World Series of Poker

In 2004, Harrah's Entertainment (now Caesars Entertainment) purchased Binion's Horseshoe, retained the rights to the Horseshoe and World Series of Poker brands, sold the hotel and casino to MTR Gaming Group, and announced that the 2005 Series events would be held at the Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel and Casino, located just off the Las Vegas Strip.[6] The final two days of the main event in 2005 were held downtown at what is now the MTR-operated "Binion's" in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas. The WSOP also added a made-for-television $2 million "freeroll" invitational Tournament of Champions (TOC) event first won by Annie Duke as a "winner-take-all" event.

Starting in 2005, the WSOP began the World Series of Poker Circuit, a satellite series held at Harrah's-owned properties in the United States. In addition to the $10,000 buy-in tournament at each site, qualifying players became eligible for a revamped Tournament of Champions. The 2005 TOC, made up of the top twenty qualifying players at each circuit event, along with the final table from the 2005 Main Event and the winners of nine or more bracelets (Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Hellmuth) would participate in the revamped TOC at Caesars Palace. Mike Matusow won the first prize of $1 million (US), and all the players at the final table were guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 for the eighth and ninth-place finishers.

During a break in the final table of the 2005 Main Event on July 16, Harrah's announced that eleven properties — including the recently added Bally's and Caesar's properties — would host 2005–06 WSOP Circuit events that started on August 11 in Tunica, Mississippi. One event that was scheduled for Biloxi, Mississippi, was canceled after the Grand Casino Biloxi, which was scheduled to host the event, suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Rio also hosted the 2006 World Series of Poker, which began on June 25 with satellite events and formally began the day after with the annual Casino Employee event, won in 2006 by Chris Gros. 2006 featured the Tournament of Champions on June 25 and 26, won by Mike Sexton. Various events led up to the Main Event, which was held from July 28 until August 10. The first prize of $12 million was awarded to Jamie Gold.

The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion of the World Series of Poker in series history. In September 2007, the first WSOP championship events outside of Las Vegas, complete with bracelets, were held.[8] The inaugural WSOPE consisted of three events held in London from September 6–17, 2007. The main event, a GBP 10,000 buy-in no-limit hold 'em tournament, was won by Norwegian online prodigy Annette Obrestad on the day before her 19th birthday. This made her the youngest person ever to win a WSOP bracelet, a record that cannot be broken in the Las Vegas WSOP under current laws because the minimum legal age for casino gaming in Nevada is 21. Obrestad could play in the WSOPE because the minimum age for casino gaming in the United Kingdom is 18. While no definitive plans have been announced, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack has indicated that in the next one to three years that other venues may start holding WSOP events. Two locations that have been mentioned as possible expansion sites are Egypt and South Africa,[9] and the World Series of Poker Africa was ultimately launched in South Africa in 2010. However, it is currently treated as a WSOP Circuit event, with no bracelets awarded. The next expansion of the WSOP that included bracelet events was ultimately to Australia.[10]

The WSOPE moved from London to Cannes, France in 2011. At that time, the buy-ins and payouts changed from being fixed in pounds to euros.[11] The event moved again in 2013, this time to the Paris suburb of Enghien-les-Bains.[12]

From 2013 to 2017 the WSOPE was held only in odd-numbered years, with the newly launched World Series of Poker Asia Pacific (WSOP APAC) conducted in even-numbered years.[13] WSOPE has been held annually since 2017.

In 2010, the WSOP expanded overseas once again, only this time to Gauteng, South Africa. Although the 2010 event was part of the WSOP Circuit, winners did not earn a gold ring or standing for the WSOP Circuit National Championship, both of which were common for other circuit events.[14] This policy changed in 2012.[15] The WSOPA did not occur in 2011 but would come back in 2012.

