World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker

Current season, competition or edition: 2020 World Series of Poker
Sport	Poker
Founded	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. (1970)
Founder	Benny Binion
Owner(s)	Binion's Horseshoe (1970–2004) Harrah's Entertainment (2004–2020) Caesars Entertainment (2020–present)
Most recent champion(s)	Damian Salas (Main Event winner)
Most titles	Phil Hellmuth (most bracelets, 15); Johnny Moss, Stu Ungar (most Main Event wins, 3)
Official website	Official website

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments^[1] held annually in Las Vegas 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. However, in recent years, over half of the events have been variants of Texas hold 'em. Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. However, starting in 2008, the Main Event final table was delayed until November. The 2012 and 2016 Main Event final tables commenced in October because of the United States presidential election.^[3][4] As of May 2017, the World Series of Poker has done away with the November Nine concept and instead gone back to the old format of crowning the Main Event winner in July.^[5] After adopting a hybrid online format in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Series of Poker announced a return to in-person play scheduled to start on September 30, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[6]

History[]

The idea of a World Series of Poker began in 1969 with an event called the Texas Gambling Reunion.^[7] It was an invitational event sponsored by Tom Moore of San Antonio, Texas, and held at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno.^[7] This inaugural event was won by Crandell Addington. 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.^[7]

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.^[7] Since 2004 the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker has been the Caesars Entertainment Corporation.^[9] The final two days of the main event in 2005 were held downtown at what is now the MTR-operated "Binion's" in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas. The WSOP also 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.

2005 expansion – WSOP Circuit[]

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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. 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.

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. 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.

2007 expansion – WSOP 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.^[10] The inaugural WSOPE consisted of three events held in London from September 6–17, 2007. The main event, a GBP 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,^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] The event moved again in 2013, this time to the Paris suburb of Enghien-les-Bains.^[14]

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.^[15] WSOPE has been held annually since 2017.

2010 expansion – WSOP Africa[]

In 2010, the WSOP expanded overseas once again, only this time to Gauteng, South Africa. 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.^[16] This policy changed in 2012.^[17] The WSOPA did not occur in 2011 but would come back in 2012.

2013 expansion – WSOP 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.^[12]

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.^[18] The International Circuit has expanded to 13 tournaments for the 2017/18 season.^[19]

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.

Number of bracelet events per year[]

Year	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
Events	1 (cash)	5	2	8	6	5	8	13	11	12
Year	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Events	12	13	14	14	14	14	12	12	12	14
Year	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Events	15	18	20	21	22	24	24	21	21	16
Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Events	25	26	35	36	33	43	45	55 (+3 Europe)	55 (+4 Europe)	57 (+4 Europe)
Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Events	57 (+5 Europe)	58 (+7 Europe)	61 (+7 Europe)	62 (+8 Europe) (+5 Asia Pac)	65 (+10 Asia Pac)	68 (+10 Europe)	69	74 (+11 Europe)	78 (+10 Europe)	90 (+15 Europe)
Year	2020	2021
Events	1 (+85 Online)	88 (+74 Online)

Format[]

The winner of each event receives a World Series of Poker bracelet and a monetary prize based on the number of entrants and buy-in amounts. Over the years, the tournament has grown in both the number of events and in the number of participants. Each year, the WSOP culminates with the $10,000 no-limit hold'em "Main Event," which, since 2004, has attracted entrants numbering in the thousands. The victor receives a multi-million dollar cash prize and a bracelet, which has become the most coveted award a poker player can win.^[20] The winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker.^[21]

Since 1971, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. In 1973, a five-card stud event was added. Since then, new events have been added and removed. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP; later on, the winners of events before 1976 were retroactively given bracelets.^[22]

The tournament grew slowly for over a decade, reaching 52 participants in 1982. In the early 1980s, satellite tournaments were introduced, allowing people to win their way into the various events. By 1987, there were over 2,100 entrants in the entire series.^[1] At the 2006 World Series of Poker, there were 45 events, covering the majority of poker variants. Participation in the Main Event peaked that year, with 8,773 players.^[23]

