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History of the WSOP
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The event has galvanized the world as one of the most watched events on not only television, but satellite feeds all over the world. The beginnings of this tournament were very humble and small, but with the help of some of the professional card players of the time it became an event to be a part of. It was not started in the city of Las Vegas as many would think but in Reno, Nevada. Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas was the first sponsor and at this time it went by another name. This was in the year 1968 and was at the Holiday Hotel and Casino and was won by Crandell Addington.
Another prominent poker player of the time was Benny Binion and he was not only a professional card player but he owned a casino. He was the owner of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino and in 1970 he would host the first World Series of Poker. The events were five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud and Texas hold’em. The last being a relatively new game to the professional players got its start at the convention. The cash games drew many big names in the card playing world. Johnny Moss won the games that year and was presented with a silver cup and the title of World Champion of Poker.
The World Series of Poker continues to evolve year after year. The tournaments all have cash prizes, and many different card games have come and gone throughout the years. The same can be said of the amount of gamblers that have come to play in the World Series of Poker tournament. Five-card stud and Chinese poker have been included in the past, but Texas hold’em has been on board since Binion took over the tournament.
Harrah’s on the Las Vegas strip is the casino that hosts the tournament these days. The sponsoring casino gets an entry fee somewhere between six and ten percent, depending on the buy in. They distribute the rest, so depending on how many entrants there are, the prize money is there. The Main Event was considered to be the event to honour the World Champion, but in recent years with the H.O.R.S.E. event with its 50,000 buy in it is now considered the best player event. The steep buy in sorts out the amateurs from the professionals, and some of the winners from this event are well known in the gambling community. Chip Reese won in 2006, Freddy Deeb in 2007 and Scotty Nguyen in 2008. The winner receives the prize money and a bracelet and a memorial trophy in honour of Chip Reese.
The event was seen on television beginning in 1973 as a special from Binion’s Horseshoe Casino. CBS began broadcasting the World Series of Poker in the later half of the 1970’s. When ESPN took over the rights to its broadcasting in the late 1980’s it was on a one hour taped delay. Now you can see live coverage.
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