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History of the WSOP
The World Series of Poker is the most popular poker tournament in the world. The televised events bring together players from all over the world.
The event was formed in 1970 by poker pros who wanted to determine champions.
The tournament began at Binion’s, and the legendary Johnny Moss was voted the first winner.
The next year, a real tournament was born, and it was played out until one player had all the chips. Again, Moss won.
The first year, there were seven players.
The tournament continued to grow in the 1980s, especially with the advent of satellites.
Benny Binion, the key to the event’s start, passed away in 1989. He could have had no idea how things were going to play out from there.
By 1987, there were over 2,000 participants, and in 2006, there were over 8,700 players in the Main Event alone.
The World Series had over 50 events in 2008. Phil Helmuth has the most victories in WSOP events with 11.
Multiple winners of the Main Event include : Johnny Moss (1971 and 1974), Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977), Stu Ungar (1980, 1981 and 1997) and Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988).
Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, the winners in 2003 and 2004 both qualified for the main event through satellite tournaments online.
Moneymaker’s improbably victory in 2003 is widely credited for starting the online poker boom. The accountant from Tennessee rocked the world with his surprising victory.
From there, the event exploded. Raymer won in 2004, followed by Joe Hachem in 2005, Jamie Gold in 2006 and Jerry Yang in 2007. None had won major tournaments before winning the main event, although Hachem has since gone on to prove himself to be one of the best tournament players in the world.
The World Series is now the most popular tournament in the world. The main event is televised on ESPN and is watched by millions.
Main event winners include:
1970 Johnny Moss; 1971 Johnny Moss; 1972 Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston; 1973 Walter "Puggy" Pearson; 1974 Johnny Moss; 1975 Brian Roberts; 1976, Doyle Brunson 220,000; 1977, Doyle Brunson; 1978, Bobby Baldwi; Crandall Addington. 1979:Hal Fowler;1981, Stu Ungar; 1982, Jack Straus; 1983 Tom McEoy; 1984 Jack Keller; 1985 Bill Smith; 1986, Berry Johnston; 1987 Johnny Chan;. Once the modern era began, lucky but aggressive players were paid off.
Other winners include: 1989 Phil Hellmuth Jr; 1990 Mansour Matloubi; 1992 Hamid Dastmalchi; 1993 Jim Bechtel; 1994 Russ Hamilton, 1995, Dab Harrington; 1996 Huck Seed; 1997 Stu Ungar; 1998 Scotty Nguyen; 1999 Noel Furlong; 2000 Chris Ferguson; 2001 Juan Carlos Mortensen; 2002 Robert Varkoni; 2003 Chris MoneyMaker; 2004 Greg Raymer; 2005 Joe Hachem; 2006 Jamie Gold; 2007 Jerry Yang.
Yang wrapped the title in 2007 with an aggressive approach at the final table. His winning hand was pockets 8s.
There has been no shortage of players from the World Series to go on and make an impact after their WSOP run. Many online players will say so what and ask what Varkoni, Moneymake and Raymer have done since.
Hachem has won a WPT event and been a frequent final table guy since, He is a terrific player.
The others have not done much since, but they became stars with their victories in the World Series.
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