On April 30, 2012, the WSOP and Australian casino Crown Melbourne jointly announced the creation of the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific (WSOP APAC). The first edition of the event was held at Crown's Melbourne Casino from April 4–15, 2013 and featured five bracelet events in the series.[10]

In 2015, the WSOP International Circuit was launched, with rounds in Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa. The winners of each tournament join the WSOP Circuit winners to play the WSOP Global Casino Championship.[16] The International Circuit has expanded to 13 tournaments for the 2017/18 season.[17]

These records do not include WSOP Europe or Asia Pacific Main Events.[31]

• Most Main Event wins: Johnny Moss (3), Stu Ungar (3)
• Most Main Event final tables: Jesse Alto (7)
• Most Main Event money finishes: Berry Johnston (10)
• Most Main Event wins in consecutive years: Doyle Brunson (2), Johnny Chan (2), Johnny Moss (2), Stu Ungar (2)
• Most Main Event final tables in consecutive years: Bob Hooks (4, 1973–1976), Johnny Moss (4, 1971–1974)
• Most Main Event money finishes in consecutive years: Ronnie Bardah (5, 2010–2014)[32]
• Highest Main Event earnings: Jamie Gold ($12,000,000)
• Youngest Main Event winner: Joe Cada (21 years, 357 days)
• Oldest Main Event winner: Johnny Moss (66 years, 358 days)
• Most Main Event participations: Howard Andrew (41, 1974–2014)
• Oldest Main Event participant: Jack Ury (97 years, 2010)

Since its inception in 1979, the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame has honored 42 individuals.[33] Selection criteria for players include having competed against acknowledged top competition, played for high stakes, and played consistently well to gain the respect of their peers. For non-players, selection is based on positive and lasting contributions to the overall growth and success of poker.[34]

Since 2004, a Player of the Year (POY) award has been given to the player with the most points accumulated throughout the WSOP. As of 2019, fifteen different players have won the sixteen awards, with Daniel Negreanu as the only player to win the award more than once.

Only "open" events in which all players can participate count in the standings; this eliminates the Seniors, Ladies, and Casino Employee events.[35] Beginning with the 2006 World Series of Poker, the Main Event and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. competition had no effect on the outcome of the winner of the Player of the Year award. In the 2008 World Series of Poker, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event counted toward the Player of the Year award, but the Main Event did not. Since 2009, all open events, including the Main Event, count towards Player of the Year. The Player of the Year standings were based upon performance solely at the WSOP in Las Vegas up until 2010, but beginning in 2011 have also taken the World Series of Poker Europe into account, and starting in 2013 also include events in the World Series of Poker Asia Pacific. The 2011 WSOP Player of the Year organized by Bluff Magazine used a different scoring system which took into account field sizes and buy-in amounts when calculating points earned.[36] This scoring system has been used ever since.

Year	Winner	Bracelets	Final tables	Money finishes	WSOP earnings (US$)	Runner-up
2004	Daniel Negreanu	1	5	6	346,280	Ted Forrest
2005	Allen Cunningham	1	4	5	1,007,115	Mark Seif
2006	Jeff Madsen	2	4	4	1,467,852	Phil Hellmuth
2007	Tom Schneider	2	3	3	416,829	Michael Binger
2008	Erick Lindgren	1	3	5	1,348,528	Barry Greenstein
2009	Jeff Lisandro	3	4	6	807,521	Ville Wahlbeck
2010	Frank Kassela	2	3	6	1,255,314	Michael Mizrachi
2011	Ben Lamb	1	4	5	5,352,970	Phil Hellmuth
2012	Greg Merson	2	2	5	9,785,354	Phil Hellmuth
2013	Daniel Negreanu	2	4	10	1,954,054	Matthew Ashton
2014	George Danzer	3	5	10	878,933	Brandon Shack-Harris
2015	Mike Gorodinsky	1	3	8	1,766,487	Jonathan Duhamel
2016	Jason Mercier[37]	2	4	11	960,424	Paul Volpe
2017	Chris Ferguson	1	3	23	428,423	John Racener
2018	Shaun Deeb	2	4	20	2,545,623	Ben Yu
2019	Robert Campbell	2	5	13	750,844	Shaun Deeb
2020	not awarded

Since 2016, the WSOP payout a bigger percentage of the field (15% instead of 10% until then).[38]

Bracelets	Player	Main Event wins
15	Phil Hellmuth	2[Note 1]
10	Doyle Brunson	2
	Johnny Chan	2
	Phil Ivey	0
9	Johnny Moss	3
8	Erik Seidel	0
7	Billy Baxter	0
	Men Nguyen	0

Notes

Information correct as of 3 January 2021.

