WSOP History

The WSOP (World Series of Poker) is the major event of the poker calender.

Originating at Binion's Casino in 1970, it has run every year on an ever increasing scale.

Harrah's bought Binion's in 2004 and moved the event to their casino The Rio (for the 2005 & 2006 events).

The WSOP is a series of poker tournaments of various formats and of various buy-in levels (ranging most recently from $1000 to $50,000). Winning any of these poker tournaments earns you not only lots of money, but also a very prestigious WSOP Bracelet. Winning several bracelets is often seen as the benchmark of success for professional poker players.

The players with the most bracelets are Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan with 10 bracelets each, and Phil Hellmuth with 11 bracelets.

The main event of the WSOP is a $10,000 buy-in tounament of NL Holdem. In 2006 this event attracted over 8000 entries and the 1st Prize was $12,000,000

Recent Previous Winners of the Main Event :-

2007 :- Jerry Yang
2006 :- Jamie Gold
2005 :- Joseph Hachem (online qualifier through Poker Stars)
2004:- Greg Raymer (online qualifier through Poker Stars)
2003 :- Chris Moneymaker (online qualifier through Poker Stars)
2002 :- Robert Varkonyi

The most expensive buy-in at the WSOP is the $50,000 HORSE event. This is almost exclusively entered by poker professionals (mainly due to the high buy-in). Winning this HORSE event is much coveted by poker pros. The 2006 winner was long time pro Chip Reese. The 2007 winner was long term pro Freddy Deeb.