The Beginning of WSOP
WSOP (World Series of Poker), started in 1968 in Holiday Hotel, was initially sponsored by Tom Moore. This first event was won by Crandell Addignton. The person behind the idea of WSOP was Benny Binon, who is also a poker player and owner of Las Vegas Casino. Every player who won the tournament or put up a remarkable performance in the tournament signed Binon’s poker table after the final match.
In 2004, the Harrah’s Entertainment purchased all the rights of WSOP and announced that 2005 WSOP series will be held at Rio Hotel and casino. 2006 WSOP series were also held at Rio hotel and casino and won by Chris Gros. Different variants were introduced from 28 July to 10 august. The cash prize for the winner was announced to be of more than 12 million dollars.
Main Event:
In 1971 the buy-in was $5,000 for main event of the WSOP but now it is more than $10,000. The champion of WSOP nowadays, is not only awarded with gold bracelet and cash, but also the picture of the winner placed in the Gallery of Champions at Binion’s.
Traditionally, the winner is announced as the World Champion of Poker, but the professionals introduced a way to choose the world best player through H.O.R.S.E. The buy-in for this event is 50,000USD; five times more than buy-in of main event. The winner of this event is declared as the World Champion of Poker. In 2006, Chip Reese was declared as the World Champion of Poker because he won the HORSE tournament. In 2006, Freddy Deeb and in 2008 Scotty Nguyen were declared as the world champion. Chip Reese died in December 2007, and hence the winner of HORSE in 2007 was also awarded an additional trophy of Reese Memorial along with Gold bracelet and cash.
Player of the Year:
In 2004, a new award was introduced which was named as “Player of the Year. This award is supposed to be given to the player who scores most points throughout the tournament. The points are counted from Open events where all the players participate. Since its preamble, the Main event and HORSE had no effects on the title of “Player of the Year” results. However, in 2008, the main two events counted towards this award. Following are four persons who won the “Player of the Year” award since 2004.