WSOP – A Brief History
More WSOP…
The 46th World Series of Poker – WSOP 2015 – is being held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas this coming May 27th to July 14th. There are 68 top events, including 11 new for 2015, with 68 coveted gold bracelets to be won culminating in the ‘Big Dance’ – the 2015 WSOP Main Event ending WSOP with a 7 day event. On Tuesday 14th July the final table (with nine players left) will be halted – the delayed main event final table will be held, once again at the Rio, four months on.
I’ve had a look into the interesting history of this legendary event and come up with this brief history of WSOP.
| WSOP WINNERS | ||
| Date | Name | Winnings |
| 1970 | Johnny Moss | Awarded by Players Vote |
| 1971 | Johnny Moss | $30,000 |
| 1972 | Amarillo Slim Preston | $80,000 |
| 1973 | Puggy Pearson | $130,000 |
| 1974 | Johnny Moss | $160,000 |
| 1975 | Sailor Roberts | $210,000 |
| 1976 | Doyle Brunson | $220,000 |
| 1977 | Doyle Brunson | $340,000 |
| 1978 | Bobby Baldwin | $210,000 |
| 1979 | Hal Fowler | $270,000 |
| 1980 | Stu Ungar | $385,000 |
| 1981 | Stu Ungar | $375,000 |
| 1982 | Jack Straus | $520,000 |
| 1983 | Tom McEvoy | $580,000 |
| 1984 | Jack Keller | $660,000 |
| 1985 | Bill Smith | $700,000 |
| 1986 | Berry Johnston | $570,000 |
| 1987 | Johnny Chan | $625,000 |
| 1988 | Johnny Chan | $700,000 |
| 1989 | Phil Helmuth Jr. | $755,000 |
| 1990 | Mansour Matloubi | $895,000 |
| 1991 | Brad Daugherty | $1,000,000 |
| 1992 | Hamid Dastmalchi | $1,000,000 |
| 1993 | Jim Betchel | $1,000,000 |
| 1994 | Russ Hamilton | $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | Dan Harrington | $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | Huck Seed | $1,000,000 |
| 1997 | Stu Ungar | $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | $1,000,000 |
| 1999 | JJ ‘Noel’ Furlong | $1,000,000 |
| 2000 | Chris Ferguson | $1,500,000 |
| 2001 | Carlos Mortensen | $1,500,000 |
| 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | $2,000,000 |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | $2,500,000 |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | $12,000,000 |
| 2007 | Jerry Yany | $8,250,000 |
| 2008 | Peter Eastgate | $9,119,517 |
| 2009 | Jerry Yany | $8,250,000 |
| 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,310 |
| 2011 | Pius Heinz | $8,715,638 |
| 2012 | Greg Merson | $8,531,853 |
| 2013 | Ryan Reiss | $8,361,570 |
| 2014 | Martin Jacobson | $10,000,000 |
| 2015 | You? | $Loads |
Way back in 1969 Tom Moore and Vic Vickery jointly invited poker fans to attend the first and last Texas Gamblers Reunion where they played several high stakes games over a few days. The roll call went as follows; Jimmy ‘the Greek’ Snyder, Rudy ‘Minnesota Fats’ Wanderone, Benny Binion, Doyle Brunson, ‘Amarillo Slim’ Preston, Johnny Moss and Puggy Pearson (apologies to those I have excluded who did attend). This event is believed to be the one that was the beginning of what was to become the greatest poker tournament in the world WSOP.
In 1970, with less than 50 tables, Binions Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas hosts the first contest with about 30 players squeezed into an alcove as Binions had no poker room. The owner, Benny Binion, is therefore credited with the founding of the World Series of Poker 38 years ago. The 1st WSOP attracted no publicity or public interest and the winner, Johnny Moss, was elected by his fellow players not by winning a final table.
Things changed in ’72, the charismatic, talkative Texan ‘Amarillo Slim’ Preston beat 12 entrants for the title. He celebrated publicly and was a brilliant ambassador for the game, bringing WSOP to the public’s attention for the 1st time. ’73 brought the first televised event where Puggy Pearson was the winner.
