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The History of Tournament PokerWhile the history of poker indicates that poker games or card games similar to poker are suspected to be almost as old as mankind itself, the existence and popularity of poker tournaments today, can be grossly attributed to the growth of the World Series of Poker.
Hundreds or thousands of poker players could enter a poker tournament. Each player pays a pre-determined amount to participate, which is called a Buy-In. A small percentage of all the Buy-Ins is kept by the casino for hosting the tournament and the rest creates a prize pool. The more players enter, the higher the prize pool.
When the tournament begins, all the players receive the same number of poker chips for their Buy-In. This means that all players get to compete on equal foot and no one enjoys the advantage of a larger bankroll (the amount of cash you have available to play with).
Entrants compete at poker tables with 8-10 other players until there is only one final table left. Usually all the players at the final table earn a portion of the prize pool, whilst the last player standing who won all the poker chips, wins the tournament and receives the highest prize. This is called “finish in the money.”
According to rumour, it first originated from a series of high stakes cash games that were initiated by the the Binion brothers, owners of Binions Horseshoe Casino; Tom Moore, owner of the Holiday Casino and Vic Vicrey who was a well-known gambler. These poker games were mostly in texas holdem format and attracted just over 30 respected poker players at the time, including the likes of Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder; Rudy “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone; Doyle Brunson, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Johnny Moss, and Puggy Pearson.
The success of this event and the influence of these prominent professional gamblers then reportedly lead to the first official poker tournament, which was held during the Second Annual Gambling Fraternity in 1969. With no interest from Tom Moore or Vic Vicrey to pursue the matter, the Binion brothers seized the opportunity to obtain the rights to this poker tournament. During 1970, they moved the venue for the tournament to their own Casino, Binion’s Horseshoe and renamed it the World Series of Poker.
And as they say… the rest is history! At first the World Series of Poker grew very slowly. By 1972, the World Series of Poker had 72 entrants, by 1982, it had around 100 and by 1991, it had a playing field of more than 200 players. But after it was bought over by Harrah’s Entertainment in 2004, the World Series of Poker exploded. In 2006 it had a record number of 8,773 entries for the WSOP No Limit Texas Holdem Main Event alone, and by 2008, close to 7000 players entered, resulting in an astounding prize pool of more than $64million!
Factors that most likely contributed to this astonishing growth of the poker tournament of poker tournaments are:
- Doyle Brunson published the first poker strategy book titled Super/System in the late 1970’s
- In 1987, community card games such as holdem poker were introduced as an interesting alternative to draw poker games in California, that houses some of the largest casinos in the world
- In 1990 poker spread to the rest of America
- The first poker film, Rounders, starring Matt Damon And Edward Norton, made its debut in 1998, spurring the interest in tournament poker in the rest of the world
- A British television show, Late Night Poker introduces poker and tournament poker to the whole of Europe, catching the attention of the greater public in Europe
- By the dawn of the 21st century, all major poker tournaments were televised and broadcasted on major TV channels - attracting a huge audience and becoming one of the most popular spectator sports. This in turn lead to poker players becoming celebrities
- Two reasonably new online poker players, Greg Raymer and Chris Moneymaker won their seats to the World Series of Poker through playing satellite tournaments online. Their incredible success and wealth that followed, captured the imagination of aspiring poker players and amateurs from around the globe.
While the World Series of Poker and other major poker tournaments more often than not comprise a variety of different types of poker games, the format of choice to this day, remains texas holdem; or party poker, as known by many.
Should you be new to tournament poker and are keen to learn to play; you should make use of the free poker games and free poker tournaments that are offered at Piggs Peak Poker Room.
Called “Freerolls,” it is absolutely free to enter although you stand to win real cash prizes. Best of all is that is offers a series of player assist tools that will make it possible for anyone to play like a pro in no time. So click here to download your free poker software and start playing online poker tournaments now.
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