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Venue - Rio
All Suite Hotel and Casino Las Vegas , Nevada |
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 The tournament has been held
every year from 1971 inside Binion's Horseshoe at 128 Fremont Street Las Vegas,
NV 89101. This to everyone in the know of Vegas is the heart of Downtown.
Downtown is the original Vegas, built close to the railroad station.
The Horseshoe was originally the the El Dorado Club but
Benny Binion bought that in 1951 when
it then became the Horseshoe Club and later the Binion's Horseshoe that is
known the world over.
On Jan 9th, 2004, Binions closed its doors for
financial reasons but was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. on 22nd
January and it re-opened with some refurbishment on April 1st 2004.
 In 2005 the main schedule of tournaments in the World
Series will be held at the Rio All Suite Hotel although the final two days of
the World Championship event, which expects to sell out all 6000 seats plus 600
alternates, will be held at the traditional venue of Binions Horseshoe, July
14-15. |
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| Background |
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Nicholas "Nick the Greek"
Dandolos - considered by many to be the finest poker player in the world
during the 1950s—longed for some heads-up action. Benny called his old
Dallas friend, Johnny Moss, and the game was on. This legendary match graduated
into staggering stakes as the two lions took turns attacking and retreating.
Crowds seemed to come from nowhere, and the publicity cascaded. Many in the
crowd stuck around to try their luck at the casino games. The publicity, Benny
noted, was free. Johnny Moss ultimately won the five-month marathon dubbed "The
biggest game in town"—an estimated $2 million. When "The Greek" lost his
last pot, he rose from his chair, bowed slightly, and uttered the now-famous
phrase, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go." Dandolos then went upstairs to bed.
The crowd buzzed and stayed.
The idea for a World Poker Championship
was born. But it wasn't until 1970 that Binion decided to re-create this
excitement and stage a battle of poker giants--dubbed the "World Series Of
Poker"--to determine who would be worthy of the title "World Champion." Some of
the best players in the country were assembled, and Johnny Moss came out on
top. The decision was democratic in that the champion was decided by popular
vote.
The following year, the winner was determined by a freezeout
competition, with players being systematically eliminated until one player had
all the chips. Moss again was declared the World Champion. In 1972, when Thomas
"Amarillo Slim" Preston won the title and went on the talk-show circuit, the
WSOP began to gain a wider following. |
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| History |
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Since "Amarillo Slim" won in 1972, the freezeout format has remained
with the championship event and the game is still No-Limit Holdem. The buy-in
has always been $10,000 and those 8 players in 1972 created a first prize of
$80,000 for Slim. Johnny Moss got $30,000 the year before. The Championship
event was "winner-takes-all" until 1978!
From 1972 into the nineties
the number of players steadily rose. Closing in on the millenium however saw a
massive increase. In 2001 there were 613 players in the main event creating a
first prize of $1,500,000.
In 1971 there was only the championship
event. In '72 a 5-card stud championship was introduced and in '73 there were
five individual championships other than the main event. In the forthcoming
2002 event there will 33 seperate championships besides the final $10,000
event.
In 2001 a
record-smashing 5738 entries paid $17,720,482 to play in a month-long poker
festival. In 2002 we reached
$19,473,840 (-9% in like for like tournaments) and the player total 7324 (-6%
in like for like tournaments). In 2004 there were 2756 and in
2005 there were 5619 players. |
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| Results |
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| For the $10,000 championship event we will have daily reports. For
all other events see List of
Results. |
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