World Series of Poker

There are a number of different poker tournaments played throughout the world and of course there are a number of different winners from those tournaments that are able to take the glory and the money home with them. The higher the tournament the higher is the prestige of winning it. Of all of the different tournaments, the World Series of Poker is by far the most prestigious. The World Series of Poker is actually not a single tournament but rather lends its name to dozens of different events played out over a period of a few weeks. There are many different tournaments that are included, but some of the more high profile ones are listed below.

H.O.R.S.E

While not the tournament that determines the world champion of poker for the year, many of the greatest players in the world (including Doyle Brunson, one of the greatest players in history) believe that it should be. The tournament comprises five different poker disciplines; Hold ‘Em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Stud/8. In other words, people have the chance to test their all round poker skills rather than their skills in one specific poker discipline. The buy-in to this prestigious event is a whopping $50,000, but the winner frequently walks away with well over a million in cash.

Main Event

The grand tournament of the World Series of Poker. An emperor among kinds and a God amongst demi-gods and mere mortals, the World Series of Poker Main Event is the event that crowns the world champion of poker each and every year. Each year, the person that wins the event has the right to call themselves the best poker player in the world for a year and each year the person that wins the event takes home a lot of money. The Main Event has always had a buy-in of $10,000 associated with it and as more people have entered it, the prize pools have progressively got a lot larger.

When Chris Moneymaker won in 2003, he won $2.5 million. Greg Raymer was the 2004 champion and he netted a cool $5 million. 2005 saw Joe Hachem, the first player born outside of the United States to win the award, claim a top prize of $7.5 million. Finally, last year Jamie Gold won the top prize of $12 million. It is expected that 2006 was the peak year for the main event and while the prize pools are expected to be lower this year, at the same time the main event is still estimated to have a first prize of $10 million; not too shabby.

Other Tournaments

There are dozens of other tournaments played during the World Series of Poker each year, showcasing games from lowball 5-card draw to smaller buy in tournaments of Texas Hold ‘Em. While these tournaments do not have the same prestige as the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E tournament or the main event, at the same time they are considered the best tournaments of their game. In other words, if you want to be considered a great Omaha player, you want to play in the Omaha events at the World Series of Poker. Regardless of the game, the World Series of Poker defines greatness.