QMunir
My Dream: The World Series of Poker Main Event
The World Series of Poker or WSOP is the biggest poker tournament series in the world, and it's held every year in Las Vegas. Since 2005, it has been sponsored by Harrah's Casino, and the WSOP has its origins in the 70s when Benny Binion invited six poker players to the Horseshoe for a tournament.
The winner of each WSOP event gets a bracelet and monetary winnings based on the buy-in amount and the number of participants. Over the past few years the WSOP has grown, both in the number of players and the number of events. Every year, the Series culminates with the Main Event, a ten-thousand-dollar hold 'em tournament. The Main Event's winner gets a bracelet and a cash prize in the millions of dollars, making it a very coveted win indeed.
Starting this year, the WSOP will be made up of fifty eight events. Most common poker variants are played, but in the past few years more than half of the tournaments have been based on some form of hold 'em. The events take place over the course of one or several days during the months of June and July, but since 2008, the Main Event has been held in December.
Last year, the WSOP Main Event was held in Vegas' Rio Hotel and Casino. It ran from May 27 to July 17, and Jonathan Duhamel became its first Canadian winner. He won almost $9 million, and this year's WSOP will take place at the Rio as well.
Since almost the beginning (1971), all the WSOP's events have had cash prizes. In 1973, there was a five-card stude tournament added, and over the years, events have come and gone. Since 1976, every winner has earned a bracelet, and winners from before then were also given bracelets. The tournament grew slowly in the beginning, and eventually smaller tournaments allowed people to win their way into the main event.
The WSOP currently plays variants of Texas and Omaha hold 'em and seven-card stud, and the HORSE variant has been played in the past. Games like five-card stud and Chinese poker were also played before. The casino sponsoring the main event gets a portion of the total fees, and gives the rest to the players.