Benny Binion

A poker biography of Benny Binion.

Quick Information Name - Benny Binion Born - Not available Poker Room - Not available

Biography

As young as 18 years old, Benny Binion was already involved in the world of gambling. His natural love for gambling was proven when the World Series of Poker (WPOS) was introduced in the gambling industry. Binion was part of the creation of this very popular poker tournament. In fact, millions of poker players around the world are hooked into this poker series where several poker professionals compete against each other.

Aside from the advent of WSOP, Binion was also a great part of several historic events that relate to the exciting world of poker. For more than five decades of his involvement in gambling, he contributed a lot to the overwhelming popularity of poker all over the world.

Gambling History

Since Binion basically grew up in Texas, he was really exposed to several gambling activities. He was only in his teenage years when he became an operator for the illicit number games.

Apart from this, Binion also owned several casinos and gambling houses. In fact, he purchased several buildings which he reopened as casinos. One of the very first purchases of Binion was the Westerner Gambling House and the Saloon which he bought in 1951. That same year, he acquired Apache Hotel and Eldorado Club and reopened them as the Binion's Horseshoe Casino.

Binion made a lot of changes regarding gambling. He was the first to offer free drinks to casino players and also the first to do limousine pick-ups for his customers.

In fact, his wife, two sons, and his daughter Becky took the top positions in their gambling company. However, Binion's gambling license was pulled out when he faced the unresolved legal charges in Texas.

Binion was also imprisoned in Texas because of murder charges. He was found guilty in killing Frank Bolding, and after two long years, he was acquitted due to the reason of self-defense. Aside from this, he served four years at the Leavenworth Penitentiary due to tax evasion charges.

Poker Legend

With the innumerable contributions that Binion has made in the world of poker, he is considered as a poker legend. One of the historic poker events that Binion did was when he organized the one-on-one game of Nick "the Greek" and Johnny Moss. The game, where Nick lost two million bucks, lasted for five whole months.

However, Moss was declared the winner at the birth of WSOP in 1970. The tour's  format requires players to compete against each other with a pot money as well as they need to choose the winner. Since then, Binion's format was adopted for the annual poker tournament.

Binion never knew that his idea would become so famous. In fact, more and more poker players and enthusiasts gather every year in the WSOP tours. In 2005, there were more than 5,000 people who attended the said poker series.

The Poker Hall of Fame was posthumously awarded to Binion in 1990 because of the remarkable developments he did for poker.

Heart failure was the cause of Binion's death in 1989 and up to now, he is remembered as the guy who brought so many changes in the world of poker.