World Series of Poker (WSOP) Winners

			WSOP Titles	WPT Titles	EPT Titles	Poker Earnings
1		Phil Ivey	9	1	0	$17,649,220
2		Erik Seidel	8	1	0	$21,499,344
3		Allen Cunningham	5	0	0	$12,031,743
4		Chris Ferguson	5	0	0	$8,281,926
5		Huck Seed	5	0	0	$7,582,816
6		John Juanda	5	0	0	$15,113,768
7		Mike Matusow	4	0	0	$8,974,373
8		Jeff Madsen	3	0	0	$4,054,686
9		John Cernuto	3	0	0	$5,352,640
10		Carlos Mortensen	2	3	0	$11,598,083
11		Eddy Scharf	2	0	0	$1,327,119
12		Erick Lindgren	2	2	0	$9,881,849
13		Greg Mueller	2	0	0	$2,621,740
14		Howard Lederer	2	2	0	$6,571,538
15		Jennifer Harman	2	0	0	$2,697,533
16		Max Pescatori	2	0	0	$3,322,683
17		JC Tran	2	1	0	$10,416,658
18		Vanessa Selbst	2	0	0	$8,018,466
19		Gus Hansen	1	4	0	$11,240,678
20		Andy Bloch	1	0	0	$5,415,383
21		David Benyamine	1	1	0	$7,047,146
22		Gavin Smith	1	1	0	$5,959,186
23		Lee Watkinson	1	0	0	$4,146,149
24		Robert Mizrachi	1	0	0	$4,498,967
25		Roland de Wolfe	1	1	1	$5,330,556
26		Annie Duke	1	0	0	$4,270,549
27		Annette Obrestad	1	0	0	$3,910,678

WSOP – The Most Prestigious Event on the Poker Calender

The World Series of Poker is the most prestigious event in the poker world. Held annually at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, this series of poker tournaments commences in late May each year and runs for 2 months till towards the end of July.

During this 2 month period there are usually somewhere in the region of 60 events with buy-ins ranging from $1,500 all the way up to $1million in recent years.

The culmination of each years WSOP is the $10,000 main event where a thousands of players compete for 7+ days to become the next World Series of Poker Champion, enter the history books forever, not to mention take home the massive prize, usually around the $10million mark.

Drawing in the Audience on TV

The main event is the biggest TV spectacle in the poker calender and is broadcast by ESPN. In 2008 the format was changed for the Main Event to include a delayed final table, which meant that in July during the WSOP, the event played until they reduced down to just a final table of 9 players, then the tournament paused, which the final table taking place later that year in October or November.

This allowed for a great deal of press and hype to be built up to the main event and the players involved and leading to the glitz and glamour of the final table taking place in front of thousands on the stage of the Penn and Teller Theatre at the Rio, and in front of many more covered live on ESPN with just a 15 minute delay so that hole cards can be shown. This has been a great success and really raised the profile of the sport.

The TV coverage on ESPN is lead by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad which have become household figures to regular poker fans.

Biggest fields in Poker

Many thousands of people turn up to play in the World Series each year, with many of the events attracting large fields especially the lower buy in events. However the $10,000 buy in main event still attracts the most entries peaking at 8,773 players in 2006 all paying $10,000 to enter generating a prize pool of $82.5million+ and a first prize of $12million for eventual winner Jamie Gold.

The attendance at the WSOP is boosted by the thousands of players who qualify via winning satellite tournaments run on online poker sites. This allows players who do not usually play in high buy in events to win their seat in the tournament for as little as a few dollars. In fact this is credited for being a major part of the ‘poker boom’ that took place after millions of Television viewers saw Chris Moneymaker win the WSOP Main Event and $2.5million in 2003 after winning his seat in a $30 online satellite.

The World Series of Poker Triple Crown

The triple crown consists of the three highest ranking achievements at each years WSOP. The three titles that every poker player wants to win include of course the Main Event, the $50,000 HORSE Poker Players Championship and the Player of the Year Award.

The Main event is the biggest title in poker and to beat a field of many thousands and bringing your A game for over a week is an amazing achievement. The $50k HORSE Poker Players Championship is considered the most skilful title you can win in poker, with a mixture of poker games being rotated during the tournament, and the $50k buy in and prestige of the tournament attracting a field of world class player that the winner has to beat.

The Player of the Year Award is a points based system that totals up a players performance throughout all the 60+ events of the World Series. This shows the best all round performer at the series and rewards them with the Player of the Year title.