Poker Pioneer: The World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker shows no signs of slowing down and releasing its grip on the poker world. To this day, it remains a well respected and beloved company that continues to improve the game of poker and spread the word of the cards. The World Series of Poker is usually held in the space of a month as a series of tournaments with different kinds of poker for each tournament. Participants to this poker tournament can easily hit the tens of thousands, which makes its fame and consequent success unsurprising.

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker is one of the most watched televised card games and tournaments out there and with substantially good reason. With a ten thousand dollar buy in, it's not hard to figure out how high the stakes can really get, even if the casino does have to take a cut to pay for the costs, with the remainders distributed as substantially profitable prizes. Naturally, as the number of attendees grew, the prize payoff at the World Series of Poker grew proportionally, making it even more appealing to the thousands of players out there. In as recently as 2006, the World Series of Poker had record attendance, almost hitting the five digit mark, bringing out a grand prize of twelve million dollars.

Not only do table winners at the World Series of Poker get money, they get a sort of trophy as well - the World Series of Poker bracelet. This bracelet is the mark of the elite - in fact, many have reduced the kinds of poker players out there to people who have the bracelet and people who don't. One bracelet already tells people that you're a killer at the cards - eleven, like poker brat Phil Hellmuth, is unprecedented and astounding. The runners up are only one bracelet behind, as Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan haven't been slacking off at the tables. Doyle Brunson's and Johnny Chan's bracelets carry some more weight, as they won two of those bracelets at the difficult main event, both in consecutive years.

Of course, unlike some home games, the World Series of Poker does not only award the first prize winner. While the first prize winner, understandably, gets the largest cut out of the potential win money, others down the line also get theirs. The more people there are, the more forgiving the World Series of Poker becomes.