All About the World Series of Poker

Poker is one of the most popular groups of card games today. Most casinos offer this game on their gambling floor, and some cardrooms exclusively feature poker variants. Thanks to hole-cameras that allow viewers to see players' "hole" cards or face-down cards, poker has also become a spectator sport. Poker-themed television shows, such as Late Night Poker, have become part of primetime programming. There are even entire television channels dedicated to poker.

The World Series of Poker has played a big part in poker's explosion into the mainstream during the later part of the twenty first century. The World Series of Poker is a set of poker tournaments held annually in the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, the gambling capital of the United States. The World Series of Poker is normally an affair that lasts a little over one month with the exception of the Main Event, which is a ten thousand dollar buy-in No Limit Texas Hold'em tournament. A World Series of Poker bracelet is awarded to the winner of every event. Each event usually has a prize as well as a bracelet, and since there is usually a buy-in or entrance fee for every event, the more players there are, the larger the prize. In 2006, the main event prize reached twelve million dollars, with almost nine thousand entrants participating.

In 1969, the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention in the Holdiay Hotel and Casino, in Reno, Nevada was held, where the first ever poker tournament was held. This Gambling Fraternity Convention eventually became the World Series of Poker. Established in 1970 by casino owner Benny Binion, who purchased the rights to the Gambling Fraternity Convention, the World Series of Poker or WSOP had a slow start. It was held in Binion's own casino, Binion's Horseshoe. By 1982, it managed to gain one hundred entrants. In 1991, it had two hundred entrants, and by the time of its acquisition by Harrah's Entertainment in 2004, the people participating in the World Series of Poker numbered in the thousands. The WSOP was transferred to the Rio Hotel and Casino, and establishment owned by Harrah's.

Even during its earliest years, the WSOP had television coverage. The earliest World Series of Poker filming was in 1973, narrated by Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder. Later during that decade, CBS began covering the event, and was later transferred to ESPN. Since then, the Discovery Channel has broadcast the WSOP, but ESPN continues to cover the events.