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World
Series
of Poker
History
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The World
Series
of Poker
Tournament made its debut in 1970, but the idea actually came from
an
incident which happened in 1949!
In the summer of 1949, Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos asked Benny
Binion if he could stage a high-stake poker marathon. Nick stated this marathon should
take place in public view. Although very unusual, Benny Binion agreed and
the challenger was the legendary Johnny
Moss.
During the next five months, Johhny Moss and Nick the Greek, played every
poker game imaginable only stopping to sleep. Ultimately, 'the biggest
game in town' was won by Johnny Moss and cashed in an estimated $2
Million. After the final hand, the Greek stood up, bowed and uttered the
now famous words;
"Mr. Moss, I have to let you
go!" Then went
upstairs to bed.
Benny Binion realized something from this event, more significant than the prize
money and the game, was the public that gathered at the casino every single
day to watch the poker marathon. This stuck in his mind until 1970, when he
decided to re-create this excitement and stage the battle of the poker
kings, Binion called it the 'World
Series
of Poker!' The winner of
this historic poker event could then
officially call himself "The
World
Champion!" The decision of who the
champion would be was made by democratic peer vote.
The 1st. title went to Johnny
Moss!
The following year, the winner of the World
Series
of Poker was determined by knock-out.
This is where players were systematically eliminated
until one player had all the chips.
Johnny Moss won again!
In 1972, Thomas 'Amarillo Slim' Preston Won. After the
tournament, he went on the talk-show circuit, which gave the World
Series
of Poker more
exposure and a wider following. In this year, there were 7 participants. Binion was asked "is it
possible to get up to 50 participants, or more?"
Benny gazed up into the
sky and answered "It will eventually!"
When the first satellite competition took place in the early 1980's
(Offering lower buy ins), Benny Binion's prophesy came true and the popularity
of the WSOP exploded.
But even Benny Binion (who passed away in 1989) would not have
been able to foresee the enormous growth explosion that was about to take
place for the World
Series
of Poker.
In 1982, the WSOP
tournament had 52 entries.
Five years later, there were 2,141
entires and the 2002 event had 7595 participants.
The prize money
increased from $7,769,000 a decade ago to a staggering
$19,599,230 in
2002!
The World
Series
of Poker
Champion in 2004
was Greg
"fossilman" Raymer, fossilman took home a whopping $5,000,000 for his 1st.
place finish in the WSOP.
"Congratulations
Greg Raymer"
World
Series of Poker 2005 Schedule
"Win your way
to the World Series of Poker in a Free Roll -Click Here-"
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