Poker Info

WSOP Fever
By Tina Napolitano

The richest poker event on the planet has produced over 25 players that have all won over a million dollars. Yet this event comes and goes once a year without the attention and mass hysteria of the media. Without the crowds waiting outside the doors, the champion just puts his money in his pocket and coolly walks down the strip to where he came from until the same time next year.

The winner of every WSOP event gets awarded the famous gold bracelet and to date the man that holds the title for the most bracelets is Doyle Brunson. But hot on his heels, and after an 8th bracelet this year to take him into the lead, is the John McEnroe of poker himself - Phil Hellmuth.

Once a year the players take a step back in time and enter the Tournament Room at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas to take part in the World Series of Poker. You can feel the excitement and tension of the players rolled into one emotion as the clock ticks nearer to the start time and over 600 players take their seats.

The night before, everyone of them has dreamt of getting through the grueling 5 days and becoming the final player in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. Over and over in their minds they see the photo of themselves hugging the money. Last year it was Carlos Mortensen, aged 29 who took home the $1.5 million as the new World Champion. It requires a $10,000 buy-in to enter this No Limit Hold'em Tournament, the most prestigious event in the annual poker calendar.

The wonderful thing about the World Series and Poker in general is that it appeals to all ages, and to people from all walks of life, the youngest being 21 and the oldest being over 80. As you stand on the rail, your heart literally goes out to all the players that are busted out on day one, as their dreams are shattered and they have over 365 days to wait until their next attempt.

The World Series was started by Benny Binion back in 1970. These days it is the dream of his daughter Becky, along with the vision of her son Benny, that makes this event possible. Benny (this year's Tournament Director) is a class act and he also plays poker and takes a very active role in the continuation of this wonderful event.

There have been some players that have been lucky or very skilled to win the Championship event more than once.

• Winners from the 70's

• Winners from the 80's

• Winners from the 90's

• Winners in 2000

• Winners in 2001

To see the daily final table streaming videos, click here.

There is a mountain of information on PokerPages about the World Series of Poker, so I thought that I would collate some of it in one place in this article to make it easy to read. If you visit Binion's Horseshoe, you will see downstairs on the wall the very famous Gallery of Champions.

And in keeping with tradition this year, for the 2nd year running, they are planning to induct another very well known and respected player into the Hall of Fame. Last year we all stood around with tears in our eyes as Stu Unger's daughter represented the family to receive his induction -- what a great player and how sad that he was not present on that day to receive the accolade in person.

Well this year Binion's has done it again, and honored Lyle Berman as the 2002 inductee. Lyle Berman has amassed close to a total of $900,000 in World Series of Poker winnings. This, coupled with his truly professional demeanor makes him an excellent representative in the Hall of Fame.