Introduction to the World Series of Poker
Poker is one of the most accepted casino games, and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is one of the most popular and largest tournaments of poker held every year in Las Vegas. In 2007 WSOP, there were 55 different events which were arranged.
The winner of this event is awarded with a bracelet (WSOP gold bracelet) and cash prize based on the sale of tickets. Most of the poker variants are featured, and in recent years, almost half of the events are variants of Texas Hold'EM. WSOP concludes with $10,000 no limit hold'em, which catches the attention of the visitors to this series; furthermore winner gets the cash prize of $1,000,000 and a beautiful Gold Plated Bracelet. Since 2005, the key sponsor of WSOP is Harrah's Entertainment.
Format:
Since 1971, the winner has also received the cash prize along with gold bracelet. In 1973, a new poker game commenced in WSOP which was named "Card Stud" and since then, many new games of poker were launched and removed. However, almost 45 events were held in 2005 WSOP tournament that covered almost every variant of poker. Like all other series and tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee, certain percentage of which is taken as buy-in price, whereas the rest of the money is distributed among the winners. In 2005 WSOP, total 52,818,610 was given to the players and the champion got $7.5 million.
Highlights:
Every year the number of participants in this extravagant event increases, and in the last two or three tournaments, the participants were simply in thousands. Although the buy-in price is now 10 times more than that of the 90s, but the interest of the people is increasing day by day in this tournament and they are gradually showing an urge to participate in this tournament. From the year 2000, the players all around the world come to participate in this mega event while before this there were only USA participants. Statistics show that in 2005, there were more than 5,000 players participating in this tournament and in 2006, almost 800 players took part in a single event; and there were more than 45 events which were arranged. So you may realize the astounding increase in the number of participants. Phil Heellmuth was one of the players who won most WSOP bracelets and 11 times runner up, while Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan also won 10 bracelets each. Doyle and his son also won a bracelet in WSOP and became the only pair of father and son who won a bracelet in WSOP. Following four players won the WSOP tournament more than one time
- Johnny Moss (1971 and 1974)
- Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977)
- Stu Ungar (1980, 1981 and 1997)
- Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988).
WSOP (World Series of Poker), started in 1968 in Holiday Hotel, was initially sponsored by Tom Moore. This first event was won by Crandell Addignton. The person behind the idea of WSOP was Benny Binon, who is also a poker player and owner of Las Vegas Casino. Every player who won the tournament or put up a remarkable performance in the tournament signed Binon's poker table after the final match.
In 2004, the Harrah's Entertainment purchased all the rights of WSOP and announced that 2005 WSOP series will be held at Rio Hotel and Casino. 2006 WSOP series were also held at Rio hotel and casino and won by Chris Gros. Different variants were introduced from 28 July to 10 august. The cash prize for the winner was announced to be of more than 12 million dollars.
Main Event:
In 1971 the buy-in was $5,000 for main event of the WSOP but now it is more than $10,000. The champion of WSOP nowadays, is not only awarded with gold bracelet and cash, but also the picture of the winner placed in the Gallery of Champions at Binion's.
Traditionally, the winner is announced as the World Champion of Poker, but the professionals introduced a way to choose the world best player through H.O.R.S.E. The buy-in for this event is 50,000USD; five times more than buy-in of main event. The winner of this event is declared as the World Champion of Poker. In 2006, Chip Reese was declared as the World Champion of Poker because he won the HORSE tournament. In 2006, Freddy Deeb and in 2008 Scotty Nguyen were declared as the world champion. Chip Reese died in December 2007, and hence the winner of HORSE in 2007 was also awarded an additional trophy of Reese Memorial along with Gold bracelet and cash.
Player of the Year:
In 2004, a new award was introduced which was named as "Player of the Year. This award is supposed to be given to the player who scores most points throughout the tournament. The points are counted from Open events where all the players participate. Since its preamble, the Main event and HORSE had no effects on the title of "Player of the Year" results. However, in 2008, the main two events counted towards this award. Following are four persons who won the "Player of the Year" award since 2004.
- Daniel Negreanu
- Allen Cunningham
- Jeff Madsen
- Tom Schneider
- Erick Lindgren
Marketing:
Like any other tournament, WSOP also sold their marketing rights to different companies. Beside Harrah's' properties and ESPN, there are hundreds of other sponsors that want to participate in this great tournament. Miller, PEPSI, Rush Energy Drinks, Coca-Cola and many other brands displayed their products during the tournament. Before 2000, this tournament was considered as an average tournament. But after the 2001 tournament, Discovery and later on ESPN began to broadcast the tournament throughout the world with complete reviews, introductions, and match summary and experts views. These tactics worked and the still grabs the attention of the visitors and other people.
WSOP television coverage:
The first film of WSOP was introduced by Binion's Horseshoe in 1973; this film was especially made to introduce this series in the world. In the early 80s, the WSOP again broadcasted live on televisions on special basis. In the beginning of 90s, the entire broadcasting rights were purchased by ESPN. At first, only a one hour video was broadcasted and this was of the main event. Since ESPN had expanded its coverage network and got the latest technology to broadcast this mega event live, every day they broadcasted one hour of live main event.
In 2000 and 2001, the Discovery Channel won the bid of broadcasting the WSOP. The Discovery channel broadcasted this mega event with complete reviews and recaps, with complete analysis and beautiful commentary. They also showed the interviews of final table players, their views and hopes for victories. This new technique of discovery channel made this tournament popular throughout the world and people from all around the world started watching this mega event. This led to the participation of new players in the tournament, although the buy-in price was still quite high.
In 2003, ESPN introduced completely a new WSOP through their splendid coverage. They not only covered the main events but also featured tables with complete analysis and reviews. The viewers sitting at home could now see the players' cards, their strategies, and each and every thing that they even can't see on the table of poker. This coverage of ESPN made it the best channel to be had for the broadcast of WSOP. Now, in 2006, ESPN spread the WSOP throughout the world and introduced a new face of this tournament that is still very impressive and charming.
World Series of Poker Europe:
The WSOP (World Series of Poker) is now introduced in Europe with same name but a little extra tag of Europe (World Series of Poker Europe). From its first match, every year, this tournament is being held at Las Vegas. In 2007, first time, the championship was arranged outside the America. The European World Series of Poker was held in three events; the first one being in England from Sep 6 to 17, 200. The buy-in limit hold'em was 10,000GBP and this event was won by a Norwegian. He won this tournament just before a day of his 19th birthday. He is also the youngest player of WSOP who won this mega tournament. This record can not be broken forever, because now the laws of gambling have changed and the minimum age limit for playing casino is 21 years, whereas he won this tournament in 18 years. Well, this record can only be broken in United Kingdom, where the legal age for playing gambling is 18 years.
According to the WSOP commissioner, there is nothing under consideration that the venue of the tournament will be changed at least for the next 3 or 4 years. Although the other casinos send their proposal with very attractive packages but still any thing like this is not under consideration. The next two possible venues for WSOP are Egypt and South Africa.
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