Money finishes	Player	Bracelets
166	Daniel Negreanu	6
164	Phil Hellmuth	15
161	Chris Ferguson	6
129	Erik Seidel	8
126	Roland Israelashvili	0
110	Barry Greenstein	3
102	Yueqi Zhu	1
100	Men Nguyen	7
	Ben Yu	3
95	Max Pescatori	4

Information correct as of 3 January 2021.

Career earnings	Player	Bracelets
$21,917,460	Antonio Esfandiari	3
$18,705,140	Daniel Negreanu	6
$17,413,780	Dan Colman	1
$15,034,240	Phil Hellmuth	15
$14,644,200	Jonathan Duhamel	3
$14,124,130	Justin Bonomo	3
$13,610,090	Joe Cada	4
$13,002,460	Fedor Holz	2
$12,388,310	Elton Tsang	0
$12,198,920	Jamie Gold	1

Since its inception, Stu Ungar and Johnny Moss are the only players to have won the Main Event three times. However, Moss's first victory came in a different format, as he was elected winner by vote of his fellow players at the conclusion of what was then a timed event. Moss, Ungar, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan are the only people who have won the Main Event in consecutive years. Chan's second victory in 1988 was featured in the 1998 film Rounders.

Phil Hellmuth holds multiple WSOP records including most bracelets, most WSOP cashes, and most WSOP final tables. He is also the only player to have won the Main Events of both the WSOP and WSOP Europe.[39][40]

In recent years, the prize pool for the WSOP Main Event has become so large that the winner instantly becomes one of the top money winners of WSOP and even in tournament poker history. Before July 2012, the top seven players on the all-time WSOP Earnings list were Main Event champions from 2005 to 2011, among whom Jamie Gold topped those seven, he won the 2006 Main Event, which had then the biggest first prize for a single tournament, and still is the largest poker tournament by prize pool in history. However, the all-time leader is currently poker professional Daniel Negreanu, who has not won a Main Event, although he won the inaugural WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event in 2013. He is followed by professionals Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Colman, both also yet to win a Main Event in Las Vegas.

The list below includes the WSOP Europe and WSOP Asia-Pacific, but excludes WSOP Circuit events and other non-bracelet events. The results are updated through the 2014 WSOP APAC.

Overall[31]
Most bracelets	Phil Hellmuth	15
Most final tables	Phil Hellmuth	59
Most money finishes	Daniel Negreanu	166
Highest career earnings	Antonio Esfandiari	$21,917,460
Highest earnings from a single event	Antonio Esfandiari	$18,346,673 (2012 Big One for One Drop)
Youngest bracelet winner	Annette Obrestad	18 years, 364 days (2007 WSOPE Main Event)
Oldest bracelet winner	Johnny Moss	81 years, 0 days (1988 $1,500 Limit Ace to Five Draw)
Most bracelets in one year	Puggy Pearson (1973) Phil Hellmuth (1993) Ted Forrest (1993) Phil Ivey (2002) Jeff Lisandro (2009) George Danzer (2014)	3
Most years between bracelets	Jim Bechtel (1993, 2019)	26
Most final tables in one year	An Tran (1992)	6
Most money finishes in one year	Chris Ferguson (2017)	23
Most consecutive years with at least one bracelet	Bill Boyd (1971–1974) Doyle Brunson (1976–1979) Loren Klein (2016–2019)	4
Most consecutive years with at least one money finish	Mike Sexton (1988–2019)	32
Most Player of the Year awards (since 2004)	Daniel Negreanu (2004, 2013)	2
Oldest WSOP event participant	Jack Ury (2010)	97 years