The number of participants in the WSOP grew every year from 2000 until 2006. Following 2006, new online gambling legislation restricted the number of online qualifiers to the event. 2007 was the first dip in numbers in the 21st century while in 2008 more people participated than the previous year. In 2000, there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. In the main event alone, the number of participants grew from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006, and has hovered between 6,300 and 7,200 entrants in the eleven years since.^[24] Phil Hellmuth has won the most bracelets with 15 followed by Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Ivey with ten bracelets each. Crandell Addington is the only player to place in the top ten of the World Series of Poker Main Event eight times, albeit in earlier years with small fields compared to modern times. Four players have won the Main Event multiple times: Johnny Moss (1970, 1971, and 1974), Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977), Stu Ungar (1980, 1981, and 1997) and Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988). Bracelet winners who first achieved fame in other fields include French actor/singer Patrick Bruel (in 1998), Danish soccer player Jan Vang Sørensen (in 2002), American actress Jennifer Tilly (in 2005), and American musician/record producer Steve Albini (in 2018). In recent years, there have been non-bracelet events at the WSOP; two of the most notable are the "World Series of Rock Paper Scissors" and "Ante Up for Africa."

Currently, Texas hold 'em, Omaha hold 'em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants are played. H.O.R.S.E. has been played in the past and returned in 2006. Also, S.H.O.E. has been played in the past, and returned in 2007. Other events played in the past include Chinese poker, Five card stud, and many others. Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes an entry fee (a percentage between 6% and 10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increasing with more players. In the 2005 Main Event, US$52,818,610 in prize money was distributed among 560 players, with US$7.5 million as the first prize. The 2006 Main Event, won by Jamie Gold, is the largest single poker tournament by prize pool or by entrant numbers in history; Gold pocketed US$12 million for his victory. In July 2010, it was announced that the winner of the 2010 Main Event would receive just under US$9 million.

On June 2, 2011, the World Series of Poker and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté announced plans for an officially sanctioned special fundraising event, known as The Big One for One Drop, starting on July 1, 2012, with a record US$1 million entry fee.^[25] 11% of the money (more precisely, $111,111 from each buy-in) went to Laliberté's charity, the One Drop Foundation, and the WSOP waived its normal 10% rake of the entry fees. At the time of the original announcement, 15 of the maximum 48 seats had been taken. By early December 2011, the field size had increased to 22, the minimum required for an official bracelet tournament.^[26] Among those who committed early to the event were Johnny Chan, Daniel Negreanu, Jonathan Duhamel, Tom Dwan, Laliberté, billionaire businessman Phil Ruffin and Erik Seidel. On April 12, 2012, the WSOP announced that 30 players had committed to the tournament, which brought the first prize to $12.3 million, exceeding the record amount won by Jamie Gold. In the end, all 48 seats were filled, resulting in a first prize of $18.3 million.^[27] Poker professional Antonio Esfandiari won the event, also receiving a special platinum WSOP bracelet.^[28]

Main Event[]

Since 1972, the Main Event of the WSOP has been the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'em (NLHE) tournament (in 1971 the buy-in was $5,000 and the inaugural 1970 event was an invitational with winner determined by a vote from the players). Winners of the event not only get the largest prize of the tournament and a gold bracelet, but additionally their picture is placed in the Gallery of Champions at Binion's.

The winner of the Main Event has traditionally been given the unofficial title of World Champion. However, some believe that no-limit hold 'em is not the optimal structure for determining a champion poker player. In 2002, Daniel Negreanu argued that the Main Event should switch to pot-limit hold 'em, believing that pot-limit required a more complete set of poker skills than no-limit, although he admitted that such a change would likely never be made.^[29] However, after the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E./Poker Players Championship event was added, many of the game's top professionals, including Negreanu, have since stated that this tournament ultimately decides the world's best player. The $50,000 buy-in, being five times larger than the buy-in for the Main Event, has thus far tended to deter amateurs from playing in this event, and the variety of games played require a broader knowledge of poker. The first $50,000 event, conducted as a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, was won by Chip Reese in 2006. In 2010, the $50,000 event changed from H.O.R.S.E. to an "8-game" format, adding no-limit hold 'em, pot-limit Omaha, and 2–7 triple draw to the mix, and was rechristened The Poker Players Championship,^[30][31] with Michael Mizrachi winning the first edition of the revamped event.^[32] Since Reese's death in December 2007, the winner of this event receives the David 'Chip' Reese Memorial Trophy in addition to the bracelet and the prize money.

