WSOP History

Now seen as one of the largest sporting events in the world, the WSOP has all – thrills, money, class, and interesting characters. There is nothing quite like it. But, if you looked back 40 years to when this tournament started, you would not recognize it at all. It was an innovative casino operator and a few old school poker players who took this tournament and made it what it is today.

The World Series of Poker is the epicenter of poker history. While 1970 was the first year an official WSOP event was held, most of the tournaments during that time period were just a very small amount of poker players like Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson and Johnny Moss duking out to see who the best player around was. There were no TV cameras, no huge jackpots, and no glamour.

wsop history However, Benny Binion of the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas came around and changed everything. He saw the WSOP as an event that had a whole lot of potential and used the skills he had to turn it into something the world has never seen before. Even though Benny was quite ambitious, even he couldn’t predict the success the WSOP experienced. The game stayed the same until 1980 when Stu “The Kid” Ungar, a baby faced poker player from New York hit the scene. He was not like the poker players who had played in the WSOP before him – he was young, he was from New York, and he was the “New School” of poker. He quickly made his way to the top of the game and proved to everyone that he was one of the best poker players around. He is now a legendary figure and is seen as starting the poker revolution!

In the 80’s and 90’s, poker grew slowly, but never really experienced anything exciting. Phil Helmuth, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson all became household names for some, and a few people even took notice of Scotty Nguyens 1998 million dollar WSOP poker win. But, poker was still seen as a niche sport, and it never really gained widespread acceptance. Well, that was all about to change when 2003 came along.

Chris Moneymaker, a book keeper from the Southern United States, won his way into the WSOP though a $40 online poker satellite tournament and walked away from the WSOP a winner, collecting millions of dollars in prize money. It wasn’t the fact that he was a book keeper that made it this exciting, it was the fact that he gained entry into this prestigious tournament with only a $40 buyin. The popularity of poker on TV and the increasing amount of poker players online soon made it the “cool” sport that anyone, regardless of age of physical ability, could be successful in. As more and more people became exposed to the game, the popularity continued to grow, and that is how we got to the current situation we are in today!

Eventually, the WSOP was purchased by Harrah’s and moved from the Horseshoe Casino to the Rio Casino. The event continues to grow in popularity every year, and there is no shortage of players who try to be the next big winner every time the WSOP rolls into town. It doesn’t matter what your opinion of the game is, one thing is for sure – poker is not going anywhere anytime soon!

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