

The triple crown consists of the three highest ranking achievements at each years WSOP. 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. 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. The attendance at the WSOP is boosted by the thousands of players who qualify via winning satellite tournaments run on online poker sites. 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. 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. The TV coverage on ESPN is lead by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad which have become household figures to regular poker fans. This has been a great success and really raised the profile of the sport. 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. 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. The main event is the biggest TV spectacle in the poker calender and is broadcast by ESPN.

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. 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.ĭuring 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 World Series of Poker is the most prestigious event in the poker world. WSOP – The Most Prestigious Event on the Poker Calender