There have been many memorable moments during the main events, including Jack Straus's 1982 comeback win after discovering he had one $500 chip left when he thought he was out of the tournament. The end of the 1988 main event was featured in the movie Rounders. Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, the winners in 2003 and 2004, both qualified for the main event through satellite tournaments at the PokerStars online card room. Jerry Yang, the winner in 2007, had only been playing poker for two years prior to his victory. He won his seat at a $225 satellite tournament at Pechanga Resort & Casino, in California. With the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 online poker sites have been barred from purchasing entrance directly for their users.

WSOP Main Event winners[]

Year	Winner	Winning hand	First place prize (US$)	Entrants	Runner-up	Losing hand
1970	Johnny Moss	N/A	N/A	7	N/A	N/A
1971	Johnny Moss (2)	N/A	30,000	6	Walter "Puggy" Pearson	N/A
1972	Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Jr.	K♥ J♦	80,000	8	Walter "Puggy" Pearson	6  6
1973	Walter "Puggy" Pearson	A♠ 7♠	130,000	13	Johnny Moss	K♥ J♠
1974	Johnny Moss (3)	3♥ 3♠	160,000	16	Crandell Addington	A♣ 2♣
1975	Brian "Sailor" Roberts	J♠ J♥	210,000	21	Bob Hooks	J♣ 9♣
1976	Doyle Brunson	10♠ 2♠	220,000	22	Jesse Alto	A♠ J♦
1977	Doyle Brunson (2)	10♠ 2♥	340,000	34	Gary Berland	8♥ 5♣
1978	Bobby Baldwin	Q♦ Q♣	210,000	42	Crandell Addington	9♦ 9♣
1979	Hal Fowler	7♠ 6♦	270,000	54	Bobby Hoff	A♣ A♥
1980	Stu Ungar	5♠ 4♠	385,000	73	Doyle Brunson	A♥ 7♠
1981	Stu Ungar (2)	A♥ Q♥	375,000	75	Perry Green	10♣ 9♦
1982	Jack Straus	A♥ 10♠	520,000	104	Dewey Tomko	A♦ 4♦
1983	Tom McEvoy	Q♦ Q♠	540,000	108	Rod Peate	K♦ J♦
1984	Jack Keller	10♥ 10♠	660,000	132	Byron Wolford	6♥ 4♥
1985	Bill Smith	3♠ 3♥	700,000	140	T. J. Cloutier	A♦ 3♣
1986	Berry Johnston	A♠ 10♥	570,000	141	Mike Harthcock	A♦ 8♦
1987	Johnny Chan	A♠ 9♣	625,000	152	Frank Henderson	4♦ 4♣
1988	Johnny Chan (2)	J♣ 9♣	700,000	167	Erik Seidel	Q♣ 7♥
1989	Phil Hellmuth	9♠ 9♣	755,000	178	Johnny Chan	A♠ 7♠
1990	Mansour Matloubi	6♥ 6♠	895,000	194	Hans Lund	4♦ 4♣
1991	Brad Daugherty	K♠ J♠	1,000,000	215	Don Holt	7♥ 3♥
1992	Hamid Dastmalchi	8♥ 4♣	1,000,000	201	Tom Jacobs	J♦ 7♠
1993	Jim Bechtel	J♠ 6♠	1,000,000	231	Glenn Cozen	7♦ 4♥
1994	Russ Hamilton	K♠ 8♥	1,000,000	268	Hugh Vincent	8♣ 5♥
1995	Dan Harrington	9♦ 8♦	1,000,000	273	Howard Goldfarb	A♥ 7♣
1996	Huck Seed	9♦ 8♦	1,000,000	295	Bruce Van Horn	K♣ 8♣
1997	Stu Ungar (3)	A♥ 4♣	1,000,000	312	John Strzemp	A♠ 8♣
1998	Scotty Nguyen	J♦ 9♣	1,000,000	350	Kevin McBride	Q♥ 10♥
1999	Noel Furlong	5♣ 5♦	1,000,000	393	Alan Goehring	6♥ 6♣
2000	Chris Ferguson	A♠ 9♣	1,500,000	512	T. J. Cloutier	A♦ Q♣
2001	Juan Carlos Mortensen	K♣ Q♣	1,500,000	613	Dewey Tomko	A♠ A♥
2002	Robert Varkonyi	Q♦ 10♠	2,000,000	631	Julian Gardner	J♣ 8♣
2003	Chris Moneymaker	5♦ 4♠	2,500,000	839	Sam Farha	J♥ 10♦
2004	Greg Raymer	8♠ 8♦	5,000,000	2,576	David Williams	A♥ 4♠
2005	Joe Hachem	7♣ 3♠	7,500,000	5,619	Steve Dannenmann	A♦ 3♣
2006	Jamie Gold	Q♠ 9♣	12,000,000	8,773	Paul Wasicka	10♥ 10♠
2007	Jerry Yang	8♦ 8♣	8,250,000	6,358	Tuan Lam	A♦ Q♦
2008	Peter Eastgate	A♦ 5♠	9,152,416	6,844	Ivan Demidov	4♥ 2♥
2009	Joe Cada	9♦ 9♣	8,547,042	6,494	Darvin Moon	Q♦ J♦
2010	Jonathan Duhamel	A♠ J♥	8,944,310	7,319	John Racener	K♦ 8♦
2011	Pius Heinz	A♠ K♣	8,715,638	6,865	Martin Staszko	10♣ 7♣
2012	Greg Merson	K♦ 5♦	8,531,853	6,598	Jesse Sylvia	Q♠ J♠
2013	Ryan Riess	A♥ K♥	8,361,570	6,352	Jay Farber	Q♠ 5♠
2014	Martin Jacobson	10♥ 10♦	10,000,000	6,683	Felix Stephensen	A♥ 9♥
2015	Joe McKeehen	A♥ 10♦	7,683,346	6,420	Joshua Beckley	4♣ 4♦
2016	Qui Nguyen	K♣ 10♣	8,005,310	6,737	Gordon Vayo	J♠ 10♠
2017	Scott Blumstein	A♥ 2♦	8,150,000	7,221	Dan Ott	A♦ 8♦
2018	John Cynn	K♣ J♣	8,800,000	7,874	Tony Miles	Q♣ 8♥
2019	Hossein Ensan	K♥ K♣	10,000,000	8,569	Dario Sammartino	8♠ 4♠
2020	Damian Salas	K♦ J♠	2,550,969	1,379	Joseph Hebert	A♦ Q♠

