World Series of Poker History & WSOP Winners
World Series of Poker 2020
The World Series of Poker faces a major challenge in 2020 due to the COVID-19 ‘caronavirus’ which has brought the world to a standstill and has closed land based casinos and poker rooms for many months. Circumstances have forced Caesars Entertainment, owner of WSOP brand, to announce that all events including the $10,000 main event played at the Rio casino in Las Vegas will be postponed until further notice, but with a hope that certain events can be resumed in Fall of 2020, although no details are available.
With most players in lockdown and unable to visit any casinos, this has created a massive boom in online poker activity and huge interest in the online WSOP circuit events which are being offered by online poker sites. Historically WSOP circuit events were played at land based casinos around the United States as a lead up to the Las Vegas World Series events.
2020 World Series of Poker Online
The WSOP is running 85 bracelet events this summer – ONLINE – for the first time. Full info:
WSOP Online Schedule 2020 at GGPoker
The WSOP Main Event
The main event of the WSOP is a $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Holdem tournament, first played at Binions Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas downtown, with Johnny Moss winning the inaugural event in 1970. The event is now played at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino owned by Caesars Entertainment. WSOP main event winners receive a platinum & diamond bracelet along with the largest cash prize in tournament poker.
World Series of Poker Champions 1970 to 2019
| Year | WSOP Main Event Champ | Prize Won | Entries | WSOP Lifetime | Bracelets Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Johnny Moss | $0 | 7 | $824,922 | 9 |
| 1971 | Johnny Moss | $30,000 | 6 | $824,922 | 9 |
| 1972 | Thomas Preston | $80,000 | 8 | $436,055 | 4 |
| 1973 | Walter Pearson | $130,000 | 13 | $245,740 | 4 |
| 1974 | Johnny Moss | $160,000 | 16 | $824,922 | 9 |
| 1975 | Brian Roberts | $210,000 | 21 | $266,650 | 2 |
| 1976 | Doyle Brunson | $220,000 | 22 | $2,808,945 | 10 |
| 1977 | Doyle Brunson | $340,000 | 34 | $2,808,945 | 10 |
| 1978 | Bobby Baldwin | $210,000 | 42 | $604,900 | 4 |
| 1979 | Hal Fowler | $270,000 | 54 | $270,000 | 1 |
| 1980 | Stu Ungar | $385,000 | 73 | $2,078,838 | 5 |
| 1981 | Stu Ungar | $375,000 | 75 | $2,078,838 | 5 |
| 1982 | Jack Straus | $520,000 | 104 | $555,000 | 2 |
| 1983 | Tom McEvoy | $540,000 | 108 | $1,291,031 | 4 |
| 1984 | Jack Keller | $660,000 | 132 | $2,048,763 | 3 |
| 1985 | Bill Smith | $700,000 | 140 | $788,000 | 1 |
| 1986 | Berry Johnston | $570,000 | 141 | $2,265,523 | 5 |
| 1987 | Johnny Chan | $625,000 | 152 | $4,397,749 | 10 |
| 1988 | Johnny Chan | $700,000 | 167 | $4,397,749 | 10 |
| 1989 | Phil Hellmuth | $755,000 | 178 | $14,612,213 | 15 |
| 1990 | Mansour Matloubi | $895,000 | 194 | $6,019,630 | 1 |
| 1991 | Brad Daugherty | $1,000,000 | 215 | $1,165,170 | 1 |
| 1992 | Hamid Dastmalchi | $1,000,000 | 201 | $1,642,463 | 3 |
| 1993 | Jim Bechtel | $1,000,000 | 220 | $1,944,623 | 2 |
| 1994 | Russ Hamilton | $1,000,000 | 268 | $1,261,940 | 1 |
| 1995 | Dan Harrington | $1,000,000 | 273 | $3,491,513 | 2 |
| 1996 | Huck Seed | $1,000,000 | 295 | $2,426,842 | 4 |
| 1997 | Stu Ungar | $1,000,000 | 312 | $2,078,838 | 5 |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | $1,000,000 | 350 | $5,895,732 | 5 |
| 1999 | Noel Furlong | $1,000,000 | 393 | $1,070,785 | 1 |
| 2000 | Chris Ferguson | $1,500,000 | 512 | $5,033,593 | 6 |
| 2001 | Carlos Mortensen | $1,500,000 | 613 | $3,168,216 | 2 |
| 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | $2,000,000 | 631 | $2,110,212 | 1 |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | $2,500,000 | 839 | $2,532,041 | 1 |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 | 2,576 | $6,669,417 | 1 |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 | 5,619 | $8,261,859 | 1 |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | $12,000,000 | 8,773 | $12,067,292 | 1 |
| 2007 | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 | 6,358 | $8,280,913 | 1 |
| 2008 | Peter Eastgate | $9,152,416 | 6,844 | $9,430,506 | 1 |
| 2009 | Joe Cada | $8,574,649 | 6,494 | $10,339,448 | 4 |
| 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,138 | 7,319 | $14,612,213 | 3 |
| 2011 | Pius Heinz | $8,715,638 | 6,865 | $8,821,056 | 1 |
| 2012 | Greg Merson | $8,531,853 | 6,598 | $10,174,029 | 2 |
| 2013 | Ryan Riess | $8,359,531 | 6,352 | $8,920,672 | 1 |
| 2014 | Martin Jacobson | $10,000,000 | 6,683 | $12,102,232 | 1 |
| 2015 | Joe McKeehen | $7,683,346 | 6,420 | $10,480,861 | 2 |
| 2016 | Qui Nguyen | $8,005,310 | 6,737 | $8,022,287 | 1 |
| 2017 | Scott Blumstein | $8,150,000 | 7,221 | $8,155,227 | 1 |
| 2018 | John Cynn | $8,800,000 | 7,874 | $9,513,071 | 1 |
| 2019 | Hossein Ensan | $10,000,000 | 8,569 | $10,233,973 | 1 |
WSOP Circuit Events
Harrahs owned casinos run a series of low buyin poker tournaments, known as WSOP circuit events. The winner of each circuit event main event wins a WSOP main event seat. So far the circuit events have enjoyed moderate success, often due to direct competition from the more successful World Poker Tour or European Poker Tour events held at the same times.
WSOP Europe
Harrahs first announced the introduction of the WSOP-Europe in 2007. Click here for more about the WSOP Europe.
