World Series Poker (or The World Series of Poker) is the most prestigious set of poker tournaments in the world. The original World Series Poker is a world poker championship that was commenced by Tom Morehead of the Riverside casino in Reno and was an invitational event.
In 1970 the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place with seven players. The winner, Johnny Moss was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize. Nowadays, the main event of the World Series Poker is the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament. Winners of the event not only obtain the main prize of the tournament and golden bracelet, but also have their photograph placed into the Gallery of Champions at Binion's.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) is a set of poker tournaments enrolling most of the world's professional players. It was commenced by lawyer/television producer Stephen Lipscomb who now serves as CEO of WPT Enterprises, the company that supervises the World Poker Tour.
The World Poker Tour is an assortment of Texas hold 'em poker tournaments run worldwide and on board of cruise ships, but mostly in the United States. The TV-show has led to a boom in the table game across American homes, local casinos and poker rooms, and online. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the main sponsors of the tour are casinos and internet poker sites. The drawing power of the WPT is that anyone who can pay the "buy-in" or win a "satellite" competition is entitled to compete against the top professional players, such as Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, etc.
European Poker Tour (EPT) started in 2004 as a part of all-round burst of Texas Hold 'em popularity. EPT is a series of poker tournaments resembling those of World Poker Tour. The most considerable difference between the competing poker tours is the buy-in and its effect on the prize fund, with the EPT featuring buy-ins about half the size of the WPT. The consequential effect upon the EPT is that it has less "star power" and lower cash prizes. On the other hand, winners of the first two EPT events got the prizes in the $100,000 range, a profitable proposition able to attract many professional competitors.
Late Night Poker is a British TV-show featuring poker players, by and large professionals or powerful amateurs, compete in a short series of no-limit Texas hold 'em tournament games for a reward of approximately $50,000.
The Poker Million is one of the major European poker tournaments which commenced in 2000 on the Isle of Man. It is now run annually in England and is televised live on Sky Sports.