WSOP Main Event records[]

These records do not include WSOP Europe or Asia Pacific Main Events.^[33]

• Most Main Event wins: Johnny Moss (3), Stu Ungar (3)
• Most Main Event final tables: Jesse Alto (7)
• Most Main Event money finishes: Berry Johnston (10)
• Most Main Event wins in consecutive years: Doyle Brunson (2), Johnny Chan (2), Johnny Moss (2), Stu Ungar (2)
• Most Main Event final tables in consecutive years: Bob Hooks (4, 1973–1976), Johnny Moss (4, 1971–1974)
• Most Main Event money finishes in consecutive years: Ronnie Bardah (5, 2010–2014)^[34]
• Highest Main Event earnings: Jamie Gold ($12,000,000)
• Youngest Main Event winner: Joe Cada (21 years, 357 days)
• Oldest Main Event winner: Johnny Moss (66 years, 358 days)
• Most Main Event participations: Howard Andrew (41, 1974–2014)
• Oldest Main Event participant: Jack Ury (97 years, 2010)^[35]

WSOP Europe Main Event winners[]

Year	Winner	Winning hand	Prize	Entrants	Runner-up	Losing hand
2007	Annette Obrestad	7♥ 7♠	£1,000,000	362	John Tabatabai	5♠ 6♦
2008	John Juanda	K♠ 6♣	£868,800	362	Stanislav Alekhin	A♣ 9♠
2009	Barry Shulman	10♠ 10♣	£801,603	334	Daniel Negreanu	4♠ 4♦
2010	James Bord	10♦ 10♥	£830,401	346	Fabrizio Baldassari	5♠ 5♥
2011	Elio Fox	A♦ 10♠	€1,400,000	593	Chris Moorman	A♥ 7♠
2012	Phil Hellmuth	A♥ 10♦	€1,058,403	420	Sergii Baranov	A♠ 4♣
2013	Adrián Mateos	A♠ K♣	€1,000,000	375	Fabrice Soulier	9♦ 8♦
2015	Kevin MacPhee	A♦ 4♦	€883,000	313	David Lopez	K♥ K♣
2017	Marti Roca de Torres	Q♥ 5♦	€1,115,207	529	Gianluca Speranza	10♠ 8♦
2018	Jack Sinclair	Q♥ 9♣	€1,122,239	534	Laszlo Bujtas	J♦ 7♠
2019	Alexandros Kolonias	A♠ K♠	€1,133,678	541	Claas Segebrecht	3♦ 3♣

WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event winners[]

Year	Winner	Winning hand	Prize	Entrants	Runner-up	Losing hand
2013	Daniel Negreanu	2♠ 2♥	A$1,038,825	405	Daniel Marton	A♠ 7♠
2014	Scott Davies	6♦ 6♠	A$850,136	329	Jack Salter	Q♣ 10♣

WSOP Online Main Event winners[]

Year	Winner	Winning hand	Prize	Entrants	Runner-up	Losing hand
2020	Stoyan Madanzhiev	7♦ 6♥	$3,904,686	5,802	Wenling Gao	A♦ A♣
2021	Aleksei Vandyshev	10♠ 10♥	$2,543,073	4,092	Edson Tsutsumi	7♠ 7♣

Players[]

Poker Hall of Fame[]

Since its inception in 1979, the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame has honored 42 individuals.^[36] Selection criteria for players include having competed against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, and played consistently well to gain the respect of their peers. For non-players, selection is based on positive and lasting contributions to the overall growth and success of poker.^[37]

Player of the Year[]

Since 2004, a Player of the Year (POY) award has been given to the player with the most points accumulated throughout the WSOP. As of 2019, fifteen different players have won the sixteen awards, with Daniel Negreanu as the only player to win the award more than once.

Only "open" events in which all players can participate count in the standings; this eliminates the Seniors, Ladies, and Casino Employee events.^[38] Beginning with the 2006 World Series of Poker, the Main Event and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. competition had no effect on the outcome of the winner of the Player of the Year award. In the 2008 World Series of Poker, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event counted toward the Player of the Year award, but the Main Event did not. Since 2009, all open events, including the Main Event, count towards Player of the Year. The Player of the Year standings were based upon performance solely at the WSOP in Las Vegas up until 2010, but beginning in 2011 have also taken the World Series of Poker Europe into account, and starting in 2013 also include events in the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific. The 2011 WSOP Player of the Year organized by Bluff Magazine used a different scoring system which took into account field sizes and buy-in amounts when calculating points earned.^[39] This scoring system has been used ever since.

Year	Winner	Bracelets	Final tables	Money finishes	WSOP earnings (US$)	Runner-up
2004	Daniel Negreanu	1	5	6	346,280	Ted Forrest
2005	Allen Cunningham	1	4	5	1,007,115	Mark Seif
2006	Jeff Madsen	2	4	4	1,467,852	Phil Hellmuth
2007	Tom Schneider	2	3	3	416,829	Michael Binger
2008	Erick Lindgren	1	3	5	1,348,528	Barry Greenstein
2009	Jeff Lisandro	3	4	6	807,521	Ville Wahlbeck
2010	Frank Kassela	2	3	6	1,255,314	Michael Mizrachi
2011	Ben Lamb	1	4	5	5,352,970	Phil Hellmuth
2012	Greg Merson	2	2	5	9,785,354	Phil Hellmuth
2013	Daniel Negreanu	2	4	10	1,954,054	Matthew Ashton
2014	George Danzer	3	5	10	878,933	Brandon Shack-Harris
2015	Mike Gorodinsky	1	3	8	1,766,487	Jonathan Duhamel
2016	Jason Mercier[40]	2	4	11	960,424	Paul Volpe
2017	Chris Ferguson	1	3	23	428,423	John Racener
2018	Shaun Deeb	2	4	20	2,545,623	Ben Yu
2019	Robert Campbell	2	5	13	750,844	Shaun Deeb
2020	not awarded

Since 2016, the WSOP payout a bigger percentage of the field (15% instead of 10% until then).^[41]

Bracelets[]

Bracelets	Player	Main Event wins
15	Phil Hellmuth	2[Note 1]
10	Doyle Brunson	2
	Johnny Chan	2
	Phil Ivey	0
9	Johnny Moss	3
	Erik Seidel	0
7	Billy Baxter	0
	Men Nguyen	0

Notes

Money finishes[]

Information correct as of 3 January 2021.

Money finishes	Player	Bracelets
166	Daniel Negreanu	6
164	Phil Hellmuth	15
161	Chris Ferguson	6
130	Erik Seidel	9
126	Roland Israelashvili	0
110	Barry Greenstein	3
102	Yueqi Zhu	1
100	Men Nguyen	7
	Ben Yu	3
95	Max Pescatori	4

Career earnings[]

Information correct as of 3 January 2021.

