The World Series of Poker
Nowhere has the benefit of the current world boom in poker been more felt than at the World Series of Poker. This longstanding event has always been a showcase for excellent play, but in the last few years the event has become so popular that the winner is taking home enough money to place him (or someday her) atop the total earnings list for years to come.
The World Series of Poker has always been exclusively broadcast by ESPN, but the development of the hole cam, the advent of Internet poker, and the victory of several amateurs in a row has meant that the station has greatly increased the number of hours it dedicates to the event. Let's take a look at how this all came to be.
WSOP history
Poker fan and millionaire Tom Moore of Texas was the founder of the World Series of Poker. The first tournament was first played at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno in 1968. From its inception, the tournament was meant to appeal to players from all over the world and it has always succeeded in that goal. The first winner of the WSOP was Crandall Addington.
The series of tournaments that we recognize as the WSOP today was created by Jack Binion, who promoted the game of poker using the WSOP and other platforms. The first full WSOP took place in 1970 at Binion's Horseshoe, with a series of cash games featuring five card stud, razz, seven card stud, Texas Hold 'em, and deuce to seven low ball draw. That year was the first to see a champion of the event, as Johnny Moss was elected by his peers as the best poker player. After this, the winner of the Series was the person who won the freeze out Texas hold 'em game, which came into being in 1971.
The World Series of Poker has always been a fluid event, with different variations of poker being added or taken away each year. The boom in poker has seen the number of events increase to 42 different tournaments, with participation growing from under 5,000 in the year 2000 to over 25,000 players currently (no wonder the event lasts over a month!).
There are several factors to which the growth of the tournament has been credited. The first, as mentioned above, is the broadcasting of poker worldwide with innovations such as the hole cam. Amateur players love to see if they can figure out strategy, and even non players can understand the appeal of the game more when they can see what the players are holding. Another factor, of course, is the Internet poker boom. Finally, there is the 2003 Main Event win by amateur poker player Chris Moneymake, which seems to have inspired amateur players everywhere (in fact, Moneymaker's win marked amajor turning point, with amateur players winning the Main Event in every WSOP since 2003).
In 2004 Harrah's Entertainment bought Binion's Horseshoe, bringing the WSOP and all its rights to the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In additions, the WSOP began a circuit in 2005 at Harrah's properties across the United States. The circuit culminates in the Tournament of Champions, which includes the top twenty players from each circuit event as well as any WSOP players with over nine bracelets and the final table from the previous year's WSOP Main Event.
In addition, the WSOP is now sponsoring a Player of the Year, a trend that was started in 2004 based on the format popularized by the World Poker Tour. The PYA is awarded to the player with the most points accumulated throughout the World Series, with only open events counting. The winners have been, in order of the year in which they won, Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, and 2007 Player of the Year Tom Schneider.
Although the Texas Hold 'em Main Event draws by far the most attention from fans and the media, the poker players themselves say that the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. competition is the best indicator of a poker player's quality. The event is a combination of Hold 'em, Omaha, Razz, Seven Card Stud and Eight or Better. Chip Reese won the event in 2006, and Freddy Deeb took the title in 2007. The high buy-in was a way to safeguard the professionals' game, as the field for the Main Event was becoming too crowded.
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2008 Player of the Year Standings
| Name |
WSOP Points |
Bracelets |
Cashed |
Earnings WSOP 2008 |
| Erick Lindgren |
245 pts |
1 |
5 |
$1,348,528 |
| Barry Greenstein |
235 pts |
1 |
6 |
$768,461 |
| Jacobo Fernandez |
232 pts |
0 |
7 |
$658,100 |
| John Phan |
220 pts |
2 |
5 |
$608,464 |
| David Benyamine |
220 pts |
1 |
4 |
$941,651 |
| J.C. Tran |
210 pts |
1 |
7 |
$896,392 |
| Farzad Rouhani |
195 pts |
1 |
5 |
$522,117 |
| Daniel Negreanu |
190 pts |
1 |
5 |
$520,304 |
| David Singer |
165 pts |
1 |
5 |
$365,432 |
| Chris Ferguson |
165 pts |
0 |
5 |
$677,905 |
| Vanessa Selbst |
163 pts |
1 |
3 |