At present, women make up around 5% of the field in all the events at the annual WSOP tournament.[41] Vanessa Selbst, Barbara Enright, Nani Dollison and Kristen Bicknell all have won 3 WSOP Bracelets.[42]

In 2015, Kelly Minkin finished in 29th place in the Main Event earning the "Last Woman Standing".[43]

In the 2007 World Series of Poker, Maria Ho was the last woman remaining in the Championship Event, placing 38th out of 6,358 players and earning a $237,865 payday. She repeated this accomplishment in 2014, when she came in 77th place out of 6,683 players. Her 27th place "Last Woman Standing" finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event along with a 2017 6th place final table finish makes Maria the only player to ever hold the title Last Woman Standing four times over and at both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Events.[44]

In 1995, Barbara Enright became the only woman to make the Final Table of the World Series of Poker, finishing in 5th place. She also finished in the money of the Main Event in 2005. An Ambassador of Poker League of Nations, Barbara is the first woman to win two WSOP bracelets, the first woman to win three bracelets, and the first woman to win an open event at the World Series of Poker. Barbara is also the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, and the Senior Poker Hall of Fame, making her the only poker player to be in all three poker halls of fame.

In 1977, the first Ladies only event was introduced in the form of $100 buy-in Stud Poker Tournament. Jackie McDaniels won that event to become the first Ladies Champion. She won one of the smallest prizes ($5,580) in WSOP history. By 2007, the popularity of the Ladies Event had grown to the point that it became the first Ladies-only event to have a prize pool greater than $1,000,000. The Ladies played Seven Card Stud for the event's first two decades, but have been playing Texas hold 'em since 2001.

The earliest filming of the World Series was a special produced by Binion's Horseshoe in 1973 and narrated by Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder. CBS began covering the World Series in the late 1970s.

In the early 1980s, the event was again broadcast as specials. In the late 1980s, the World Series returned to television as ESPN took over broadcasting. Initially, coverage only consisted of just a single one-hour taped-delay broadcast of the Main Event.

ESPN Classic currently airs many of the old broadcasts from the mid-1990s and beyond. Since no "pocket cam" existed, very few hole cards were actually shown to television viewers. Generally, ESPN used poker-playing actors such as Dick Van Patten, Vince Van Patten, and Gabe Kaplan, with either the tournament director (usually Jim Albrecht) or a poker professional, of which one was Phil Hellmuth, joining the team. Unlike today's coverage, ESPN featured no pre-taped interviews or profiles on the players. In addition, the commentators were generally on the casino floor itself.

In the 1994 coverage of the final hand of the Main Event shows Hugh Vincent holding 8♣ 5♥ . The flop was 8♣ 2♠ 6♦, indicating that there were two 8♣ in the deck. The tournament director announces that Hugh Vincent needed two running spades to win. The likely hand for Hugh Vincent was 8♠ 5♠, but there is no known video of the actual hand turned over by Hugh Vincent.[45]

From 1999 to 2001, the World Series of Poker was broadcast by The Discovery Channel. These hour-long programs presented more of an overview or recap of the WSOP as opposed to broadcasting an actual live event with play-by-play analysis and color commentary. The Discovery Channel's broadcast also featured final table players interviews interlaced throughout the show. ESPN would resume coverage the following year.

ESPN's coverage in 2002 was typical of their coverage in the 1990s (recorded in video, little or no post-production commentary or player profiles, no card cams). However, the final table broadcast was expanded over two one-hour episodes. The 2002 WSOP was the first with the "sneak peek" (later called the pocket cam, or hole cam).

