The very first World Series of Poker (WSOP) event took place in 1971 at the family owned Binion’s Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Unlike today when every event is well publicized, this poker tournament wasn’t even known about by anyone outside the small poker fraternity, and nobody knew who the players were. Today, main events pull in thousands of players. Some of these players come from all over the world, but at this 1971 WSOP event, there were only six players, and five of them hailed from Texas.

At the time, many of the players that played in the tournament did so as a favor to Benny Binion. Benny himself was a displaced Texan. Back then players didn’t like publicity for a number of reasons. The game was not as well respected as it is now and it was very difficult for the government to keep track of cash winnings. Winning a publicized tournament would have set off a red flag and gotten the governments attention at that period in time. The prize was also huge for this kind of tournament. $30,000 dollars went to the winner, which was more than most people could make in a year.

The six players that comprised the 1971 WOSP included Doyle Brunson "The Godfather of Poker" as well as Sailor Roberts, Johnny Moss, Jack "Treetop" Strauss, Puggy Pearson, and Jimmy Casella. The game that was chosen to play was no-limit Texas hold’em poker, and the winner was Johnny Moss.

The WSOP stands as a tribute to Benny Binion as his formula for making a tournament successful has changed very little over the years. The main event of the tournament is still no-limit Texas hold’em, which has grown very popular in the last several years. A large reason for the excitement for Texas hold’em has been the recent movies that have come out promoting poker such as Casino Royale. The buy-in to the main event is still set at the $10,000 dollar mark, even though that amount of money meant a whole lot more to people back in 1971 than it does today. The champion of the WSOP still gets to hold the gold bracelet over his head and declare himself the World Champion of Poker out of tradition just as Johnny Moss did all those years ago.

Back in 1971, the WOSP played out like this: Johnny Moss won the $5,000 Championship Event with the final prize being $30,000 with 6 Entrants. He also won the Limit Ace to 5 Draw event with a price of $10,000. Bill Boyd won the Limit 5 Card Stud event for $10,000. Jimmy Casella won the Limit Razz event and took home $10,000 dollars. Puggy Pearson won the Limit 7 Card Stud event for $10,000. Overall this was a very successful tournament and even though things were kept under tight wraps, the WOSP is extremely popular, successful, and so much fun for poker players everywhere. It shock people every y ear how many international players there are as people flock from all corners of the globe just to get a shot at the main prize. While the excitement is out of control and people love the WOSP, it’s important to remember how it all started and to respect those early poker pioneers that have made the WOSP into what it is today.