Only in the year of 2005, the World Series was not hosted at Binion's Horseshoe Casino. However, the last several days of the central event were run in the fabulous Benny's Bullpen. Upcoming tournaments will be hosted at one of the properties of Harrah's Entertainment.
The World Series of Poker is acknowledged as the most prominent set of poker tournaments in the world. Though the WSOP made its debut in 1970, the suggestion of the annual tournament at the Horseshoe's was in reality conceived more than 20 years earlier. Thus, in the year of 1970 seven players took part in the first Series of Poker event at Binion's Horseshoe. John Moss, the winner of that tournament, received a prize of a silver cup and became the first of the Series of Poker Champions.
Today, WSOP is the most prestigious set of poker tournaments worldwide. An impressive $10,000 buy-in of the no-limit Texas Hold'Em competition is the classic attribute of this fantastic tournament. The main prize of WSOP not only involves a huge money pot, but also a traditional golden bracelet. In addition, all WSOP winners get their picture placed into Binion's Gallery of Series of Poker Champions.
There have been a lot of remarkable events in the WSOP history. For example, in 1982 Jack Straus won the tournament and joined the community of Series of Poker winners after realizing that one $500 chip is still with him when he considered he was eliminated from the competition.
A handful of players have been victorious at the WSOP several times. Stu Ungar won the tournament in 1980th, 1981st, and finally in 1997th. John Chan won twice in a row in 1987th and 1988th. The next year, in 1989th, Chan became 2nd to the youngest World Series major event winner ever Phil Hellmuth.
Perhaps, triumph at the WSOP turns people into the legends. Some of the existing poker legends though, have tried to win the WSOP main event for years and never succeeded. Some of these recognized legends are: Dave Ulliott, T. J. Cloutier, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Men Nuyen, and others.
Here's a list of World Series of Poker champions in the last 2 decades:
2005 - J. Hachem
2004 - G. Raymer
2003 - C. Moneymaker
2002 - R. Varkonyi
2001 - J.C. Mortensen
2000 - C. Ferguson
1999 - N. Furlong
1998 - S. Nguyen
1997 - S. Ungar
1996 - H. Seed
1995 - D. Harrington
1994 - R. Hamilton
1993 - J. Bechtel
1992 - H. Dastmalchi
1991 - B. Daugherty
1990 - M. Matloubi
1989 - P. Hellmuth, Jr.
1988 - J. Chan
1987 - J. Chan
1986 - B. Johnston
The in-depth latest WSOP results, Series of Poker schedule as well as detailed information about each year's main event is available on official WSOP web site.