$350,391 |
| Michael Mizrachi |
157 pts |
0 |
5 |
$465,154 |
| Andrew Bloch |
155 pts |
0 |
5 |
$714,995 |
| Mike Matusow |
155 pts |
1 |
4 |
$871,883 |
| Tam Hang |
155 pts |
0 |
3 |
$363,653 |
| Davidi Kitai |
150 pts |
1 |
3 |
$368,785 |
| Scotty Nguyen |
140 pts |
1 |
2 |
$2,039,628 |
| Scott Seiver |
135 pts |
1 |
4 |
$785,393 |
| Chris Bjorin |
130 pts |
0 |
6 |
$310,429 |
| Theo Tran |
130 pts |
0 |
5 |
$553,138 |
| Matthew Graham |
130 pts |
1 |
4 |
$327,435 |
| Rob Hollink |
130 pts |
1 |
3 |
$535,942 |
| Spencer Lawrence |
130 pts |
0 |
3 |
$197,057 |
| Mike DeMichele |
130 pts |
0 |
2 |
$1,383,072 |
| Erik Seidel |
127 pts |
0 |
4 |
$197,306 |
| Greg Jamison |
125 pts |
0 |
4 |
$420,949 |
| Chris Bell |
125 pts |
0 |
3 |
$321,006 |
| Jose-Luis Velador |
125 pts |
1 |
3 |
$586,135 |
| Fu Wong |
125 pts |
0 |
2 |
$311,452 |
| Ted Forrest |
125 pts |
0 |
2 |
$287,847 |
| Robert Mizrachi |
123 pts |
0 |
5 |
$155,334 |
| Alexander Kostritsyn |
120 pts |
0 |
6 |
$373,973 |
| Max Pescatori |
120 pts |
1 |
4 |
$264,780 |
| Alex Bolotin |
120 pts |
0 |
3 |
$272,962 |
| Kyle Kloeckner |
120 pts |
0 |
2 |
$266,748 |
| Jesper Hougaard |
117 pts |
1 |
3 |
$621,805 |
| Cody Slaubaugh |
115 pts |
0 |
5 |
$444,242 |
| Kirill Gerasimov |
115 pts |
0 |
4 |
$408,041 |
| Dario Alioto |
115 pts |
0 |
4 |
$253,464 |
| Shunjiro Uchida |
115 pts |
0 |
3 |
$165,190 |
| Michael Banducci |
115 pts |
1 |
3 |
$664,997 |
| Tom Chambers |
115 pts |
0 |
3 |
$166,459 |
| Marcel Luske |
115 pts |
0 |
2 |
$205,333 |
| Matt Glantz |
115 pts |
0 |
2 |
$753,312 |
| Phillip Tom |
110 pts |
1 |
3 |
$492,067 |
| David Daneshgar |
110 pts |
1 |
3 |
$631,425 |
| Danny Wong |
110 pts |
0 |
3 |
$253,817 |
| Andrew Brown |
110 pts |
1 |
2 |
$230,502 |
| Jens Voertmann |
110 pts |
1 |
2 |
$304,939 |
| Duncan Bell |
110 pts |
1 |
2 |
$682,809 |
| Nenad Medic |
110 pts |
1 |
2 |
$810,608 |
| Al Barbieri |
110 pts |
0 |
2 |
$109,974 |
| Ryan Hughes |
107 pts |
1 |
2 |
$188,964 |
| Tom Schneider |
105 pts |
0 |
5 |
$161,641 |
| John Juanda |
105 pts |
0 |
5 |
$197,192 |
| Phil Hellmuth |
105 pts |
0 |
5 |
$357,359 |
| Jamieson Pickering |
105 pts |
0 |
3 |
$235,828 |
| Philip Galfond |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$832,219 |
| Ralph Porter |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$375,913 |
| Kenny Tran |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$543,615 |
| David Woo |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$637,976 |
| Sebastian Ruthenberg |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$333,411 |
| Maxwell Greenwood |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$700,110 |
| Marty Smyth |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$863,382 |
| Jimmy Shultz |
105 pts |
1 |
2 |
$261,417 |
| Nikolay Evdakov |
100 pts |
0 |
10 |
$228,527 |
| Jerrod Ankenman |
100 pts |
0 |
3 |
$344,163 |
| Jason Young |
100 pts |
1 |
2 |
$362,585 |
| Alessio Isaia |
100 pts |
0 |
2 |
$108,390 |
| Dario Minieri |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$528,418 |
| Vitaly Lunkin |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$628,417 |
| Thang Luu |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$243,342 |
| Frank Gary |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$219,562 |
| Layne Flack |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$577,725 |
| Matt Keikoan |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$550,601 |
| Michael Rocco |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$135,753 |
| Anthony Rivera |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$483,688 |
| Joe Commisso |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$911,855 |
| Blair Hinkle |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$507,563 |
| Eric Brooks |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$415,856 |
| Grant Hinkle |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$831,462 |
| Martin Klaser |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$216,249 |
| Alexandre Gomes |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$770,540 |
| James Schaaf |
100 pts |
1 |
1 |
$256,412 |
| Jonathan Tamayo |
97 pts |
0 |
4 |
$158,736 |
| Chau Giang |
95 pts |
0 |
8 |
$138,118 |
| Greg Mueller |
95 pts |
0 |
4 |
$330,801 |
| Shannon Shorr |
95 pts |
0 |
4 |
$384,947 |
| Jeffrey Lisandro |
95 pts |
0 |
3 |
$357,270 |
| Howard Lederer |
95 pts |
0 |
3 |
$119,501 |
| Greg Hurst |
95 pts |
0 |
3 |
$177,931 |
| Daniel Makowsky |
95 pts |
0 |
2 |
$367,280 |
| Lyle Berman |
93 pts |
0 |
2 |
$498,144 |
| Hoyt Corkins |
92 pts |
0 |
5 |
$159,770 |
| David Williams |
92 pts |
0 |
4 |
$177,265 |
| Allen Cunningham |
90 pts |
0 |
5 |
$147,710 |
| Jason Gray |
90 pts |
0 |
4 |
$280,226 |
| Tim West |
90 pts |
0 |
4 |
$173,391 |
| Jeff Williams |
90 pts |
0 |
3 |
$440,491 |
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