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History of the World Series of Poker
28-Oct-2008
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Most people have heard of the World Series of Poker, the largest and most prestigious poker tournament of all. But few know how it all began. In 1951, Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas hosted an epic heads-up poker battle between wealthy gambler Nick “the Greek” Dandalos and poker legend Johnny Moss. The legendary poker game went on for five months and in the end the Greek is said to have lost over $2 million! The match created serious business for Binion’s owner Benny Binion, who would remember the success of the event for years.
The Texas Gamblers Reunion
In 1969, this memory would serve him well when Benny attended the Texas Gamblers Reunion at the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada. The event was designed by Vic Vickrey and hosted by Tom Moore in an attempt to drum up business for the holiday. The event brought all the most famous Texas poker players to Reno, including Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts and Jack “Treetop” Strauss. Being poker players, they did what poker players do: play poker. They played all different games and played all day and all night for a week. Benny left the event knowing that he had to have something like it at his own casino. When he found out that the holiday had no plan to repeat the event, the stage was set. Benny sent out invitations to all the best poker players he could think of to attend Binion’s Horseshoe’s “World Series of Poker.”
The World Series of Poker
In May of 1970, the poker stars arrived in droves. Johnny Moss was there, as was Brunson, Slim, Strauss and Roberts. Puggy Pearson, Crandell Addington and a host of others joined them. This first World Series of Poker meeting was an informal one, with players meeting to play different games as circumstances dictated. At the end, they voted for the winner, rather than having one determined through a poker contest. That winner was the legend Johnny Moss who had beaten Nick “the Greek” in the famous game back in 1951.
The Main Event
While the players felt the event was a success, the media found it difficult to follow, since the competition was disorganized and there was no clear winner. To get around this problem, the following year Benny established a “Main Event” that would be a freezeout. All players would get the same number of starting chips, and when they were lost, the player was eliminated. The last player remaining would be the winner. In 1971, the first World Series of Poker main event was played using the game of Texas hold’em, and with Johnny Moss’s win, the WSOP and Binion’s Horseshoe Casino cemented their places in poker history.
Since then, the event has grown enormously and the winners have become big celebrities. This year, over 6,000 players showed up for the main event in July. The final has been postponed and on 9 November the remaining nine players will battle it out for a first prize of over $9.1 million!
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