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History of the WSOP
The WSOP (World Series of Poker) became official during the year of 1970, but the whole idea of it all and all it’s planning was put together nearly two decades before its actual forthcoming. During 1949, a champ-to-be gambler as they called him, or “Nick the Greek”, approached the well known Benny Binion and asked him if he could challenge the ultimate player in a high stakes long poker game. Benny, of course, thought this was a rather unusual request but he agreed to it and proceeded to set it up. He arranged a match between Nick and Johnny Moss. Benny only agreed on one condition however, he wanted the entire match to be in view of the public.
The poker marathon lasted just over five months and the only time they were allowed to separate from the game was to sleep. The two men played just about every single poker game one could think of; they had a lot of time to do so. To Nick’s disbelief, Moss eventually won the game and walked away with a bag full of pride and approximately two million dollars. Nick then stood up, bowed to the public and said; “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go”, and that was the end of that, Nick then went to bed.
After the marathon had ended, Benny only then realized its significance and how supportive the crowd was. Hundreds of people gathered around the casino each day during the marathon and Benny knew they were interested. Years later, during 1970, Benny decided to re-hold the marathon and this time make it official naming it the World Series of Poker. A few of the best poker players in the world attended the WSOP in order to determine who would qualify as the World Champion poker player. But once again, it was Johnny Moss who shone though the rest. The final decision was self-governing and the winner was determined by votes.
The year after that, the champ was decided through a freezeout rivalry, where participants were methodically eliminated until there was only one player remaining holding all the chips, he then, would be known as the winner of the competition. It was no surprise when Johnny Moss was crowned the champion again. Then, after this competition took place, Thomas Preston, also known as “Amarillo Slim”, won the next competition and went live with his new accomplishment. After his success the WSOP began expanding and more people grew interested in the competition and its participants.
In 1973, Benny took part in the OHP (Oral History Project) and spoke to an interviewer about the WSOP. He told her that the WSOP attracts a lot of attention, he also discussed with her that he would like to have more people participating in the event in the future. He said that he would like to one day have fifty or more participants and that it would get to that number eventually.
It was unfortunate that Benny Binion passed away on Christmas day in 1989, but by then the WSOP has become a major event in the world and people looked forward to it every year. Benny would have been proud, if he were still alive, to know that he provided so much fun and joy for hundreds of people, although, he might have had a bit of difficulty foreseeing the whole operation with so many people, but we will never know for sure.
When the competition took place in 1982, fifty-two people entered. In 1987, the competition held 2,141 participants and then the event in 2002 had 7,595 people involved.
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