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Origins of the WSOP |
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HOW IT ALL STARTED |
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It’s hard to believe
that when the World
Series of Poker began
back in 1970, there were
fewer than 50 poker
tables in the entire
city of Las Vegas. There
were only 70 poker
tables in the whole
state of Nevada.
Binion’s Horseshoe, the
host casino, did not
even have a poker room.
The contest that would
come to decide poker’s
first world champion was
held inside an alcove
about the size of an
ordinary hotel room.
Thirty or so gamblers
shoehorned themselves
around a few poker
tables. They didn’t know
it at the time, but they
were making poker
history.
Horseshoe Casino
patriarch and poker icon
Benny Binion is widely
credited with dreaming
up with the championship
format. But laurels
should probably go to
two lesser-known men –
Tom Moore and Vic
Vickrey. Moore, a Texan,
was part-owner of the
Holiday Casino in Reno.
Vickrey was a gambling
insider, a visionary man
with grand ideas and big
dreams. In 1969, Moore
and Vickrey jointly
invited several poker
aficionados to Reno to
attend the first (and
what turned out to be
only) Texas Gamblers
Reunion. Among those who
played in several
high-stakes cash games
spread over several days
were Jimmy “The Greek”
Snyder, Rudy “Minnesota
Fats” Wanderone, and
Benny Binion. A few
notable poker players
made trek as well,
including Doyle Brunson,
“Amarillo Slim” Preston,
Johnny Moss, and Puggy
Pearson. The seed that
would eventually blossom
into the World Series of
Poker was planted.
Indeed, one must wonder
if and how poker might
be different today had
Moore and Vickrey
sustained their annual
get-together. Instead,
they passed on the
opportunity to host a
poker gathering the
following year. What a
fateful decision that
turned out to be.
Inspired by what he had
seen in Reno a few
months earlier, Binion
pounced on what he
envisioned as a golden
opportunity. |
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THE EARLY YEARS |
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That first World Series
of Poker, with little
more than a handful of
players, attracted no
public attention and
little press coverage.
No one outside of Las
Vegas knew about the
World Series of Poker –
or cared about the
outcome. The inaugural
world champion, Johnny
Moss, did not even win a
poker tournament. He was
elected “best all-around
player” in a vote by his
peers after several days
of high-stakes card
playing.
Binion realized that
improvements had to be
made if the World Series
of Poker was ever to
gain the prestige the
title suggested. The
following year, the WSOP
was played as a
freeze-out. Seven poker
players posted a $5,000
entry fee. Johnny Moss
won the winner-take-all
prize and, therefore,
retained his title as
world champion.
Poker has a long and
storied history. But
“Amarillo Slim”
Preston’s upset victory
in 1972 has to go down
as one of the most
significant moments in
the history of the game.
Although he was one of
only twelve entries that
year, he parlayed his
personal triumph into a
tidal wave of publicity
that flooded the nation.
Afterward, the talkative
Texan became poker’s
greatest living
ambassador. He went on a
publicity tour that
brought attention and
status to the WSOP for
the first time. Over the
next decade, Preston
appeared as a guest on
The Tonight Show eleven
times. He was cast in
movies. He wrote a
best-selling book. With
Preston as the willing
matador waving a red
cape to the media, the
WSOP had caught the
public’s fancy.
In 1973, CBS Sports
televised the World
Series for the first
time. The images of
poker’s fourth annual
world championship are
comical by modern
standards. Wide
polka-dotted lapels,
lamb-chop sideburns, and
burning cigars make the
final table look more
like a time capsule, in
retrospect, than an
exhibition of poker
savvy. Nonetheless,
Puggy Pearson won a
well-deserved victory.
The WSOP was also
expanded to include four
preliminary events –
Seven-card Stud, Razz,
Deuce-to-seven Draw, and
a lower buy-in No Limit
Hold’em event. Pearson
won two of those events
as well. Indeed, 1973
was a very good year for
Mr. Pearson.
After Johnny Moss won
his third championship
the following year,
Doyle Brunson solidified
his position as one of
poker’s top players by
winning back-to-back
titles. The next major
change in format was
instituted in 1978 when
the Main Event’s prize
money was divided up for
the first time. The top
five finishers all
received a cash payout.
It was also the first
year a woman entered the
WSOP. Barbara Freer
became the first player
to break the sex
barrier, taking her
place in what had been
an all-male poker
fraternity.