Career earnings	Player	Bracelets
$21,917,460	Antonio Esfandiari	3
$18,705,140	Daniel Negreanu	6
$17,413,780	Dan Colman	1
$15,034,240	Phil Hellmuth	15
$14,644,200	Jonathan Duhamel	3
$14,124,130	Justin Bonomo	3
$13,610,090	Joe Cada	4
$13,002,460	Fedor Holz	2
$12,388,310	Elton Tsang	0
$12,198,920	Jamie Gold	1

Records[]

Since its inception, Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss are the only players to have won the Main Event three times. However, Moss's first victory came in a different format, as he was elected winner by vote of his fellow players at the conclusion of what was then a timed event. Moss, Ungar, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan are the only people who have won the Main Event in consecutive years. Chan's second victory in 1988 was featured in the 1998 film Rounders.

Phil Hellmuth holds multiple WSOP records including most bracelets, most WSOP cashes, and most WSOP final tables. He is also the only player to have won the Main Events of both the WSOP and WSOP Europe.^[42][43]

In recent years, the prize pool for the WSOP Main Event has become so large that the winner instantly becomes one of the top money winners of WSOP and even in tournament poker history. Before July 2012, the top seven players on the all-time WSOP Earnings list were Main Event champions from 2005 to 2011, among whom Jamie Gold topped those seven, he won the 2006 Main Event, which had then the biggest first prize for a single tournament, and still is the largest poker tournament by prize pool in history. However, the all-time leader is currently poker professional Daniel Negreanu, who has not won a Main Event, although he won the inaugural WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event in 2013. He is followed by professionals Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Colman, both also yet to win a Main Event in Las Vegas.

The list below includes the WSOP Europe and WSOP Asia-Pacific, but excludes WSOP Circuit events and other non-bracelet events. The results are updated through the 2014 WSOP APAC.

Overall[33]
Most bracelets	Phil Hellmuth	15
Most final tables	Phil Hellmuth	59
Most money finishes	Daniel Negreanu	166
Highest career earnings	Antonio Esfandiari	$21,917,460
Highest earnings from a single event	Antonio Esfandiari	$18,346,673 (2012 Big One for One Drop)
Youngest bracelet winner	Annette Obrestad	18 years, 364 days (2007 WSOPE Main Event)
Oldest bracelet winner	Johnny Moss	81 years, 0 days (1988 $1,500 Limit Ace to Five Draw)
Most bracelets in one year	Puggy Pearson (1973) Phil Hellmuth (1993) Ted Forrest (1993) Phil Ivey (2002) Jeff Lisandro (2009) George Danzer (2014)	3
Most years between bracelets	Jim Bechtel (1993, 2019)	26
Most final tables in one year	An Tran (1992)	6
Most money finishes in one year	Chris Ferguson (2017)	23
Most consecutive years with at least one bracelet	Bill Boyd (1971–1974) Doyle Brunson (1976–1979) Loren Klein (2016–2019)	4
Most consecutive years with at least one money finish	Mike Sexton (1988–2019)	32
Most Player of the Year awards (since 2004)	Daniel Negreanu (2004, 2013)	2
Oldest WSOP event participant	Jack Ury (2010)	97 years

Women at the WSOP[]

At present, women make up around 5% of the field in all the events at the annual WSOP tournament.^[44] Vanessa Selbst, Barbara Enright, Nani Dollison and Kristen Bicknell all have won 3 WSOP Bracelets.^[45]

Last Woman Standing[]

In 2015, Kelly Minkin finished in 29th place in the Main Event earning the "Last Woman Standing".^[46]

In the 2007 World Series of Poker, Maria Ho was the last woman remaining in the Championship Event, placing 38th out of 6,358 players and earning a $237,865 payday. She repeated this accomplishment in 2014, when she came in 77th place out of 6,683 players. Her 27th place "Last Woman Standing" finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event along with a 2017 6th place final table finish makes Maria the only player to ever hold the title Last Woman Standing four times over and at both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Events.^{[47][circular reference]}

In 1995, Barbara Enright became the only woman to make the Final Table of the World Series of Poker, finishing in 5th place. She also finished in the money of the Main Event in 2005. An Ambassador of Poker League of Nations, Barbara is the first woman to win two WSOP bracelets, the first woman to win three bracelets, and the first woman to win an open event at the World Series of Poker. Barbara is also the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, and the Senior Poker Hall of Fame, making her the only poker player to be in all three poker halls of fame.

