The richest and most prestigious poker tournament in the world is the World Series of Poker, held annually at Binion's Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. It has been held every year since 1970 (when it had seven entrants), and has grown in popularity since, the year 2000 series having 4780 entrants in various events.
The series consists of many events of different poker variants, each of which awards the winner a gold bracelet signifying the world championship of that event. The 2001 series had 25 events held from April 20 to May 18. The final event of the series, widely considered the world championship of the game of poker, is the $10,000 entry no-limit Texas hold'em championship, a five-day event with a top prize of $2,500,000. The winner of this event also has his picture installed in the "Gallery of Champions" at Binion's.
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Until 2001, the leading money winner in World Series history is T. J. Cloutier, who finished "in the money" in 33 events, including four gold bracelets in various events, a fifth-place, a third-place, and two second-place finishes in the main event, but who has never won the "big dance". In 2001, Phil Hellmuth's 7th bracelet and 5th place finish in the final event moved him ahead of Cloutier.
Other historical highlights include Jack Strauss's win, which was a comeback after having lost all but one chip of his stake early in the tournament, and Stu Ungar's third win 16 years after his repeat, having spent many of the intervening years out of competition and addicted to cocaine.
Billy Baxter dominated the Deuce-to-seven draw poker event for many years, winning five bracelets and twice finishing second. He has a sixth bracelet in Ace-to-five draw.
Players who have won bracelets in a draw poker event, a stud poker game, and a community card poker game are Mickey Appleman, Bobby Baldwin, Doyle Brunson (who has a total of eight bracelets in six different events, and a second place finish in 13-card Chinese poker), Johnny Chan, Johnny Moss, and Stu Ungar.
On January 9, 2004, agents from the U.S. Marshalls Service, the Internal Revenue Service and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept raided the Binion's Horseshoe and seized less than $1 million dollars of $1.9 million dollars owed to the Culinary Workers Union. The Nevada Gaming Control Board also met in an Emergency session on January 10, 2004 and suspended the gaming license of Binion's Horseshoe until such time as owners Becky Binion Behnen and her husband Nick can show that they have sufficient funds to operate and cover all wagers and bills incurred by the property. On January 12, the Shoe was purchased by Harrah's Entertainment. Harrah's has announced that the 2004 World Series of Poker will take place, but its location has not been decided.
These are the winners of the final "championship" event, which is now No-limit Texas Hold'em.
History
Champions
External Links
