Among all the poker tournaments, the World Series of Poker is the largest set of tournaments all over the world.
For those who are wondering, a poker tournament is a special event of poker games that carry on until only one player emerges as a winner.
Players enter the tournament with a “buy-in” which is an amount of money everyone pays, giving them equal amount of chips.
As stakes are raised and the game progresses, players that go broke are taken out of the game.
Some would opt to re-buy or pay the “buy-in” price again, to stay in the game. The games progress until all but one player is eliminated.
The World Series of Poker usually takes place for over a month each year in Las Vegas. There are more than fifty events featuring the many varieties of poker within this duration.
For each category, the emerging winner gets a special and well coveted bracelet. The main affair and the highlight of the month-long event is the $10,000 no-limit hold'em "Main Event" where the champion gets to take home a multi-million dollar prize.
The first ever World Series of Poker took place in at the Holiday Hotel Casino in Reno with Crandell Addington as the first winner.
The set of tournaments style used in the current WSOP may be attributed more to Benny Binion and his sons, though. The first ever World Series of Poker that took place in Binion’s Horseshoe hotel in Las Vegas was in 1970.
Since then, not only did the World Series of Poker grow in popularity, but the once obscure game of poker became a sensation in casinos.
Originally, casinos avoided the game because of the difficulties they experience in keeping cheaters out. Binion developed a method of security for poker games that many casinos were able to adopt.
Harrah's Entertainment bought Binion's Horseshoe in 2004 and acquired the rights to the World Series of Poker brands.
The Binion's Horseshoe hotel was sold to MTR Gaming Group and in 2005, the World Series of Poker main event was held at the Rio Hotel and Casino by the Las Vegas Strip.
This hotel is owned by Harrah’s Entertainment. The last two days of the 2005 main event still took place at Binion's Horseshoe for the sake of tradition.
Harrahs and the World Series of Poker launched circuit tournaments throughout the United States where WSOP tournaments are scheduled for various Harrahs-owned casinos and hotels.
The circuit tournaments held nationwide qualifies players for the recently launched "Tournament of Champions" event.
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