WSOP Ladies Championship Events[]

In 1977, the first Ladies only event was introduced in the form of $100 buy-in Stud Poker Tournament. Jackie McDaniels won that event to become the first Ladies Champion. She won one of the smallest prizes ($5,580) in WSOP history. By 2007, the popularity of the Ladies Event had grown to the point that it became the first Ladies-only event to have a prize pool greater than $1,000,000. The Ladies played Seven Card Stud for the event's first two decades, but have been playing Texas hold 'em since 2001.

WSOP television coverage[]

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1970s[]

The earliest filming of the World Series was a special produced by Binion's Horseshoe in 1973 and narrated by Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. CBS began covering the World Series in the late 1970s.

1980s[]

In the early 1980s, the event was again broadcast as specials. In the late 1980s, the World Series returned to television as ESPN took over broadcasting. Initially, coverage only consisted of just a single one-hour taped-delay broadcast of the Main Event.

1990s[]

ESPN Classic currently airs many of the old broadcasts from the mid-1990s and beyond. Since no "pocket cam" existed, very few hole cards were actually shown to television viewers. Generally, ESPN used poker-playing actors such as Dick Van Patten, Vince Van Patten, and Gabe Kaplan, with either the tournament director (usually ) or a poker professional, of which one was Phil Hellmuth, joining the team. Unlike today's coverage, ESPN featured no pre-taped interviews or profiles on the players. In addition, the commentators were generally on the casino floor itself.

In the 1994 coverage of the final hand of the Main Event shows Hugh Vincent holding 8♣ 5♥ . The flop was 8♣ 2♠ 6♦, indicating that there were two 8♣ in the deck. The tournament director announces that Hugh Vincent needed two running spades to win. The likely hand for Hugh Vincent was 8♠ 5♠, but there is no known video of the actual hand turned over by Hugh Vincent.^[48]

2000s[]

Early 2000s[]

From 1999 to 2001, the World Series of Poker was broadcast by The Discovery Channel. These hour-long programs presented more of an overview or recap of the WSOP as opposed to broadcasting an actual live event with play-by-play analysis and color commentary. The Discovery Channel's broadcast also featured final table players interviews interlaced throughout the show. ESPN would resume coverage the following year.

ESPN's coverage in 2002 was typical of their coverage in the 1990s (recorded in video, little or no post-production commentary or player profiles, no card cams). However, the final table broadcast was expanded over two one-hour episodes. The 2002 WSOP was the first with the "sneak peek" (later called the pocket cam, or hole cam).

2003 expansion[]

In 2003, Fred Christenson secured the long-term rights acquisition for ESPN,^[49] and the channel expanded their coverage to new heights with their coverage of the WSOP. They included coverage of the entire tournament, with a "Featured Table". At this table, the viewers could see the player's hole cards and subsequent strategy. The action was also broadcast as if live, though on tape-delay. 2003 was the first year that the broadcast covered action preceding the final table. Since then, ESPN has greatly expanded its coverage to include many of the preliminary events of the WSOP, especially Texas Hold 'Em. Also, their coverage of the main event now typically includes at least one hour program on each day. For the first two years of its existence, ESPN was broadcasting one hour programs of the "circuit" events that the WSOP has at various Harrah's-owned casinos, but ESPN did not renew these events. ESPN's coverage now includes many of the trappings of sports coverage, such as lighter segments (called "The Nuts") and interviews. ESPN's coverage has been largely driven by Matt Maranz, Executive Producer for the WSOP telecasts. Maranz previously worked on ESPN's football pre-game show, and has also produced taped segments for NBC's Olympic coverage.

2004–present[]

Coverage would increase in 2004 and 2005 to include preliminary events from the WSOP, in addition to the "Main Event". ESPN has expanded poker to all-new levels, especially with their coverage of the 2006 WSOP, including providing the entire final table of the 2006 Main Event via pay-per-view airing. In 2008, ESPN experimented with the idea of a delayed final table. This idea presented greater sponsorship opportunities and notoriety, culminating in a recap of the Main Event and the conclusion of the 2008 Main Event final table. In 2009, ESPN announced they would again move the final table to November 2009. The WSOP also decided there would be no rebuy events in 2009. The decision was reached because of complaints that rebuy events provided an unfair advantage to professionals with no limitation on how much money they can spend for an event. There were 57 bracelet events that year. The 2010 WSOP had the same number of bracelet events as in 2009, again with no rebuy events.

