best poker players play in it. However, most people don’t know the history of how the WSOP came to be.

It all started in 1969 when Tom Moore bought the Holiday Hotel in Reno and held “The Texas Gamblers Reunion”. It featured all the best poker players including current poker great Doyle Brunson. There wasn’t prize money given out to a main event champ, because there wasn’t even a main event. However, the seed was planted for the WSOP.

Next year, Tom Moore wouldn’t be able to hold the tournament and this was when Benny Binion said that he and his brother would hold it. His family wasn’t sure there was money to be made in the poker market but Benny and his brother believed and set it up for the upcoming year. So in 1970 Benny put a poker room in his casino and put the word out and to his delight all the best poker players in the world showed up to the first ever “World Series of Poker”. At the end of the gathering everyone voted on Johnny Moss to be the winner.

Unfortunately chips moving back and forth wasn’t captivating enough for the public and so the following year the World Series of Poker had a $5000 buy-in and 6 men competed for the $30 000 pot. Johnny Moss defended his “win” from the inaugural year by knocking out all the other 5 players and officially winning the pot.

The following year there was seven contestants, then 13 the next year and it grew from there. By 1979 when Stu Ungar defeated Doyle Brunson heads up to deny Doyle a third straight title, the total prize money had grown to $385, 000. The following year, Ungar won the tournament again and became the third player to win the tournament back to back after Johnny Moss and Doyle Brunson.

In the early 80’s the WSOP’s popularity grew big time and the competition for that World Series of Poker Bracelet heated up. New legends were made when Johhny Chan won it back to back in 1987 and 1988. He lost heads up to Phil Hellmuth Jr. the following year, denying Chan a record breaking third straight title.

As big a dreamer as Benny Binion (who passed away on Christmas Day 1989) was, he never could have imagined the success his tournament in the past decade. It is now broadcast internationally on satellite and the total prize money has grown from over 7 million to over 56 million in 2005.

With the exception of Stu Ungar winning for the third time in 1997, there has been a new winner every year since Phil Hellmuth Jr. won back in 1989. With a field of over 5600 entrants, the possibility of back to back titles or even winning a second title is something that may never be accomplished again. New heroes are made every year and although the new tournament owners have moved the tournament from the original horseshoe casino, the tournament has and will continue to grow as the poker phenomenon does worldwide.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 17th, 2006 at 10:09 am and is filed under Poker Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.