The World Series of Poker was first played in 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The World Series of Poker is the oldest, largest, and most popular gaming competition in the world today. The first tournament included six of the world’s most known players, all of whom were invited to the tournament by Benny Binion. The tournament took place at The Horseshoe Casino.

12 years after the tournament first began, the field of players grew to 52 contestants in 1982. By 1987 there were over 1,000 participants in the tournament. The tournament now boasts over 8,000 contestants and no one is barred from competing in the tournament as long as they can pay the $10,000 buy in required to play. That means that whether or not the contestants are amateurs that have never played in a professional competition before or if they are seasoned veterans, if they can pay the buy in fee then they can play in the World Series of Poker.

The largest payout of winnings to one winner came in 2006 when the winner of the World Series of Poker for that year’s tournament took home $12 million. The lucky winner in 2006 was Jamie Gold. The number of players that took part in the 2006 competition was 8,773.

The World Series of Poker has been televised by ESPN, the Discovery Channel, CBS and others during its prestigious history. ESPN covered the World Series of Poker from 1988-1995, 1997-1998, 2002-Present. Since 2004 the World Series of Poker has been awarding a Player of the Year Award. The winners since 2004 have been Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Tom Schneider and Erick Lindgren.