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| The 2005 World Series of Poker Championship Event has broken all sorts of records – the most impressive being the thousands and thousands of players competing for the largest prize of all time: 7.5 million dollars. It’s come a long way since the first game in 1970, when just a few seasoned pros gathered in Vegas to see who was the best of the best. |
| World Series of Poker History of the World Series of Poker |
The 2005 World Series of Poker $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em
Championship Event has broken all sorts of records – the most impressive
being the thousands and thousands of players competing for the largest
prize of all time: 7.5 million dollars. It’s come a long way since the first
game in 1970, when just a few seasoned pros gathered in Vegas to see
who was the best of the best.
It all begins with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker, in
1949, when Nick “the Greek” Dandalos asked Lester “Benny” Binion, owner
of the Horseshoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, to arrange the biggest
poker game of all time. Binion knew just the guy to take on the Greek –
Johnny Moss, who at the time was regarded as the best poker player in
the world. With Binion’s promise to bankroll him, Johnny Moss agreed to
the match, and sat down to play at a game that would go on for five long
months. They played every type of poker for huge pots of hundreds of
thousands of dollars until at last, the Greek decided he was beat and got
up from the table saying, “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.”
The epic battle between Moss and the Greek sparked an idea in Benny
Binion’s head, and in 1970 he invited the best poker players he knew,
including Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, Brian “Sailor”
Roberts, Puggy Pearson, Crandall Addington, and Carl Cannon to play No-
Limit Texas Hold’em against each other in front of a crowd. Instead of
playing until one player had all the chips, the players voted on who was
the best, and Johnny Moss was unanimously chosen.
In 1971 the World Series was a freeze-out, winner-take-all tournament,
which Johnny Moss once again won. Over the following years, it evolved
into a “shared purse” tournament, in which not only the first place winner,
but several other top finishers won a share of the prize money.
Registration was open to anyone who had the $10,000 bucks to put up,
and enrollment grew, but it wasn’t until satellite tournaments for the event
were started that the numbers really started growing. Now, instead of
plopping down the whole 10K, players could win a 10K seat by winning
their way through a field of players at a lower buy-in tournament.
Still, the number of players at the Main Event remained under a thousand
until 2003. Then, Chris Moneymaker won the top prize, turning a $40
satellite win into $2.5 Million.
Championship Event has broken all sorts of records – the most impressive
being the thousands and thousands of players competing for the largest
prize of all time: 7.5 million dollars. It’s come a long way since the first
game in 1970, when just a few seasoned pros gathered in Vegas to see
who was the best of the best.
It all begins with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker, in
1949, when Nick “the Greek” Dandalos asked Lester “Benny” Binion, owner
of the Horseshoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, to arrange the biggest
poker game of all time. Binion knew just the guy to take on the Greek –
Johnny Moss, who at the time was regarded as the best poker player in
the world. With Binion’s promise to bankroll him, Johnny Moss agreed to
the match, and sat down to play at a game that would go on for five long
months. They played every type of poker for huge pots of hundreds of
thousands of dollars until at last, the Greek decided he was beat and got
up from the table saying, “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.”
The epic battle between Moss and the Greek sparked an idea in Benny
Binion’s head, and in 1970 he invited the best poker players he knew,
including Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, Brian “Sailor”
Roberts, Puggy Pearson, Crandall Addington, and Carl Cannon to play No-
Limit Texas Hold’em against each other in front of a crowd. Instead of
playing until one player had all the chips, the players voted on who was
the best, and Johnny Moss was unanimously chosen.
In 1971 the World Series was a freeze-out, winner-take-all tournament,
which Johnny Moss once again won. Over the following years, it evolved
into a “shared purse” tournament, in which not only the first place winner,
but several other top finishers won a share of the prize money.
Registration was open to anyone who had the $10,000 bucks to put up,
and enrollment grew, but it wasn’t until satellite tournaments for the event
were started that the numbers really started growing. Now, instead of
plopping down the whole 10K, players could win a 10K seat by winning
their way through a field of players at a lower buy-in tournament.
Still, the number of players at the Main Event remained under a thousand
until 2003. Then, Chris Moneymaker won the top prize, turning a $40
satellite win into $2.5 Million.
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| Nothing frustrates me more than a poker opponent beating me in the final rounds of a tournament with a garbage hand. Poker is mathematically statistical, so you have to expect to lose with the best hand a certain percentage of the time. I have won tournaments in which I was the one who sucked out on the river. More... |
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