1970 World Series of Poker

A summary of 1970 world series of poker.

The prestigious World Series of Poker (WSOP) was officially launched in 1970 through the efforts of Benny Binion, a renowned poker pro and a casino owner. Poker junkies may be interested to know how this highly-recognized series of poker tournaments become a dream competition for every gamer.

Before the 1970 WSOP

In 1949, Nicholas "Nick the Greek" Dandolos asked Binion to set up a tournament that would match Dandolos against the best in high-stakes poker marathon. Binion granted Dandolos's request, and matched him with another poker ace Johnny Moss. The poker game, which lasted for about five months, was witnessed by the public. The two legendary game addicts played every poker type existed, and they only had their breaks at night when they had to sleep. After months of bluffing, calling, betting, and raising, Moss defeated Dandolos and bagged the $2 million cash prize.

Incidentally, the unique poker tournament that Binion arranged created a big impact to him. He realized how many people have gathered to see the event, and he was fascinated with the attention that the crowd and sports fans gave just to witness the competition. However, it was only after 20 years that Binion determined to revive the excitement that the five-month poker marathon created. He then established the World Series of Poker to know who would be labeled as the World Champion in the said card game.

The First WSOP Champ

The first ever WSOP was held in 1970 at Fremont Street in Las Vegas. The tournament offered cash games like five-card stud, seven-card stud, Texas hold'em, razz, and deuce to seven low-ball draw. Compared to the WSOP events that we know today, the 1970 WSOP champ was decided through voting. Jack Binion, son of Benny Binion, invited seven renowned poker pro in the country to his own casino in Vegas to determine U.S.A.'s best poker player. Johnny Moss took home the trophy after Brian "Sailor" Roberts, Amarillo "Slim" Preston, Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Carl Cannon, and Crandall Addington voted for him to be the World Champion.

However, there are some fictitious legends saying that there were two votes taken to know who would bag the World Champion title. In the first vote, the poker players were told to vote for the person that they thought was the best player. As a result, each player voted for himself. In the next vote, the poker legends were instructed to vote the second-best player, and Johnny Moss won the selection.

A year after Moss was declared as 1970 World Champion, WSOP champ was determined through a poker tournament where players were eliminated until one poker player won all the chips. Again, Moss bagged the top prize.

Binion's creation of WSOP helped poker to be known not only all over America, but also around the globe. Although he first underestimated the tournament's popularity, he imagined that more than 50 people would participate in the WSOP someday. Due to Binion and his co-poker enthusiasts' efforts to promote poker and to acknowledge exceptional players, after more than three decades, the tournament had more than 5,000 entrants -- far more than Binion's dream.

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