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.
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table, and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables. The winner of the tournament is usually the person who wins every poker chip in the game and the others are awarded places based on the time of their elimination. To facilitate this, in most tournaments, blinds rise over the duration of the tournament. Unlike in a ring game, a player's chips in a tournament cannot be cashed out for money and serve only to determine the player's placing.
Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. is an American professional poker player who has won a record seventeen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Event of the 2012 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and he is a 2007 inductee of the WSOP's Poker Hall of Fame. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tournament players of all time.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand similar to its larger rival the European Poker Tour (EPT) Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the final table of each tournament.
James Gary Bechtel is an American cotton farmer and poker player, now based in Gilbert, Arizona. He is best known for winning the 1993 Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). At the time of his WSOP win, he lived in Coolidge, Arizona.
Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player who has won seven 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 previous decade.
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity. Since 2011 the EPT has been sponsored and wholly owned and controlled by PokerStars the online casino and taped by Sunset + Vine for television broadcast across Europe. By season 4 the buy-in for most EPT events was increased to €8,000. At 2007 exchange rates, this is approximately equal to the US$10,000 which is the buy-in for most major poker events.
Joseph Hachem is a Lebanese-Australian professional poker player known for being the first Australian to win the World Series of Poker main event, which earned him $7.5 million, then a record for all-time biggest tournament prize.
The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event. The WSOP ToC has been played intermittently five times in the 21st Century with different formats. The four WSOP ToC events held from 2004-2010 did not count as official WSOP bracelets events, with the winners receiving instead 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 $1 million, with 20 of those players selected by the fans via online vote at the WSOP's website. Controversies over the inclusion of commercially sponsored players resulted in a hiatus in the WSOP ToC for over a decade. The WSOP ToC was reintroduced in 2022 as an official WSOP bracelet event.
The 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006, with satellite events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. Forty more events, in various disciplines including Omaha, seven-card stud and razz, plus ladies' and senior tournaments, led up to the 10,000 US$ no-limit Texas hold 'em main event starting July 28 and running through the final table on August 10.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is an annual televised poker tournament. The event was first held in 2004 and was originally co-sponsored by PokerStars and the World Poker Tour. In 2008, the event moved from the WPT to the European Poker Tour. In 2010, the event was moved again and served as the inaugural event of the North American Poker Tour. In 2017 the tournament was the inaugural event of the new PokerStars Championship tour and renamed PokerStars Championship Bahamas. The name was changed back to the PCA for 2018 and the buy-in restored to $10,000.
World Tavern Poker is a bar poker league in the United States. As of March 2019, nearly 400 taverns, bars, and restaurants host tournament-format games across the United States.
The World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) is the first expansion effort of World Series of Poker-branded poker tournaments outside the United States. Since 1970, participants have had to travel to Las Vegas if they wanted to compete in the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Although the WSOP held circuit events in other locations, the main tournaments, which awarded bracelets to the winners, were exclusively held in Las Vegas. The inaugural WSOPE, held in 2007, marked the first time that a WSOP bracelet was awarded outside Las Vegas.
The Global Poker Index (GPI) is a leaderboard index that ranks over 450,000 live tournament poker players in the world. The GPI poker rankings are updated on a weekly basis. Players’ performances are assessed by their finishing positions in poker tournaments occurring over six periods of six months.
The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the 49th annual tournament, and took place from May 30 to July 17 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. There was a record 78 bracelet events. The $10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event began on July 2 and concluded on July 15.
The 2019 World Series of Poker was the 50th annual tournament, and took place from May 28 – July 16, 2019 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) has operated a series of international poker tournaments since 2002 with winners of WPT Main Tour stops awarded a membership to the WPT Champions Club. The WPT Champions Cup is the trophy awarded to all winners of WPT Main Tour stops, and champions have their names engraved on the WPT Champions Cup.
The 2021 PokerGO Cup was the inaugural PokerGO Cup, a series of high-stakes poker tournaments as part of the PokerGO Tour. It was held from inside the PokerGO Studio at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The series took place from July 6–14, 2021, with eight scheduled events culminating in a $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. Each final table was streamed on PokerGO.
The PokerGO Tour (PGT) is the official tour and ranking system for professional poker players that play in high roller poker tournaments with a minimum $5,000 buy-in. The PGT awards points to poker players based on prize money won in approximately 150 tournaments around the globe. The player who accumulates the most points during the year is crowned PGT Player of the Year. A predetermined cutoff point of the top point earners each year determines who will compete in a season ending event, with the winner of that event crowned PGT Champion.
