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Nowadays there are pretenders to the throne in the shape of The World poker Tour (WPT), but the recognised World Championship is The World Series of Poker (WSOP), which first appeared in 1970, but the seed was planted much earlier in 1949 when Nick "The Greek" Dandalos came to town wanting to play "the biggest game this world has to offer."
Having broken every high rolling poker player in eastern USA, "The Greek" had allegedly won in the region of $60 million, although he had a bad leak in the guise of horse racing, which cost him most of this fortune.
Arriving in Vegas, he was told that Benny Binion was the man to see about no-limit action, and "The Greek" demanded that the Horseshoe's founder match him against "any man around" in a no-limit, winner-take-all poker marathon.
Benny Binion agreed to set up a match between "The Greek" and the legendary Johnny Moss, with the only stipulation being that the game be played in public view.
Benny then phoned his friend Johnny Moss, the best poker player he knew. Moss' formal education had ended, like Benny's, in second grade, but no one could beat Moss at poker, or Benny at entrepreneurship. Legend has it that Moss was already in a pretty good game in Odessa when his friend finally reached him. He'd been playing for three days straight without sleep, but he still got on the first plane to Vegas, took a taxi to The Horseshoe and on a Sunday afternoon in January, immediately sat down to play Dandalos.
They played for five months, breaking for sleep only once every four or five days - this as fresh dealers rotated in every 20 minutes to keep the action brisk and precise. Meanwhile, the crowds continued to grow. In one famous hand of five-card stud, the board cards were 8-6-4-J for the Greek and 6-9-2-3 for Moss. With over $100,000 already in the pot, the Greek bet $50,000. Moss, who had a 9 in the hole, moved all his available chips in, re-raising. The Greek had only $140,000 left of what had recently been an eight-figure bankroll. "I guess I have to call you," he said, pushing the last of his chips toward the pot, "because I think I've got a jack in the hole." Moss told him, "Greek, if you've got a jack down there, you're liable to win a helluva pot." Dandalos indeed had the jack, and the pot came to $520,000. By recklessly chasing Moss' pair of 9s during the final two betting rounds, Dandalos had just won half a million dollars.
The two men played every form of poker imaginable. Moss ultimately won "the biggest game in town" and an estimated $2 million. When the Greek lost his last pot, he arose from his chair, bowed slightly, and uttered the now-famous words, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go." Dandolos then went upstairs to bed.
Though significant in its own way as a chapter in poker history, the five-month marathon took on added importance to Benny Binion. He noted that the public had gathered outside the casino each day to watch the game with the fervour of dedicated sports fans, and he was amazed at the attention the event had attracted. But it wasn't until 1970 that Binion decided to re-create this excitement and stage a battle of poker giants - dubbed the "World Series Of Poker" - to determine who would be worthy of the title "World Champion." Some of the best players in the country were assembled, and Johnny Moss came out on top. The decision was democratic in that the champion was decided by popular vote.
The following year, the winner was determined by a freezeout competition, with players being systematically eliminated until one player had all the chips. Moss again was declared the World Champion. In 1972, when Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston won the title and went on the talk-show circuit, the WSOP began to gain a wider following.
Between 1970 and 1982, the tournament had grown to only 52 entries. In 2003 there were 839 entries for the $10,000 No Limit Hold'em event. In 2004 the previous year's record was smashed when 2,576 poker fanatics entered the Championship event. The prize money increased from $7,769,000 a decade ago to more than $49 million in 2004. 2005 has been capped at 7500 players, will Binions reach that? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, this event gets bigger and bigger, and is undoubtedly THE World Championship.
WSOP Champions
1970 Johnny Moss
1971 Johnny Moss
1972 “Amarillo Slim” Preston
1973 Puggy Pearson
1974 Johnny Moss
1975 Sailor Roberts
1976 Doyle Brunson
1977 Doyle Brunson
1978 Bobby Baldwin
1979 Hal Fowler
1980 Stu Unger
1981 Stu Unger
1982 Jack Strauss
1983 Tom McEvoy
1984 Jack Keller
1985 Bill Smith
1986 Berry Johnston
1987 Johhny Chan
1988 Johhny Chan
1989 Phil hellmuth
1990 Mansour Matloubi
1991 Brad Daugherty
1992 Hamid Dastmalchi
1993 Jim Bechtel
1994 Russ Hamilton
1995 Dan Harrington
1996 Huck Seed
1997 Stu Unger
1998 Scotty Nguyen
1999 Noel Furlong
2000 Chris Ferguson
2001 Carlos Mortenson
2002 Robert Varkonyi
2003 Chris Moneymaker
2004 Greg “Fossilman” Raymer
2005 Joe Hachem
2006 Jamie Gold
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