The annual World Series of Poker is the most celebrated poker event in the history of the game. It is a month long festival of poker which culminates in the WSOP Championship, or ‘main-event’, a $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas Hold’em freezeout tournament with the biggest prize, not just in poker, but in worldwide sport.
The World Series features over 40 tournaments besides the main-event, with a range of buy-ins from $1000 to $50,000 and encompassing almost every form of popular poker. Alongside No-limit Texas Hold’em there are many variants of Hold’em, as well as Omaha, Stud, Razz and lowball tournaments, offering something for everyone. The Championship event is the climax of this festival; winning it is regarded as the Holy Grail by almost every poker player.
The World Series of Poker can trace its origins back to the 50’s (see WSOP HISTORY article), but the festival as we know it today began in 1970 when Johnny Moss was elected champion by his peers. The following year saw the first WSOP tournament, in which the reigning champion Johnny Moss defeated just five players to win the $30,000 first prize.
Since then the WSOP has grown steadily each year until it simply exploded in 2003 when the aptly name amateur poker player Chris Moneymaker won the main-event. Along with the emergence of internet poker rooms and the first televised poker events his win helped fanned the flames of a craze that swept the world with extraordinary speed. The following year there were 2576 entrants in the main-event contributing to a $5 million first prize.
Vast numbers of people now flock to Las Vegas every June to take part in the WSOP. Players dream of winning a coveted gold bracelet – given to the winner of a WSOP event along with the prize money. Currently Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth have won the most WSOP events and hold the most bracelets with ten each.
Of course the ultimate dream of all poker players is to win the WSOP Championship event and be crowned the WSOP Champion. Last year’s winner, Joe Hachem of Australia, picked up $7.5 million when he won the title, which at the time was the biggest payout in the history of all sports. This year Jamie Gold won almost double that, collecting $12 million for first place, and even the 12th placed finisher won over $1 million.
Just four players have ever managed to win the Championship event more than once, they are: Johnny Moss (3 times), Stu Ungar (3 times), Doyle Brunson (twice) and Johnny Chan (twice). Alongside these icons of the game Phil Hellmuth, T.J. Cloutier, Men Nguyen, Berry Johnston, Chris Ferguson and Eric Seidel, for their consistent success in the WSOP, have also achieved legendary status.
With online poker rooms now offering qualifiers to the WSOP, players can win entry to ‘The Big One’ for as little as $10, and in some cases, for nothing at all. In 2005 PokerStars.com sent more than 1000 qualifiers to the WSOP, almost a fifth of the total number of competitors! In 2003 and 2004 PokerStars.com proved you didn’t have to be a pro to compete in the WSOP when amateur qualifiers Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer respectively won the title, while in 2006 over 4400 players qualified for the main-event online, with three of them making the final table. Next year it could be you...