Thursday, July 26, 2012

The World Series of Poker - MAIN EVENT

Since 1972, the Main Event of the WSOP has been the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'Em (NLHE) tournament (in 1971 the buy-in was $5,000 and the inaugural 1970 event was an invitational with winner determined by a vote). Winners of the event not only get the largest prize of the tournament and a gold bracelet, but additionally their picture is placed in the Gallery of Champions at Binion's. The winner of the Main Event has traditionally been given the unofficial title of World Champion. However, some believe that no-limit hold 'em is not the optimal structure for determining a champion poker player. In 2002, Daniel Negreanu argued that the Main Event should switch to pot-limit hold 'em, believing that pot-limit required a more complete set of poker skills than no-limit, although he admitted that such a change would likely never be made.[10] However, many of the game's top professionals, including Negreanu, have since stated that the recently-added $50,000 H.O.R.S.E./Poker Player's Championship event is the one which ultimately decides the world's best player. The $50,000 buy-in, being five times larger than the buy-in for the Main Event, has thus far tended to deter amateurs from playing in this event, and the variety of games played require a broader knowledge of poker. The first $50,000 event, conducted as a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, was won by Chip Reese in 2006. In 2010, the $50,000 event changed from H.O.R.S.E. to an "8-game" format, adding no-limit hold 'em, pot-limit Omaha, and 2–7 triple draw to the mix, and was rechristened The Poker Player's Championship,[11][12] with Michael Mizrachi winning the first edition of the revamped event.[13] Since Reese's death in December 2007, the winner of this event receives the David 'Chip' Reese Memorial Trophy in addition to the bracelet and the prize money.

There have been many memorable moments during the main events, including Jack Straus's 1982 comeback win after discovering he had one $500 chip left when he thought he was out of the tournament. The end of the 1988 main event was featured in the movie Rounders. Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, the winners in2003 and 2004, both qualified for the main event through satellite tournaments at the PokerStars online card room. Jerry Yang, the winner in 2007, had only been playing poker for two years prior to his victory. He won his seat at a $225 satellite tournament at Pechanga Resort & Casino, in California. With passage of theUnlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 online poker sites have been barred from purchasing entrance directly for their users.

Main Event results

YearWinnerWinning
hand
First place prizeEntrantsRunner-upLosing
hand
1970Johnny MossN/AN/A7N/AN/A
1971Johnny Moss? ?30,0006Walter "Puggy" Pearson? ?
1972Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Jr.K J80,0008Walter "Puggy" Pearson6  6 
1973Walter "Puggy" PearsonA 7130,00013Johnny MossK J
1974Johnny Moss3 3160,00016Crandell AddingtonA 2
1975Brian "Sailor" RobertsJ J210,00021Bob HooksJ 9
1976Doyle Brunson10 2220,00022Jesse AltoA J
1977Doyle Brunson10 2340,00034Gary Berland8 5
1978Bobby BaldwinQ Q210,00042Crandell Addington9 9
1979Hal Fowler7 6270,00054Bobby HoffA A
1980Stu Ungar5 4385,00073Doyle BrunsonA 7
1981Stu UngarA Q375,00075Perry Green10 9
1982Jack StrausA 10520,000104Dewey TomkoA 4
1983Tom McEvoyQ Q540,000108Rod PeateK J
1984Jack Keller10 10660,000132Byron Wolford6 4
1985Bill Smith3 3700,000140T. J. CloutierA 3
1986Berry JohnstonA 10570,000141Mike HarthcockA 8
1987Johnny ChanA 9625,000152Frank Henderson4 4
1988Johnny ChanJ 9700,000167Erik SeidelQ 7
1989Phil Hellmuth, Jr.9 9755,000178Johnny ChanA 7
1990Mansour Matloubi6 6895,000194Hans Lund4 4
1991Brad DaughertyK J1,000,000215Don Holt7 3
1992Hamid Dastmalchi8 41,000,000201Tom JacobsJ 7
1993Jim BechtelJ 61,000,000220Glenn Cozen7 4
1994Russ HamiltonK 81,000,000268Hugh Vincent8 5
1995Dan Harrington9 81,000,000273Howard GoldfarbA 7
1996Huck Seed9 81,000,000295Bruce Van HornK 8
1997Stu UngarA 41,000,000312John StrzempA 8
1998Scotty NguyenJ 91,000,000350Kevin McBrideQ 10
1999Noel Furlong5 51,000,000393Alan Goehring6 6
2000Chris FergusonA 91,500,000512T. J. CloutierA Q
2001Juan Carlos MortensenK Q1,500,000613Dewey TomkoA A
2002Robert VarkonyiQ 102,000,000631Julian GardnerJ 8
2003Chris Moneymaker5 42,500,000839Sam FarhaJ 10
2004Greg Raymer8 85,000,0002,576David WilliamsA 4
2005Joe Hachem7 37,500,0005,619Steve DannenmannA 3
2006Jamie GoldQ 912,000,0008,773Paul Wasicka10 10
2007Jerry Yang8 88,250,0006,358Tuan LamA Q
2008Peter EastgateA 59,152,4166,844Ivan Demidov4 2
2009Joe Cada9 98,547,0426,494Darvin MoonQ J
2010Jonathan DuhamelA J8,944,3107,319John RacenerK 8
2011Pius HeinzA K8,715,6386,865Martin Staszko10 7
2012TBD8,527,9826,598TBD

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