Poker is more than a pastime. It’s a legitimate sport that has gained much popularity in recent years. It even has its own championship series called the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The WSOP is an annual event that takes place in Las Vegas. It attracts some of the world’s best poker pros, as well as a large number of recreational players.
If you’ve been playing poker for a while, you probably already know a thing or two about the WSOP. But if you’re new to the game, here are 12 things you should know about this prestigious event:
1. The WSOP is the world’s largest poker tournament.
The annual event takes place over several weeks and features multiple events happening simultaneously each day. These include various poker variants such as Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, Badugi, and Texas Hold’em, the format played at the tournament’s main event.
Thousands of players from all over the world compete in the WSOP each year, and the number of entries grows yearly.
2. It’s open to players of all skill levels.
Any player at least 21 years old and willing to pay the entry fee can compete in the WSOP. This is one of the tournament’s biggest draws—players of all skill levels can get a chance to compete against the best in the world and perhaps even win one of the event’s coveted prizes.
3. WSOP winners bring home gold bracelets.
The WSOP’s most coveted prize is undoubtedly the gold bracelet. This piece of jewelry has been awarded to WSOP event winners since 1976 and has become synonymous with poker success.
Many of poker’s biggest names have several bracelets to their name. These include players like Phil Hellmuth, who holds the record for the most WSOP bracelets with 16, and Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Ivey, who each have 10.
4. The WSOP main event is the tournament’s biggest attraction.
The WSOP main event is a $10 thousand buy-in, no-limit Texas Hold’em tournament. It’s one of the most expensive tournaments to join, but it also has the biggest prize pool. Main event players have won as much as $12 million.
The main event attracts a lot of attention from poker fans and the general public. This is mainly because it’s broadcast on television, allowing viewers to see some of poker’s most prominent names in action.
5. The annual event has been around for over half a century.
The first WSOP tournament was held in 1970. It was a small, invite-only event with seven players competing, including poker legends such as Johnny Moss and Thomas Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston, who both went on to win the tournament multiple times.
The event has come a long way since then. It now features over 100 events and attracts thousands of players from all over the world.
6. It has satellite events in different parts of the world.
The WSOP isn’t limited to Las Vegas anymore. The tournament’s increasing popularity has led to satellite events in different parts of the world.
These events give players from all over a chance to compete for a spot in the WSOP main event. The winner of each satellite tournament gets a step closer to their poker dream by receiving a free entry into the main event.
7. It has an online presence.
The WSOP isn’t just a land-based tournament anymore, either. The WSOP Circuit Online, launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, is an online version of the tournament that anyone can join from the comfort of their own home.
The online poker circuit runs on the WSOP’s official website and partner poker sites like GGPoker, the world’s largest poker room.
8. You can buy a seat at the main event.
The traditional way to join the WSOP main event is to win through a satellite tournament. However, there is another option for those with the money to spare.
For $10 thousand, you can buy a seat at the main event. This option is known as a direct buy-in.
9. The first WSOP winner won by vote.
Poker’s standard rules decide today’s WSOP winners—the player with the best hand at the end of the tournament takes home the prize.
This wasn’t the case for the first WSOP tournament, however. The winner was decided by vote, with each player voting for who they thought was the “best all-around player” after several days of play.
The winner of the vote was Johnny Moss, who went on to win the WSOP two more times—one of which was in the tournament’s second year, which was reformatted to a freezeout.
10. The youngest WSOP main event winner was 21 years old.
The youngest player to ever win the WSOP main event is Joseph Cada, who was only 21 when he took home the $8.5 million main event prize in 2009.
11. The biggest prize pool in WSOP history was over $82 million.
The biggest prize pool in WSOP history was for the main event in 2006.
A total of 8,773 players entered the tournament, creating a prize pool of $82,512,162. The tournament winner, Jamie Gold, took home the lion’s share of the prize money, winning $12 million.
12. You can earn free WSOP chips online.
The WSOP’s website and mobile app offer a variety of ways to earn free chips that can be used to enter games and tournaments.
Simply installing the official WSOP app on your mobile device will allow you to earn as much as a million free chips. You can also complete daily tasks and play mini-games on the program to earn more.
We hope you enjoyed learning about the World Series of Poker. With its ability to adapt to the times and its global reach, the WSOP will continue entertaining and exciting poker fans for years to come.