Hal Fowler’s stunning
upset victory in the
1979 WSOP marked the
first time an amateur
player prevailed over
the elite. Many longtime
poker professionals were
as shocked as they were
embarrassed by the
outcome. But Fowler’s
win was a herald of
things to come in future
years. Following
Fowler’s example,
increasing numbers of
aspiring amateurs –
including many players
from overseas – began
making the annual
pilgrimage to Las Vegas
every April and May.
Sadly, Fowler was never
able to enjoy the fruits
of his contribution to
the WSOP legacy. He
never played in the WSOP
again and was mostly
forgotten afterward. |
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GROWING PAINS |
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Stu “The Kid” Ungar
burst onto the poker
scene with the full
force of a firestorm. He
was the perfect
lightning rod to
electrify what had
largely been an
eccentric enclave of
leathery Texans who were
used to winning
championships and most
of the money. Ungar won
in 1980 and repeated as
champion again in 1981.
Being from New York and
so different from his
peers in so many ways,
Ungar’s achievement was
sure to generate even
more publicity for
gambling’s grandest
event. NBC Sports
dispatched a film crew
to cover the ’81 WSOP,
which introduced poker
into millions of homes
for the first time.
By 1982, the WSOP had
expanded to eleven
preliminary events. A
Ladies World
Championship was added
to the poker menu, in
addition to the $10,000
buy-in Main Event. In
all, the thirteen events
played that year awarded
over $2.6 million in
prize money to the top
finishers.
During the early 1980s,
Jack Binion had assumed
most of the daily duties
of running the casino
from his father Benny.
His protégé, tournament
director Eric Drache,
gave poker its next
infusion when the
concept of the satellite
was born in 1983.
Attentive to the fact
that to expand further,
the World Series would
need ordinary, everyday
poker players to fill
the seats, satellites
allowed aspiring
champions an opportunity
to come and compete
against the best players
in the world. The idea
was pure genius – and it
worked.
Over the next few years,
the WSOP continued to
grow in both size and
stature. By 1987, the
minuscule Horseshoe
Casino was barely big
enough to play host to
what had become a global
gambling extravaganza.
Fields for some
tournaments were so big
that a segment of the
participants had to be
tabled at adjacent
casinos, including the
Golden Nugget and Four
Queens. When the Binion
family purchased and
eventually took over The
Mint Casino next door,
the Horseshoe finally
opened a full-time poker
room. Just when it
seemed that Binion’s
Horseshoe was the
capital of the poker
universe and Benny
Binion was its king, the
man who was largely
responsible for starting
it all died, on
Christmas Day in 1989. |
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The 1990's |
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Benny Binion’s passing
solidified son Jack’s
role as the undisputed
torch-bearer of the WSOP.
He brought in two
respected poker veterans
to run things, Jim
Albrecht and Jack
McClelland. Over the
next decade, they
presided over the World
Series – each leaving
his mark on the
tournament in a distinct
way, which included
improvements to the
structure, atmosphere,
and public perception of
the WSOP.
The Albrecht-McClelland
duo, were the ideal
taskmasters to oversee a
tournament that had
become four weeks long
and included twenty
tournaments. The makeup
of the WSOP continued to
diversify as more women
and international
players joined the
competition. Marking
1990 as the first year a
non-American won the
championship, Mansour
Matloubi, an
Iranian-born expatriate
who resided in England,
took the most
prestigious prize in
poker overseas for the
first time.
The following year, the
WSOP awarded its first
million dollar cash
prize. The Main Event
also attracted over two
hundred players for the
first time. Within five
years, three hundred
players would enter the
world championship.
Growing pains were a
major concern once again
in 1997. The Horseshoe’s
poker room was expanded
and included a temporary
tournament area that
blocked off valet
parking and the main
casino entrance for
nearly six weeks. There
wasn’t any other place
to put the World Series.
