The World Series of Poker – or simple WSOP – is not only the most famous poker tournament in the world but also the largest poker tournament. After all, it offers players the largest prize pool while also holding the record for the largest number of contestants that participated in a single tournament.
The tournament began in 1970, making it the oldest poker tournament. There are various interesting facts about the WSOP, including how the event works, the past winners, the main events, and more. To learn more about the WSOP, keep reading this guide.
Overview
Many poker players and enthusiasts often think about the main event, which is held in Las Vegas annually, whenever they come across WSOP. However, this simply represents one of the main events in the series. Take, for instance, the 2019 and 2020 WSOP tournaments involve over 35 circuit tournaments that took place across the United States, besides international events and main events.
Over the years, the tournament has evolved to cater to the growing number of contestants, as well as the various changes in the poker industry. The series often benefits from the addition of new events, both online and offline. This has also contributed to its growing popularity.
While most of the series is still held in Las Vegas in June and July, there are now many WSOP events that take place at several offline casinos – as well as online gambling platforms – across the globe.
Before a player can think of playing poker tournaments, they must understand the different tips of improving their winning chances. One of this includes knowing how to play dual drop jackpots. Besides this, players are often advised to have a plan for future streets. Before making any decision preflop, on the turn, or on the flop, ensure that you have a plan that can tackle all outcomes.
The WSOP Main Event
The no-limit Texas Hold ’em format is the main event of the WSOP tournament. However, you will also come across other variants of poker in the World Series of Poker events. The different events in the WSOP tournament are associated with different game formats, rules, and buy-ins.
To define the World Series of Poker tournaments better, you can think of the events as a collection of tournaments, which includes various poker variations and different levels, rather than a single poker game.
Participating In The Tournament
The World Series of Poker’s main event represents the most popular single tournament in the poker industry. This no-limit Texas Hold ’em tournament requires a $10,000 buy-in. According to the tournament tradition, the winner is often unofficially declared the World Champion of Poker.
The much-coveted WSOP bracelet is also awarded to them, as well as a cash prize, which depends on the number of players involved in the tournament. The WSOP Main Event offers a grand prize that ranges from $30,000 in 1971 to $12 million in 2006.
With this in mind, there are no restrictions on the number of people that can participate in the tournament. In fact, the 2006 edition saw the largest number of Main Event contestants with 8,773 players. In 2019, 8,559 players competed in the Main Event.
Most Recent Winners
In 2018, there were 7,874 contestants. The winner of the WSOP tournament was John Cynn who received $8,800,000. In 2019, the winner was Hossein Ensan, who won $10,000,000. The 2020 winner was Damian Salas who won a cash prize of $2,550,969. There were 1,379 competitors in the edition.
Televised WSOP tournament
How the poker tournaments are televised has changed over the years, thanks to technological advancement. WSOP.com and ESPN could air the final table event in 2011 with just five-minute to 30-minute delays. Those delays were introduced to ensure that players couldn’t cheat.
If the live stream of the footage could be presented in real-time, then it would be possible for viewers to see other players’ hold cards. In the process, they could text them to anyone in the live audience. Visual signals can then be passed to a contestant at the table to help them win.
Conclusion
Players have always been fascinated by the idea of playing the World Series of Poker tournament. After all, this is the most popular poker tournament in the world. It is not uncommon to find different players who are curious about how to play WSOP tournaments. First, it is important to get acquainted with how the event works. Then, various tactics that can boost your chances of winning can be learned. Oftentimes, the strategies that are reserved for poker tournaments are different from those techniques that are used when playing for cash.
