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| The History of the World Series of Poker. It all began with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker. |
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| World Series of Poker History of the World Series of Poker |
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The 2006 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: $12,000,000. 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 began with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker. In
1949, 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 gave Benny Binion and idea,
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: $12,000,000. 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 began with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker. In
1949, 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 gave Benny Binion and idea,
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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