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WSOP or the World Series of Poker is the ultimate in tournament poker. The tournament is held each year in Las Vegas. The first every tournament was held in the year 1970 through invitation only. There were only six players invited to the tournament, the best of the best in poker. Benny Binion had been the winner of that tournament which had been held at the Horseshoe Casino. The growth of the tournament had been a little slow in the earlier years but it was in 1982 that the first big break for WSOP occurred.

A total of 52 participants had signed in for that tournament. There were no satellite tournaments in the earlier years since the number of participants had been low. By the year 1987, there had been more than 2100 participants and in 2006 this number had been at its peak with a total of 8773 players across all the events.

The Format

The first WSOP 2010 Satellites had not been a freeze out format but it had a fixed start and end time and the winner had been determined through a secret ballot. In the year 1973 the five card stud had been added as the second event. Since the year 2007 there are 55 different events at the WSOP. The events are spread out over a number of days because of the high number of participants and sometimes there are two overlapping events consecutively on the same day.

Each winner receives a monetary prize and a bracelet. The WSOP bracelet is considered to be a very coveted prize because of what it represents. It is considered to be a trophy and the main event bracelet is revered above all the other bracelets. Since the year 1976 every event winner receives a bracelet. More than half of the events which can be found at the WSOP today are the different variations of Texas Hold’Em.

The Main Event

The Full Tilt tournament ends with the main event of no limit hold’em with a buy in of $10,000. This event is very popular and attracts thousands of poker enthusiasts. The prize money for the winner is quite huge. Any player who wins the main event is also considered as the World Champion in Poker. Since the beginning of this tournament the only two players who have won the main event thrice have been Johnny Moss and Stu Ungar. However, Moss had won his first main event through votes of fellow players in a timed event.

The Players

Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson and Stu Ungar are the only three players to win the main event consecutively. The movie Rounders in the year 1998 had been based on the victory of Johnny chan. So far the best player, considering the number of records, at WSOP is considered to be Phil Hellmuth who holds the record for most bracelets-11, has 75 WSOP cashes, has 41 WSOP final tables at his credit. The youngest winner for the main event has been Joe Cada.