In 2003, Fred Christenson secured the long-term rights acquisition for ESPN,[46] and the channel expanded their coverage to new heights with their coverage of the WSOP. They included coverage of the entire tournament, with a "Featured Table". At this table, the viewers could see the player's hole cards and subsequent strategy. The action was also broadcast as if live, though on tape-delay. 2003 was the first year that the broadcast covered action preceding the final table. Since then, ESPN has greatly expanded its coverage to include many of the preliminary events of the WSOP, especially Texas Hold 'Em. Also, their coverage of the main event now typically includes at least one hour program on each day. For the first two years of its existence, ESPN was broadcasting one hour programs of the "circuit" events that the WSOP has at various Harrah's-owned casinos, but ESPN did not renew these events. ESPN's coverage now includes many of the trappings of sports coverage, such as lighter segments (called "The Nuts") and interviews. ESPN's coverage has been largely driven by Matt Maranz, Executive Producer for the WSOP telecasts. Maranz previously worked on ESPN's football pre-game show, and has also produced taped segments for NBC's Olympic coverage.

Coverage would increase in 2004 and 2005 to include preliminary events from the WSOP, in addition to the "Main Event". ESPN has expanded poker to all-new levels, especially with their coverage of the 2006 WSOP, including providing the entire final table of the 2006 Main Event via pay-per-view airing. In 2008, ESPN experimented with the idea of a delayed final table. This idea presented greater sponsorship opportunities and notoriety, culminating in a recap of the Main Event and the conclusion of the 2008 Main Event final table. In 2009, ESPN announced they would again move the final table to November 2009. The WSOP also decided there would be no rebuy events in 2009. The decision was reached because of complaints that rebuy events provided an unfair advantage to professionals with no limitation on how much money they can spend for an event. There were 57 bracelet events that year. The 2010 WSOP had the same number of bracelet events as in 2009, again with no rebuy events.

With 58 bracelet events and no rebuy events, the 2011 WSOP featured unprecedented "nearly live" coverage, with broadcasts being delayed by much smaller amounts of time while still satisfying Nevada Gaming Commission regulators. Caesars Entertainment, via WSOP.com, streamed final-table coverage of all bracelet events on a 5-minute delay, although without pocket cams. The ESPN family of networks aired 36 hours of Main Event coverage leading up to the November Nine on a 30-minute delay, showing the hole cards of all players who voluntarily entered the pot once the hand ended. The Main Event final table was broadcast on a 15-minute delay with the same policy regarding hole cards. The first day of the final table was aired on ESPN2 and the final day on ESPN, with both days also streamed on ESPN3 and WSOP.com.

POKER PROductions has produced the World Series of Poker Europe since 2008 and World Series of Poker since 2011. Former pro turned executive producer Mori Eskandani's team pioneered the live broadcast format seen at the WSOP since 2011. POKER PROductions has filmed WSOP bracelet final tables and the WSOP Main Event for PokerGO, a subscription video on demand service. PokerGO has had exclusive WSOP broadcast rights since 2017, with shared coverage of select events appearing on Twitch and CBS All Access.

In 2003[47] and 2004,[48] DVD sets were released by ESPN of the Main Event.

In 2005, a video game based on the tournament series, titled World Series of Poker, was released for several consoles and PC. A sequel called World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions came out in 2006. In 2007, World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets was released. WSOP video poker machines now appear at some Harrah's casinos; the machines are standard video poker machines, but have a bonus feature which allows a player to play a modified game of Texas Hold 'em against the machine.[49]

Beginning in 2007, Harrah's announced the creation of the World Series of Poker Academy, a poker school aimed at providing poker players with the skills needed to win a WSOP bracelet. The instructors for the Academy include Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Scott Fischman, Mark Kroon, Mark Seif, Alex Outhred, and former FBI interrogator Joe Navarro. Initial academies were launched in Tunica, Mississippi, Indiana, and Las Vegas.

In September 2009, Harrah's signed an agreement with Dragonfish, the B2B arm of 888 Holdings, to provide its online gaming services. The offering went live in the UK later that year, allowing UK users to play for real money. Real money online poker is available in the United States, but only in Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey.

In December 2010, the Arizona Lottery issued Game Number 739: World Series of Poker $5 Scratchers(sm) with a $50,000 top prize. Played on two tables, the game included a second chance drawing for non-winning tickets to win one of two Grand Prize Trip Packages that included a seat at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event or one of eight WSOP Poker Party Prize Packs.