The history of Poker

Poker Nobody can exatly tell when and where the game of poker was created. One of the first known games to incorporate betting, hand rankings, and bluffing was the 15th century German game "Pochen". Many believe though that today's Poker originated from a 16th century Persian card game called "As Nas". Played with a 25 card deck containing five suits, it's rules were very similar to today’s Five Card Stud.

In the United States the first poker was played by French settlers in the early 1800's. They played a card game that involved bluffing and betting called "Poque" in the early 1800's. This old poker game was similar to the poker game we play today.

Gambling in America had its origins in New Orleans, where riverboat men, plantation owners and farmers wasted their time in saloons and gambling halls. It was also in New Orleans, where the first casino in North America opened its doors, founded in 1822 by by a man named John Davis. The club was open 24/7, there was gourmet food, alcohol, Faro and roulette tables, poker and other gambling. It was not long before the casino found imitators and so the gaming experience soon became the main attraction of New Orleans. The status of the city as an international port and its flourishing gambling industry had created a new profession, that of the card "sharper".

Binion's Horseshoe Hotel and <a href='http://www.online-casino-jackpot.net'>Casino</a> The first professional poker tournament took place in Nevada in 1969. This marked also the birth of modern poker rules and tournament conditions. A year later Benny Binion founded the World Series of Poker in the casino city of Las Vegas. He brought six of the best known poker players of that time to the poker tables at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas.
Initially little attention was paid to the event. A good ten years later the tournament still only had about 50 participants. With the introduction of satellite tournaments at the beginning of the 80s interest started growing. Now as good as anybody had the chance to win a starting spot at the tournament. In 1987 the WSOP already had about 2100 participants. 2006 had 8773 players from all over the world competing in the Main Event.

The first World Series of Poker was not a typical freeze-out tournament, but an event with a defined start and end date. The winner, Johnny Moss, was voted in a secret ballot!

It became quickly clear to Mr. Binion that some improvements needed to be made, should the "World Series of Poker," ever be able to live up to its prestigeous name. The following year, the WSOP was played as a freeze-out tournament. Seven players paid a $ 5,000 entry fee. Johnny Moss was again the winner and retained his title as "World Champion".

In 1973, Five-Card Stud was added as a second event. Nowadays, the WSOP is composed of over 50 individual events. While the tournament took place on several consecutive days in June and July, now the tournament got split up, with the final table of the "Main Event" being played each year in November.

The "bracelet"

<a href='/World-Series-of-Poker'>World Series of Poker</a> Each winner of a WSOP tournament gets a special bracelet and a cash prize, based on the number of participants and the amount of the buy-in. The Main Event bracelet is considered the most coveted trophy a poker player can win.

Since its inaugural edition, Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss are the only players who could win the main event three times.

Moss, Ungar, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan are also the only players who managed to win the main event in consecutive years.

Records

Phil Hellmuth holds the most WSOP records: Most bracelets (11), most prize money (75 times in the money), and most WSOP final table appearances (41).
In 2009 Joe Cada crowned himself youngest main event bracelet winner of all time.

Prize Money

Chris Moneymaker's win in 2003 marked the dawn of a new era. Suddenly many professional poker player received celebrity status - and celebrities wanted to be poker stars. Through television and advertising poker gained an immense popularity. Also having a considerable impact had the prize money out there to be won. In 2003 Moneymaker won $ 2.5 million, the following year Greg Raymer won $ 5 million. A year later the winner was awarded 7.5 million dollars, and when Joe Cada won in 2009 he collected a whopping 8.5 million dollars in prize money.

Since 2005, the WSOP takes place at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, organized and marketed by Harrah's Entertainment.

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