World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments[1] held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players.[2] As of 2020, the WSOP consists of 101 events, with most major poker variants featured. Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. The 2024 WSOP was held at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, and saw record-breaking attendance for the Main Event tournament.[3] In August 2024, Caesars Entertainment announced it had sold the WSOP brand to GGPoker operator NSUS Group for $500 million.[4][5] History The idea of a World Series of Poker began in 1969 with an event called the Texas Gamblers Reunion.[6] It was an invitational event sponsored by Tom Moore of Castle Hills, Texas, and held at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno.[6] This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington.[7] The set of tournaments that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve into was the brainchild of Las Vegas casino owner and poker player Benny Binion. In 1970, the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place as a series of cash games that included five-card stud, deuce to seven low-ball draw, razz, seven-card stud, and Texas hold 'em.[8] The format for the Main Event as a freeze-out Texas hold 'em game came the next year. The winner in 1970, Johnny Moss, was elected by his peers as the first "World Champion of Poker" and received a silver cup as a prize.[6][9] Acquisition by Harrah's In 2004, Harrah's Entertainment (now Caesars Entertainment) purchased Binion's Horseshoe, retained the rights to the Horseshoe and World Series of Poker brands, sold the hotel and casino to MTR Gaming Group, and announced that the 2005 Series events would be held at the Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel and Casino, located just off the Las Vegas Strip.[10][6] Since 2004 the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker has been the Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The final two days of the 2005 WSOP Main Event were held downtown at what is now the MTR-operated "Binion's" in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas.[11] The WSOP added a made-for-television $2 million "freeroll" invitational Tournament of Champions (TOC) event first won by Annie Duke as a "winner-take-all" event.[12] 2005 expansion – WSOP Circuit Main article: World Series of Poker Circuit Starting in 2005, the WSOP began the World Series of Poker Circuit, a satellite series held at Harrah's-owned properties in the United States.[13] In addition to the $10,000 buy-in tournament at each site, qualifying players became eligible for a revamped Tournament of Champions. The 2005 TOC, made up of the top twenty qualifying players at each circuit event, along with the final table from the 2005 Main Event, and the winners of nine or more bracelets (Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth) would participate in the revamped TOC at Caesars Palace. Mike Matusow won the first prize of $1 million (US), and all the players at the final table were guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 for the eighth and ninth-place finishers.[14][15] During a break in the final table of the 2005 Main Event on July 16, Harrah's announced that eleven properties — including the recently added Bally's and Caesar's properties — would host 2005–06 WSOP Circuit events that started on August 11 in Tunica, Mississippi. One event that was scheduled for Biloxi, Mississippi, was canceled after the Grand Casino Biloxi, which was scheduled to host the event, suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Rio also hosted the 2006 World Series of Poker, which began on June 25 with satellite events and formally began the day after with the annual Casino Employee event, won in 2006 by Chris Gros. 2006 featured the Tournament of Champions on June 25 and 26, won by Mike Sexton.[16] Various events led up to the Main Event, which was held from July 28 until August 10. The first prize of $12 million was awarded to Jamie Gold.[17] 2007 expansion – WSOP Europe Main article: World Series of Poker Europe The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion of the World Series of Poker in series history. In September 2007, the first WSOP championship events outside of Las Vegas, complete with bracelets, were held.[18] The inaugural WSOPE consisted of three events held in London from September 6–17, 2007. The main event, a £10,000 buy-in no-limit hold 'em tournament, was won by Norwegian online prodigy Annette Obrestad on the day before her 19th birthday. This made her the youngest person ever to win a WSOP bracelet, a record that cannot be broken in the Las Vegas WSOP under current laws because the minimum legal age for casino gaming in Nevada is 21. Obrestad could play in the WSOPE because the minimum age for casino gaming in the United Kingdom is 18. While no definitive plans have been announced, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has indicated that in the next one to three years that other venues may start holding WSOP events.[citation needed] Two locations that have been mentioned as possible expansion sites are Egypt and South Africa,[19] and the World Series of Poker Africa was ultimately launched in South Africa in 2010. However, it is currently treated as a WSOP Circuit event, with no bracelets awarded. The next expansion of the WSOP that included bracelet events was ultimately to Australia.[20] The WSOPE moved from London to Cannes, France, in 2011. At that time, the buy-ins and payouts changed from being fixed in pounds to euros.[21] The event moved again in 2013, this time to the Paris suburb of Enghien-les-Bains.[22] From 2013 to 2017 the WSOPE was held only in odd-numbered years, with the newly launched World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) conducted in even-numbered years.[23] WSOPE has been held annually since 2017. 2010 expansion – WSOP Africa Main article: World Series of Poker Africa In 2010, the WSOP expanded overseas once again, only this time to Gauteng, South Africa.[24] Although the 2010 event was part of the WSOP Circuit, winners did not earn a gold ring or standing for the WSOP Circuit National Championship, both of which were common for other circuit events.[25] This policy changed in 2012.[26] The WSOPA did not occur in 2011 but would come back in 2012.[27] 2013 expansion – WSOP Asia Pacific Main article: World Series of Poker Asia Pacific On April 30, 2012, the WSOP and Australian casino Crown Melbourne jointly announced the creation of the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP APAC). The first edition of the event was held at Crown's Melbourne Casino from April 4–15, 2013 and featured five bracelet events in the series.[20] 2015 expansion – WSOP International Circuit In 2015, the WSOP International Circuit was launched, with rounds in Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The winners of each tournament join the WSOP Circuit winners to play the WSOP Global Casino Championship.[28] The International Circuit has expanded to 13 tournaments for the 2017/18 season.[29] 2020 expansion – WSOP Online Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions on live poker events, there was a heavy focus on online events for 2020 and 2021, with dedicated online series during both years.[30] Since 2022, the WSOP has been held on the Las Vegas Strip (Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas), after leaving the Rio.[31] 2023 expansion – WSOP Paradise In 2023, the WSOP expanded to Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas.[32] In 2024, the Main Event broke the all-time record with 10,112 entries (total prize pool: $94,041,600).