The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players.
Gabriel Weston Kaplan is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. He later became a professional poker player and a commentator for the series High Stakes Poker on PokerGO.
Johnny Chan is a Chinese professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including the 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively.
Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship. He is the first, and currently only, player to win both the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 Players' Championship.
Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won six World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and two World Poker Tour (WPT) championship titles. In 2014, independent poker ranking service Global Poker Index recognized Negreanu as the best poker player of the decade.
Philip Stewart Gordon is an American professional poker player, commentator and author.
Allen Cunningham is an American professional poker player who has won five World Series of Poker bracelets.
The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event. Wins in this event do not count as official WSOP bracelets, but the winner receives a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo. In 2010, the WSOP Tournament of Champions returned with a new format more akin to a typical sports league All-Star Event format. 27 players vied for $1 million, with 20 of those players selected by the fans via online vote at the WSOP's website.
John Anthony Cernuto also known as Miami, is an American professional poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada, specialising in Omaha hi-lo events. Cernuto has won over $5,500,000 in live tournament winnings, his largest score was for $259,150 from his $2,000 No Limit Hold'em bracelet victory in the 1997 World Series of Poker.
Chad Brown was an American actor, poker player and color commentator, based in Los Angeles, California.
The World Series of Blackjack is a televised blackjack tournament created and produced by the cable network GSN. It is a closed tournament; players are either invited to play or attempt to win a spot via a satellite tournament. Rounds are edited into 1-hour episodes and broadcast on GSN. Matt Vasgersian and Max Rubin provided commentary for the first two seasons. Tiki Arsenault was the dealer for Season 1 as Deanna Bacon was the dealer for Seasons 2 and 3 while Jessica Knight was the dealer for Season 4.
Poker After Dark is an hour-long poker television program that originally aired on NBC, premiering on January 1, 2007. The series was canceled on December 3, 2011, following the "Black Friday" criminal case, which involved major sponsor Full Tilt Poker as one of the defendants. The show rebooted on August 14, 2017, with appearances from Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari. Poker After Dark episodes are now filmed exclusively at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort and Casino, and distributed on video streaming service PokerGO.
Oliver "Ali" Nejad is an Iranian-American television personality, who has hosted several shows including Road Trip on ESPNU, and has been a fill-in host for UNite, also on ESPNU. In May 2014, Nejad began working at HLN and hosted the network's program The Daily Share. He also executive produced and hosted his own award-nominated show, The Social Life.
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker (WSOP) was already drawing larger crowds as many amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."
Darvin Moon was an American self-employed logger and amateur poker player who was the runner-up of the 2009 World Series of Poker, (WSOP) US$10,000 no-limit Texas hold'em Main Event. It was his first time playing in the World Series of Poker. Moon, who taught himself how to play poker, ran a small logging company in the Maryland Panhandle before earning a 2009 World Series seat by winning a $130 satellite tournament.
The World Series of Poker bracelet is considered to be the most coveted prize a poker player can win, but in most years there have been competitive events that did not award a bracelet to the winner. While most of these events are charity events or are related to poker, a few are not.
John Strzemp, II is a casino executive and poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. He was the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Wynn Resorts. He was previously an executive with other casinos in Las Vegas, including the Mirage Casino.
Kevin O'Leary is a professional poker player of English descent. A former antiques dealer, he is known on the poker tournament circuit by the nickname "Lovejoy", in reference to the 1980s BBC TV series of the same name, which starred Ian McShane.
Andrew Lichtenberger is an American poker player from East Northport, New York. He is also known by his online alias LuckyChewy. He is the champion of the 2010 World Series of Poker Circuit event in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas in April 2010. Lichtenberger has made five World Series of Poker final tables and won a WSOP bracelet in 2016.
PokerGO is an over-the-top content platform based in Las Vegas, Nevada. PokerGO was launched in 2017 as a subscription-based streaming service offering poker centric online streaming.