Poker players were,
quite literally, taking
up every bit of
available bit space at
the Horseshoe. That same
year, the championship
final table was played
on a mammoth stage
constructed on Fremont
Street, beneath the new
multi-million dollar
electronic canopy
overhead. Stu Ungar
joined Johnny Moss as
the only player to win
three world
championships. Sadly, he
died without playing in
another WSOP. With his
passing, at least one
record is likely to
remain unbroken. |
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THE SONIC BOOM |
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Oddly enough, poker’s
next “sonic boom”
coincided with the
deterioration and
decline of the once
renowned Horseshoe. A
split in the Binion
family resulted in
Jack’s exclusion from
WSOP operations. Many
top names boycotted the
casino and the
tournament between 1999
and 2002. Despite its
noted history, some
controversy was long
overdue at the World
Series of Poker; and a
number of high-profile
disputes, with both
dealers and players,
made headlines.
By 2003, critics were
beginning to suggest
that the WSOP’s best
days were long gone. A
new rival, the World
Poker Tour, began to
jostle for the
affections of poker
players, and the viewing
public. During initial
weeks of the 2003 World
Series, fields were
noticeably smaller, due
in large measure to
direct competition from
the WPT.
Then, Chris Moneymaker
won the World Series of
Poker and changed
everything. That win
shattered the old way of
looking at the game and
ushered in most of the
changes that are in
effect today.
Moneymaker’s staggering
victory certainly ranks
as one of the most
important, if not the
most critical event, in
the 38-year history of
the World Series of
Poker. Everything was
right for the perfect
storm. A likeable young
man, with whom millions
of potential poker
players could easily
identify, enjoyed a
dream come true. And, it
was televised to
millions of viewers
worldwide on ESPN.
Poker entered a new age
following Moneymaker’s
victory. Overnight, many
professional poker
players became
celebrities – and
celebrities suddenly
wanted to become poker
players. Poker had
captured the public’s
imagination and the
World Series became the
looking glass of a new
wonderland.
The exploding amounts of
prize money weren’t too
bad either. Moneymaker
won $2.5 million for his
victory. The following
year, another amateur
player, Greg Raymer, won
$5 million. The year
after that, $7.5 million
was the top prize.
Indeed, the World Series
seemed to have it all –
excitement, millions of
dollars in prize money,
prestige, and
international fame. What
it didn’t have was the
right venue to accompany
the growth. |
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HARRAH’S MEANS BUSINESS |
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With unprecedented
growth came many
changes. Binion’s
Horseshoe was sold off
in 2004, and Harrah’s
Entertainment acquired
the rights to the World
Series of Poker.
Fittingly, the world’s
largest gaming company
was now in charge of
poker’s biggest
spectacle. The takeover
could not have come at a
better time. In 2005,
the WSOP moved to the
RIO All-Suites Casino
and Hotel. More gaming
space meant that more
tournaments could be
added to the schedule.
“Build it and they will
come” became the
corporate mantra. And
they did. Thousands of
players flooded into Las
Vegas in subsequent
years, wildly exceeding
even the most optimistic
projections for turnout
and prize money.
By 2006, the World
Series of Poker was
comprised of 45
tournaments, all
awarding gold bracelets
to the winners. Well
over $100 million in
prize money was won,
making the WSOP the
richest event in all of
sports. Jamie Gold
overcame the largest
field in poker history
when he defeated 8,772
fellow players and won
$12 million as the top
prize last year,
surpassing the payout of
events such as
Wimbledon, The Masters,
and the Kentucky Derby –
combined.
The World Series has
also expanded its reach
beyond Las Vegas, to
nearly a dozen casinos
spread throughout the
United States. The newly
formed World Series of
Poker Circuit allowed
poker players nationwide
the opportunity to
participate in poker’s
greatest tradition.
Big corporations also
took notice. What was
once an untouchable
subculture largely
rejected by potential
advertisers and business
partners has suddenly
become a highly
desirable target
demographic. Beer
companies, auto makers,
and other mainstream
businesses are now eager
to attach themselves to
the success story that
is the World Series of
Poker. Incredibly, the
next thing on the
horizon for the World
Series might be yet
another boom. Jeffrey
Pollack is the active
Commissioner, a title
long associated with the
most successful pro
sports leagues. Later
this year, the World
Series will be expanding
into Europe. The World
Series of Poker Circuit
will also enter its
fourth season. And in
2007, the World Series
will offer 55 gold
bracelet events; by any
measure, the largest and
most ambitious poker
event ever held anywhere
in the history of the
world.
But some critics believe
poker’s popularity may
have peaked. Some people
think the World Series
of Poker can’t possibly
get any bigger. A few
words of advice: Based
on its long and rich
history, don’t bet
against it. |
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