Re: Wsop Poker
Mel Drury
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Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world's most geographically diversified casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, 75 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions and now operates casinos on four continents. The company's resorts operate primarily under the Caesars, Harrah's and Horseshoe brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker and the London Clubs International family of casinos. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments[1] held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players.[2]
As of 2020, the WSOP consists of 101 events, with most major poker variants featured. However, in recent years, over half of the events have been variants of Texas hold 'em. Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. However, starting in 2008, the Main Event final table was delayed until November. The 2012 and 2016 Main Event final tables commenced in October because of the United States presidential election.[3][4] As of May 2017, the World Series of Poker has done away with the November Nine concept and instead gone back to the old format of crowning the Main Event winner in July.[5] After adopting a hybrid online format in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Series of Poker announced a return to in-person play for the next series in September 2021, in Paradise, Nevada.[6][7]
The idea of a World Series of Poker began in 1969 with an event called the Texas Gamblers Reunion.[8] It was an invitational event sponsored by Tom Moore of Castle Hills, Texas, and held at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno.[8] This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington.[9] The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion. In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold 'em.[10] The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold 'em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first "World Champion of Poker" and received a silver cup as a prize.[8][11]
In 2004, Harrah's Entertainment (now Caesars Entertainment) purchased Binion's Horseshoe, retained the rights to the Horseshoe and World Series of Poker brands, sold the hotel and casino to MTR Gaming Group, and announced that the 2005 Series events would be held at the Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel and Casino, located just off the Las Vegas Strip.[12][8] Since 2004 the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker has been the Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The final two days of the 2005 WSOP Main Event were held downtown at what is now the MTR-operated "Binion's" in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas.[13] The WSOP added a made-for-television $2 million "freeroll" invitational Tournament of Champions (TOC) event first won by Annie Duke as a "winner-take-all" event.[14]
Starting in 2005, the WSOP began the World Series of Poker Circuit, a satellite series held at Harrah's-owned properties in the United States.[15] In addition to the $10,000 buy-in tournament at each site, qualifying players became eligible for a revamped Tournament of Champions. The 2005 TOC, made up of the top twenty qualifying players at each circuit event, along with the final table from the 2005 Main Event and the winners of nine or more bracelets (Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth) would participate in the revamped TOC at Caesars Palace. Mike Matusow won the first prize of $1 million (US), and all the players at the final table were guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 for the eighth and ninth-place finishers.[16][17]
The WSOPE moved from London to Cannes, France, in 2011. At that time, the buy-ins and payouts changed from being fixed in pounds to euros.[23] The event moved again in 2013, this time to the Paris suburb of Enghien-les-Bains.[24]
From 2013 to 2017 the WSOPE was held only in odd-numbered years, with the newly launched World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) conducted in even-numbered years.[25] WSOPE has been held annually since 2017.
In 2010, the WSOP expanded overseas once again, only this time to Gauteng, South Africa.[26] Although the 2010 event was part of the WSOP Circuit, winners did not earn a gold ring or standing for the WSOP Circuit National Championship, both of which were common for other circuit events.[27] This policy changed in 2012.[28] The WSOPA did not occur in 2011 but would come back in 2012.[29]
In 2015, the WSOP International Circuit was launched, with rounds in Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The winners of each tournament join the WSOP Circuit winners to play the WSOP Global Casino Championship.[30] The International Circuit has expanded to 13 tournaments for the 2017/18 season.[31]
The winner of each event receives a World Series of Poker bracelet and a monetary prize based on the number of entrants and buy-in amounts. Over the years, the tournament has grown in both the number of events and in the number of participants. Each year, the WSOP culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold'em "Main Event," which, since 2004, has attracted entrants numbering in the thousands. The victor receives a multi-million dollar cash prize and a bracelet, which has become the most coveted award a poker player can win.[33] The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker.[34]
Since 1971, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973, a five-card stud event was added. Since then, new events have been added and removed.[35] Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP; later on, the winners of events before 1976 were retroactively given bracelets.[36]
The tournament grew slowly for over a decade, reaching 52 participants in 1982. In the early 1980s, satellite tournaments were introduced, allowing people to win their way into the various events. By 1987, there were over 2,100 entrants in the entire series.[1] At the 2006 World Series of Poker, there were 45 events, covering the majority of poker variants. Participation in the Main Event peaked that year, with 8,773 players.[37]
Currently, Texas hold 'em, Omaha hold 'em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increasing with more players. In 2024, entry fees across all events range from $300 to $250,000, the latter being for the Super High Roller event. The Main Event, which is the highlight of the entire WSOP festival, has a buy-in of $10,000.[40][41] In the 2005 Main Event, US$52,818,610 in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with US$7.5 million as the first prize. The 2006 Main Event, won by Jamie Gold, is the largest single poker tournament by prize pool or by entrant numbers in history; Gold pocketed US$12 million for his victory.[42] In July 2010, it was announced that the winner of the 2010 Main Event would receive just under US$9 million.[43]
On June 2, 2011, the World Series of Poker and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibert announced plans for an officially sanctioned special fundraising event, known as The Big One for One Drop, starting on July 1, 2012, with a record US$1 million entry fee.[44] 11% of the money (more precisely, $111,111 from each buy-in) went to Lalibert's charity, the One Drop Foundation, and the WSOP waived its normal 10% rake of the entry fees. At the time of the original announcement, 15 of the maximum 48 seats had been taken. By early December 2011, the field size had increased to 22, the minimum required for an official bracelet tournament.[45] Among those who committed early to the event were Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel, Tom Dwan, Lalibert, billionaire businessman Phil Ruffin and Erik Seidel. On April 12, 2012, the WSOP announced that 30 players had committed to the tournament, which brought the first prize to $12.3 million, exceeding the record amount won by Jamie Gold. In the end, all 48 seats were filled, resulting in a first prize of $18.3 million.[46] Poker professional Antonio Esfandiari won the event, also receiving a special platinum WSOP bracelet.[47]
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