With 58 bracelet events and no rebuy events, the 2011 WSOP featured unprecedented "nearly live" coverage, with broadcasts being delayed by much smaller amounts of time while still satisfying Nevada Gaming Commission regulators. Caesars Entertainment, via WSOP.com, streamed final-table coverage of all bracelet events on a 5-minute delay, although without pocket cams. The ESPN family of networks aired 36 hours of Main Event coverage leading up to the November Nine on a 30-minute delay, showing the hole cards of all players who voluntarily entered the pot once the hand ended. The Main Event final table was broadcast on a 15-minute delay with the same policy regarding hole cards. The first day of the final table was aired on ESPN2 and the final day on ESPN, with both days also streamed on ESPN3 and WSOP.com.

POKER PROductions has produced the World Series of Poker Europe since 2008 and World Series of Poker since 2011. Former pro turned executive producer Mori Eskandani's team pioneered the live broadcast format seen at the WSOP since 2011. POKER PROductions has filmed WSOP bracelet final tables and the WSOP Main Event for PokerGO, a subscription video on demand service. PokerGO has had exclusive WSOP broadcast rights since 2017, with shared coverage of select events appearing on PokerGO.

WSOP broadcasters[]

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Marketing[]

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The WSOP has corporate sponsors and licensed products which pay fees to market themselves as an official sponsors and/or licensees and exclusively use the WSOP insignia and cross-promote with their events. Besides the Harrah's properties and ESPN, major sponsors have included Jack Links Beef Jerky, Miller Brewing's "Milwaukee's Best" brand of beers, Pepsi's SoBe Adrenaline Rush energy drink (sponsors of the 2005 TOC), Helene Curtis's Degree brand of anti-perspirant/deodorant, United States Playing Card's Bicycle Pro Cards, Bluff Magazine, GlaxoSmithKline/Bayer's Levitra erectile dysfunction medicine, and The Hershey Company. Licensees include Glu Mobile, Activision (video games for different platforms such as Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2, and PC, featuring computer-generated versions of stars like Chris Ferguson), and products made by different companies ranging from chip sets, playing cards, hand-held games, and clothing like caps and shirts. The official playing cards and chips are manufactured by Excalibur Electronics, Inc. which is based out of Miami, Florida and has been the main chip licensee since 2005. The fees and licenses bring in more than a million dollars to Harrah's.

DVD releases[]

In 2003^[50] and 2004,^[51] DVD sets were released by ESPN of the Main Event.

Video games[]

In 2005, a video game based on the tournament series, titled World Series of Poker, was released for several consoles and PC. A sequel called World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions came out in 2006. In 2007, World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets was released. WSOP video poker machines now appear at some Harrah's casinos; the machines are standard video poker machines, but have a bonus feature which allows a player to play a modified game of Texas Hold 'em against the machine.^[52]

WSOP Poker Academy[]

Beginning in 2007, Harrah's announced the creation of the World Series of Poker Academy, a poker school aimed at providing poker players with the skills needed to win a WSOP bracelet. The instructors for the Academy include Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Scott Fischman, Mark Kroon, Mark Seif, Alex Outhred, and former FBI interrogator Joe Navarro. Initial academies were launched in Tunica, Mississippi, Indiana, and Las Vegas.^{[citation needed]}

WSOP online[]

In September 2009, Harrah's signed an agreement with Dragonfish, the B2B arm of 888 Holdings, to provide its online gaming services. The offering went live in the UK later that year, allowing UK users to play for real money. Real money online poker is available in the United States, but only in Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey.

WSOP Arizona Lottery[]

In December 2010, the Arizona Lottery issued Game Number 739: World Series of Poker $5 Scratchers(sm) with a $50,000 top prize. Played on two tables, the game included a second chance drawing for non-winning tickets to win one of two Grand Prize Trip Packages that included a seat at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event or one of eight WSOP Poker Party Prize Packs.^{[citation needed]}

See also[]

• Poker After Dark
• National Heads-Up Poker Championship
• High Stakes Poker

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• An in depth history of the WSOP