The World Series of Poker has the most decorated and long running history of any tournament event in the poker world.  The World Series of Poker began in 1970 and has now been around for more than forty years.

The World Series of Poker history is the story of Texas Hold Em poker, its small beginnings in Vegas and its subsequent explosion onto television screens around the world.

Here is the full WSOP history as it happened:

The Beginning

The history of the World Series of Poker began when Benny Binion, owner of the Horshoe Casino in Las Vegas, hosted an annual poker get together in 1970.  The 1^st WSOP was actually a high stakes cash game.  The 1^st winner of the WSOP was Johnny Moss who won by popular vote for being the best player in the cash game.

Binion changed the format a year later to a winner-take-all tournament event.  Johnny Moss then won the WSOP for the 2^nd time, dispelling any doubts as to his previous election as the champ.

In 1973, the WSOP added other events to their format in addition to the Texas Hold Em Main Event.  This was the beginning of the expansion that would see the WSOP offering more than 50 tournaments in 2010 making it a poker playing extravaganza.

The First Amateur Champion

Hal Fowler made World Series of Poker history in 1979 when he became the 1^st amateur poker player to win the World Series of Poker Main Event.  Little did everyone know that this was a sign of things to come decades later when another amateur – Chris Moneymaker – caused poker to explode on TV screens everywhere by taking out a seasoned pro in the heads-up finale.

An amateur winning the WSOP showed that poker was a sport where the amateurs could take on the pros, and sometimes they could even come out ahead!

World Series of Poker Satellites

In the early 1980s, the World Series of Poker satellite tournament was introduced.

The idea was that you could win your way into the Main Event by winning a satellite tournament that was affordable to enter.  This allowed the Main Event to grow considerably with more entrants and of course, a much larger prize pool.

The WSOP satellite, along with live TV coverage, would herald in a new age in WSOP history.  Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Main Event continued to grow in size and stature.

In 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the event through an online $40 satellite tournament, the satellite and WSOP were completely revolutionized and experienced an explosion in popularity that no one could have predicted.

Nowadays, online satellite tournaments send thousands of entrants to the World Series of Poker and are responsible for the current 1^st place prize growing from $2.5 million in 2003 to around $9 million in 2009.

Learn more about World Series of Poker Satellites

World Series of Poker on TV

The concept of a “hole cam” to show the players poker hand to a television audience helped catapult the WSOP to new heights as TV viewers were given a way to see all the action at the table.

This unique concept allowed poker to be much more TV friendly than before, with people at home now being able to follow the game effectively and know if the player held a strong hand or was making a bluff.  This made poker accessible to a much wider audience and much more entertaining to watch.

TV coverage of Moneymaker’s win allowed an audience of young poker fans to grow up with a hero and a man who was able to inspire the current generation with dreams of riches and success.  Watching an amateur outplay a seasoned pro on the TV brought the poker dream and the glory of the World Series of Poker to life around the world.

Beyond Moneymaker

When Moneymaker won $2.5 million in 2003, there were a record number of 839 entrants.  Since then, the World Series of Poker has been taken to new heights.

A year later in 2004, Harrah’s Entertainment – the world’s largest gaming company – acquired the WSOP with plans to take it the next level.  The Main Event peaked in 2006, when it hosted a record 8,773 players and paid the 1^st place winner a prize of $12 million.

The World Series of Poker history is the most phenomenal story in all of poker.  With the poker explosion still taking place around the world and showing no signs of slowing down, the World Series of Poker is a story that is still being written …