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.
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. 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.
Gavin Smith was a Canadian professional poker player who won the World Poker Tour's Season IV Mirage Poker Showdown Championship event and the WPT Season IV Player of the Year award in 2005, then at the 2010 World Series of Poker, won the $2,500 Mixed Hold 'em event along with his first bracelet.
John Spadavecchia was an American professional poker player from Lighthouse Point, Florida.
J. C. Tran is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player, based in Sacramento, California.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet is considered the most coveted non-monetary prize a poker player can win. Since 1976, a bracelet has been awarded to the winner of every event at the annual WSOP. Even if the victory occurred before 1976, WSOP championships are now counted as "bracelets". During the first years of the WSOP, only a handful of bracelets were awarded each year. In 1990, there were only 14 bracelet events. By 2000, that number increased to 24. As the popularity of poker has increased during the 2000s, the number of events has likewise increased. In 2011, 58 bracelets were awarded at the WSOP, seven at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), and one to the WSOP National Circuit Champion. This brought the total number of bracelets awarded up to 959. Five additional bracelets were awarded for the first time in April 2013 at the inaugural World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia. In 2017, 74 bracelets were awarded at the WSOP and an additional 11 will be awarded at the WSOPE in Czech Republic.
James Corwin Mackey is an American professional poker player. He attended the University of Missouri before dropping out of a pre-med program to pursue a career in professional poker. In 2007, at 21 years and 4 months, Mackey became the third youngest poker player at the time to ever win a World Series of Poker bracelet, when he won the $5,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event, behind Steve Billirakis and Jeff Madsen.
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 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. From its inception to the 2013 tournament, players from 19 countries — USA (10), France (4), UK (3), Denmark (3), Canada (2), Norway (2), Portugal (2), Italy (2), Afghanistan, Germany, Indonesia, Spain, New Zealand, Sweden, Tunisia, Switzerland, Australia, Italy and Finland — have won bracelets.
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.
Daniel Heimiller is an American professional poker player who won the Limit Hold'em & Seven-Card Stud event at the 2002 World Series of Poker and the Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Championship in 2014. He has at least one WSOP cash for 25 consecutive years (1997-2021). He is ranked 5th in all time number of live tournament cashes and 12th in all time number of WSOP cashes.
Eric Buchman is an American professional poker player from Valley Stream, New York, who finished in fourth place at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. The following year, at the 2010 World Series of Poker, Buchman won his first bracelet in the $2,000 Limit Hold'em event, earning $203,607.
Christopher Bell is an American professional poker player from Raleigh, North Carolina who won the 2010 World Series of Poker $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event. He has also made three final tables at the World Poker Tour (WPT).
Sanghyon "Joseph" Cheong is a Korean-American professional poker player who is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner and a former finalist at the WSOP Main Event.
Brian Rast is a professional poker player living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Michael Gathy is a professional poker player from Belgium with many successes in live and online poker, including World Series of Poker bracelets at the 2012, 2013, 2016 and the 2020 World Series of Poker. He is one of two players that have won 4 NLHE bracelets in the decade 2011–2020, alongside Dominik Nitsche. He was also the first person to win a WSOP turbo event. Online he has won multiple SCOOP events and WCOOP events on PokerStars.
Michael Wang is a professional poker player, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, now living in Livingston, New Jersey. He learned to play poker as a teenager by mainly playing online. Since 2009 he is playing in all types of live poker tournaments.
Allen Kessler is an American professional poker player now residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is ranked 10th in All Time Total Cashes with 363 tournament cashes as recorded in the Global Poker Index. These include 69 WSOP cashes, 12 WSOP Europe cashes and 91 WSOP Circuit cashes including 3 rings and 9 cashes in the 2010 World Series of Poker, the most cashes of any player at the 2010 WSOP. Those 9 cashes include a 2nd-place finish. Kessler is also the Heartland Poker Tour Player of the Year for 2013. His career earnings exceed $3.87 million with an excess of $1.97 million in earnings at the WSOP and WSOP Circuit combined.
Daniel "Dan" Zack is an American professional poker player from Princeton, New Jersey. He was the 2022 World Series of Poker Player of the Year, after winning two bracelets and obtaining two additional final tables. Prior to this, Zack had won a WSOP circuit ring in 2014, and a bracelet in 2019.
Alan "Ari" Engel is a professional mid-high stakes poker player, primarily active on the World Series of Poker Tour but with perhaps more success on the World Series of Poker Circuit Tour, with a record 17 World Series of Poker circuit rings.
Sam Barnhart 
Dominik Nitsche 
Athanasios Polychronopoulos 
Said El-Yousfi 
Sean Yu 
Alexander Lakhov 
