World Series Of Poker and World Poker Tour

You have seen the World Series of Poker (WSOP) on television, and you have read about the World Poker Tour (WPT). But did you know that you don’t have to be a seasoned veteran of the poker scene to qualify? There are several online poker tournaments that you can enter to win a spot for the WSOP or WPT! It worked for Chris Moneymaker, and now it can work for you! Simply click on the review of each of these qualifying rooms to get the scoop.

In these tournaments all players pay the same buy-in fee and receive the same amount of chips. The buy-ins are put in a prize pool that will be split amongst the high-placing players. As the tournament proceeds players will run out of chips and get knocked out of the tournament, and the blinds (pot-builders) increase. The tournament continues until only one player remains and is declared the victor.

The odds of winning and how much you win depend upon skill, strategy, and a little bit of Lady Luck. The amount of payout to each high-placing player depends upon the number of people who played in the tournament. For a full schedule of each site’s fees, tournament schedule and payout structure, simply click on “read review” for each room.
Read about WSOP | Read about WSOP

• World Series Of Poker - The official WSOP site.
• WSOP 2005 - WSOP 2005 is a site dedicated to the world series of poker in 2005.

• World Poker Tour - Official World Poker Tour page.

Short info about the WSOP

In 1970, Benny Binion, the owner of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, gathered together a group of highly skilled poker players from around the United States. His plan was to have them play each other in a public setting in order to determine which of them who the best poker player in the world was. Benny Binion called his event the "World Series of Poker" and it was held at his casino in Las Vegas. In the end, celebrated poker legend Johnny Moss was crowned the very first World Champion of Poker. The WSOP has been held annually at the Binions Horseshoe ever since, but from 2005 and forward the WSOP will be played at the Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the year 2000, when Chris Ferguson was crowned as the WSOP champion, the number of participants had grown to 519 and first prize awarded him with $1,500,000. In 2004, an unprecedented 2,576 players battled for the coveted world champion title, which lured the competitors with a first prize offer of $5,000,000.

A few players have won more than one time namely Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Stu Ungar and Johny Moss. They are now considered greats of the game.

In 2004 the WSOP franchise was bought by Harrahs and will be managed by them in 2005, instead of being held at the traditional Binions the WSOP will be held at the Rio suites and hotel in Las Vegas. Participant number is expected to be in between 3000-6000 players. The main event will start on July 7th and the final table will be played on July 15th. However, the two final days of the event will be played at the traditional Binions Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.

Short info about the WPT

The World Poker Tour is the most popular TV show about poker. The viewers get to watch the hole cards of the players, therefore follow the action from the player’s perspective. A major part of the attraction is the high quality of the poker that is filmed. All tournaments are high buy-in tournaments and the players are some of the best players in the world. But the tournaments are open for anyone to enter so occasionally an amateur reaches the final table and battles it out against the poker professionals.

The first episode of the World Poker Tour was recorded at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in 2002. The tournament was The Diamond World Poker Classic and it had 146 entrants that all paid an entrance fee of $10,000 each. From that point it just went on, season 1 contained another 12 episodes recorded at major tournaments. Most of them around the United States except three recorded in the Caribbean, and one in France. The tournaments were held between June 2002 and April 2003. The last event of the season was held at the Bellagio where it all started. The last event of the season is called the World Poker Tour Championship and costs $25,000 to enter. This is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world to win.

Some extra episodes have been added due to the high popularity of the show, for example have charity free-rolls with Hollywood celebrities been held and also have tournaments with former winners playing each other been shown on TV. In 2004 a new branch started of the WPT and it is called the Professional Poker Tour. The PPT is an invitational tour where poker professional only are invited to play without having to pay a buy-in.