1974 brought Johnny Moss the first of his three victories (a record jointly held with Stu Ungar), the now familiar Doyle ‘Dolly’ Brunson then won back to back.
The apple-cart was well and truly upset however in 1979, an amateur won the title! Hal Fowler upset the big boys then slipped back into obscurity never to be heard of again.
The ‘rules’ kept getting broken, in the early 80’s Stu ‘the Kid’ Ungar first made his mark, he was the first New Yorker to win the competition. In ’82 the Ladies Event was introduced along with the $10,000 buy in Main Event.
WSOP continued to grow in size and popularity and by ’87 had outgrown the Horseshoe Casino and players were being tabled out to other casinos along the Strip. Sadly on Christmas Day ’89 Benny Binion passed away and his son Jack took over the business. Jack brought in poker veterans Jim Albrecht and Jack McClelland who set about improving the tournament, a new decade and era for WSOP had begun.
1990 brought the 1st non-American winning the crown, Mansour Matloubi was an ex pat Iranian residing in England. In ’91 WSOP attracted 200 players for the 1st time (within 5 years the numbers would swell to 300), this was also the 1st year that $1m was up for grabs.
1997 brought great popularity which brought – growth problems – yet again, this year Stu Ungar joined Johnny Moss in having won 3 championships.
By the millennium it was said that WSOP had had its day and was all but finished. The public had lost interest and were more interested in the newer tournaments such as WPT and EPT which had come along. Then, in 2003, the charming Chris Moneymaker won the competition and $2.5m, the public’s interest was caught yet again, Chris’ win had given WSOP a much needed boost. With Moneymaker’s victory all of a sudden Poker Players gained glamour and celebrity status! The prize money doubled in 2004 and Greg Raymer took home a whopping $5m, big bucks.
By now the WSOP had well and truly outgrown Binion’s Horseshoe Casino and things were definitely moving up a notch, it was time for big changes. Harrah’s Entertainment acquired the rights to the competition and in 2005 the event was held in the huge Rio all Suite Hotel and Casino and thousands made their way to Las Vegas to be part of WSOP. 2006 brought $100m in prizes, 45 tournaments, gold bracelets for all the winners. Jamie Gould defeated 8,772 fellow players and won a staggering $12m.
In 2007 a staggering 54,288 players registered all with their sights set on the coveted 55 gold bracelets that were being offered. Jerry Yang took the main event and $8,250,000 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino. The Competition now stretched over 4 weeks. 2008 brought fame and fortune Peter Eastgate when he took home a handsome $9,152,416.
Lucky Joe Cada won the Big Dance in 2009 and earned $8,546,435 and in 2010 the honour belonged to Jonathan Duhamel who took home a stunning $8,944,310. In 2011 German student Pius Heinz was the victor and won $8,715.638 – I wonder whether he bothered to complete his college course?
In 2012, 24 year old American professional poker player, who resides in Toronto, Canada, Greg Marson won two coveted WSOP 2012 bracelets including one for winning the Main Event which brought with it $8,531,853.
WSOP 2013 Main Event Championship was won by a young American, Ryan Reiss, who took home $8,361,570. The following year the WSOP Crown left the USA.
Martin Jacobson was last years’ proud winner of WSOP 2014, and took home the treasured WSOP gold bracelet and $10 million! Martin, a quiet man from Sweden, had never won a major live tournament before.
What of this years WSOP? Well, it will be bigger and better than ever before that’s for sure with a record 68 events, eleven of which will be brand new for 2015. The big boys will be there, of course, but what makes this competition so special is that there will be players who got to Las Vegas for $1 or even a freeroll. These lucky online players could be coming home with pockets full of cash and a gold bracelet on their wrists.
So, go on, if you do not play in another game this year have a go at a satellite to WSOP, our WSOP satellite and freeroll guide will give you a good idea of what is on offer at the moment. As further WSOP satellites come online they will be added so bookmark this page so you will always be in the know.
Good luck, see you in Vegas!