World Series of Poker History
The World Series of Poker is now in its 36th year. It was the brainchild of Benny Binion and his sons who as a family run business owned Binions Horseshoe on the Las Vegas Strip. The Binion family were in many ways pioneers of poker standing virtually alone as providers of poker action long before it became the popular game we see today.
The first WSOP took place in 1970 as a series of games ranging from Texas Holdem, Stud, Low Ball and Razz with the first competition being decided by a best player vote. Johnny Moss took the title that year for which he earned a silver cup. 1970 was the only year a cup was awarded with competition evolving into the more recognisable knockout format used today. The main event buy in for 1971 was $5,000 rising to $10,000 the following year.
$10,000 was a huge sum of money in 1972 and that may have explained the slow start. The first competition was a poker match between 7 men. The second year attendance almost doubled to 13. The WSOP was transformed into the premier event in the poker world only recently. The first major boost to popularity came about with the introduction of satellite entries which opened the game up to the wider playing public. Back in 1982 the WSOP main event still only had 52 entrants, but screening the event on television brought the crowds flocking in subsequent years and by 1987, a mere 5 years later, attendance ballooned to 2,141. Televised events not only raised the event but the game of poker itself came into the mainstream. With massively increased popularity came the most valuable prize pool in any competitive sport.
WSOP competition as a whole continued its dramatic rise to global fame due to the popularity of internet poker since 2002. The convenience of internet poker providing 24 hour competition from home fuelled further expansion of the competition. The 2005 main even had 5619 entries each of whom paid the $10,000 entry fee. Many of these of course were satellite entries, some of whom had paid as little of $5 to get there. Bigger prizes attracted more TV coverage and the WSOP's introduction of the cards camera turned the event into a spectator sport. The main event prizepool rose in huge steps year on year with the 2003 winner walking away with $2.5m, the 2004 winner pocketing $5m and last years winner banking a cool $7.5m for his efforts.
The 2006 WSOP competition looks to be the most thrilling yet. Seating for the main event is expecting some 9,000 entrants making a final purse of $10m a reality for someone. Find out more about Satellite entries , or take a closer look at the itinery for the 2006 World Series of Poker.
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