{"id":1763482,"date":"2022-08-22T22:25:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T02:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/?post_type=station&p=1763482"},"modified":"2022-08-23T03:03:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T07:03:00","slug":"wsop-texas-holdem-how-it-all-began-a-history-of-the-tournament","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/wsop-texas-holdem-how-it-all-began-a-history-of-the-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"WSOP Texas Hold\u2019em \u2013 How it all began \u2013 A History of the Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Poker<\/a> has been around for a few centuries now, however, it did not make its way into America till the 2000s. This was the time when sports platforms like ESPN expanded their genres and started broadcasting the World Series of Poker or WSOP. They helped the tournament to become what it is in this day\u2019s time. The first event was played in 2003 when headlines were made by a man called Chris Moneymaker who won the main event at the tournament. He was the first person ever to win the tournament at online poker. While poker was not something that the general crowd was aware of, the event does have a huge history.<\/p>\n

WSOP Texas Hold\u2019em Tournament History<\/h2>\n

The World Series of Poker is a tournament that started way back in the 1970s. In the year 1970, a gambling star, Benny Binion, who was also famous in the Las Vegas Casinos, had invited some of the top players of poker from the USA to take part in the tournament of Texas Hold\u2019em.<\/p>\n

The first tournament of the WSOP Texas Hold\u2019em featured games like the deuce to 7 lowball draw, 5-card stud, 7-card stud, and the evergreen Texas Hold\u2019em. Texas Hold\u2019em was chosen as the format for the main events of the tournament in 1971.<\/p>\n

The winner of the 1970 tournament was a man called Johnny Moss who was given a silver cup as a prize. Benny Binion dreamt of organizing a tournament for poker with the best poker players in the world, and the WSOP Texas Hold\u2019em tournament helped his dream come true.<\/p>\n

WSOP Texas Hold\u2019em Expansion<\/h2>\n

No-limit Texas Hold\u2019em is the format used for the Main Event since 1972 when the buy-in was $10,000. The 1971 tournament featured a buy-in of just $5,000. The winners of the WSOP tournament also receive a gold bracelet and with that comes a huge cash prize. Johnny Moss became the winner of the 1971 tournament as well and won a cash prize of $30,000. Thomas Preston won the tournament in 1972 when the buy-ins were higher than normal and he won a cash prize of $80,000.<\/p>\n

Every winner of the WSOP is given the unofficial title of \u2018World Champion\u2019. Over the years there have been several controversies saying that no-limit Texas Hold\u2019em should not be the game that decided the best poker player, however, the format has remained the same for WSOP.<\/p>\n

In the year 2002, WSOP decided to mark these concerns by holding a H.O.R.S.E Texas Hold\u2019em tournament with a $2,000 buy-in. A man named John Hennigan won the tournament that year and got a cash prize of more than $117,000.<\/p>\n

Although the games had been around for a while, ESPN began the coverage of the games in 2003, and that led to poker becoming extremely popular.<\/p>\n

WSOP Fun Facts<\/h2>\n