World Series of Poker - A Brief History On The Biggest Tournament In The World
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) exploded into the public consciousness in 2003 aided by Chris Moneymaker’s seemingly improbable win and a crew of shrewd television producers who recognized, at last, how to present the natural drama of no-limit hold’em to viewers in an easily understood format.
Soon legions of amateurs swarmed online poker sites to learn a game that was wildly more exciting than what they’d grown up playing at home and, with luck, follow in Moneymaker’s footsteps.
The first official WSOP was played in 1970, but its roots actually go back to 1949 when Benny Binion, owner of Binion’s Horseshoe casino, found Nick “the Greek” Dandalos wandering Las Vegas looking for some high stakes action and offered to host a heads up, winner take all poker tournament between Dandalos and Johnny Moss. Binion, a shrewd business man, publicized the matchup and used it to lure curious onlookers into his casino.
Anyone could buy in and play a few hands, but few lasted long. The game between Moss and Dandalos lasted 5 months, with Moss eventually winning a rumored 2 million dollars from Dandalos.
In 1970, Binion expanded on his concept and invited Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, Crandell Addington, Carl Canon, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts and Puggy Pearson to play a series of cash game events. The winner of the tournament was decided by vote and Johnny Moss again came out on top.
In 1971, the “freeze out” tournament style was introduced and remains in place today in all WSOP events. Moss survived a field of six players to capture the $30,000 prize.
CBS began covering World Series of Poker events in the late 1970’s. A decade later, fledgling sports network ESPN would take over coverage; however, the event proved baffling to most viewers and drew few eyeballs.
Ironically, it’s the Word Poker Tour that can arguably be credited for much of the success of the World Series of Poker by introducing the “hole camera” into its television coverage. ESPN replicated this revolutionary idea in its 2003 coverage of the WSOP and saw ratings explode.
The popularity of the WSOP has been good for poker, but purists argue that the size of the main event field has created a circus-like atmosphere. In 2006, the WSOP Main Event drew a record 8,773 participants and paid out $12 million to winner, Jamie Gold.
Because of the luck required to make it through such a large field, many now consider the winner of the WSOP HORSE event to be the true World Series of Poker tournament champion.
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