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16 unusual facts about World Series of Poker


Chris Tessaro

His play in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event was documented in a daily diary in the Toronto Sun.

Five-card stud

Five-card stud was one of the preliminary events in the World Series of Poker in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974.

Garry Bush

His second-place finish in the $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) earned him $139,540 at the end of a lengthy event that included Ram "Crazy Horse" Vaswani and Phil Hellmuth Jr.

Horseshoe Casino Tunica

Under Harrah's, the Tunica "Shoe" became home to a World Series of Poker circuit event; previously, the Horseshoe had partnered with the neighboring Gold Strike to host the Jack Binion World Poker Open, a stop on the World Poker Tour.

Ivan Demidov

Demidov is one of the original 'November Nine', having made the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in 2008.

Lon McEachern

Lon McEachern (pronounced "Ma-CAIR-en") is an American sports broadcaster, who is most known for his hand-by-hand commentary on The World Series of Poker.

Nick Dandolos

The game, set up by Benny Binion as a tourist attraction, is widely credited as being the inspiration for the modern day World Series of Poker.

One Drop Foundation

The tournament, known as The Big One for One Drop, was held as part of the 2012 WSOP, and had a record buy-in of US$1 million.

In 2011, Laliberté teamed with Caesars Entertainment, owner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), to launch a major poker tournament to benefit the organization.

Peter Jetten

By 2006, Jetten started to utilize his talents on the tournament circuit, finishing 8th at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $2,500 Short Handed No-Limit Hold ‘em event.

Poker bracelet

World Series of Poker bracelet, awarded to the winner of every event at the annual World Series of Poker

Satellite tournament

Winners of these satellites usually win the buy-in fee to a larger, more prestigious tournament like the World Series of Poker Main Event.

The Biggest Game in Town

In 1983, Al Alvarez published, The Biggest Game in Town, a book detailing the 1981 World Series of Poker event.

The Poker Star

It is created and hosted by former World Series of Poker Champion Joe Hachem, who will also act as judge and mentor to the contestants.

World Championship Poker

The series capitalizes on the recent popularity of poker due to the successful World Series of Poker.

World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions

World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions is a video game based on the popular gambling tournament World Series of Poker.


Amir Vahedi

In 2003 he made the final table of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker and finished sixth, earning $250,000.

Andrew Brokos

He has a total of five World Series of Poker in the money finishes (2011-1, 2010-1, 2008-1, 2007-1, 2006-1), each in the WSOP no limit hold 'em main event.

Anna Wroblewski

Wroblewski has cashed four times at the World Series of Poker, making her best result in the 2007 WSOP $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event where she finished fourth, earning $192,876.

Bill Gazes

Although he is without a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet or a World Poker Tour (WPT) title, Gazes has cashed nine times in the WPT and over 25 times at the WSOP.

Carlos Mortensen

Juan Carlos Mortensen (born April 13, 1972 in Ambato, Ecuador) is a Spanish professional poker player of Danish descent and the only Hispanic Main Event winner of the World Series of Poker.

He is considered to be the last big-name poker professional to win the Main Event at the World Series of Poker.

Chau Giang

He first had success at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1993, where he finished 2nd in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold'em event to John Bonetti, and winning his first bracelet in the $1,500 Ace to Five Draw event the same year.

Chip Jett

Later in the same year he made 2 World Series of Poker (WSOP) final tables, and another WPT final table in the Legends of Poker event won by Mel Judah.

Crandell Addington

Crandell Addington (born June 2, 1938 in Graham, Texas) is an entrepreneur and poker player who is best known as one of the founders of the World Series of Poker, and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.

Dag Palovic

As of March 2013, he is second leading Slovak all time money list with career earnings of $909,405 and is also an author of first Slovak poker book on poker titled "Ako sa stať poker pro" (How to become a poker pro), co-authored by 1983 World Series Of Poker champion Tom McEvoy.

He is best known for making two European Poker Tour (EPT) final tables as well as being the only player from Slovakia who has cashed in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, finishing 120th in 2009 and 37th in 2010.

Dee Luong

She made a final table of the World Series of Poker in 2003 and was featured in 2007 on the NBC television program Poker After Dark.

Dewey Tomko

Tomko is chiefly noted as the runner-up in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 no limit Texas hold'em main event in both 1982 (to Jack Straus) and 2001 (to Carlos Mortensen.) Besides his success in the main event, Tomko has won three WSOP bracelets, all in different variations of poker, in addition to various other tournament wins throughout his career.

Don Holt

He has won a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and has cashed in various events at the WSOP including the Main Event.

Eddy Scharf

In 2001 and 2003 he won both of his two bracelets in the limit Omaha events at World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Epic Poker League

Former World Series of Poker commissioner Jeffrey Pollack served as Executive Chairman, professional poker player Annie Duke was Commissioner, and Matt Savage was Tournament Director.

Erin Ness

In 2004 she was the third highest placing woman in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), finishing in the money in 207th place.

Frank Kassela

At the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Kassela has won two bracelets, cashed twelve times, and made four final tables.

Jonathan Duhamel

Jonathan Duhamel (born August 24, 1987) is a Québécois poker professional from Boucherville, Quebec, best known as the winner of the Main Event at the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Kathy Liebert

As of 2013, she has one World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and her total live tournament winnings exceed $5,800,000.

Kevin Song

Kevin Song (born in South Korea) is a South Korean professional poker player who started playing poker since 1980 and began playing in poker tournaments since 1994 where he has cashed in many of them throughout his poker career, among them are 29 cashes at the World Series of Poker including winning the 1997 World Series of Poker $2,000 buy-in Limit Hold'em event.

Marc Karam

He went on to place in the money at the 4th Annual Five Star World Poker Classic and the July 21, 2006 No Limit Holdem event at the 37th Annual World Series of Poker.

Michael Banducci

Banducci has 10 cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) he made the final table in the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event at the 2007 WSOP won by William Durkee.

Mike Sexton

Although Sexton frequented tournaments, he was never able to make it to the World Series of Poker because he coached Little League baseball teams and the schedules overlapped.

As of 2010, Sexton has won several tournaments, including one World Series of Poker bracelet, and over $5,400,000 in total tournament winnings.

Mikhail Lakhitov

He has one World Series of Poker bracelet and seven career World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the money finishes, all in the time since he started playing in 2010.

Mitch Schock

He won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker where he made three final tables and has had at least five in the money finishes in each of the last three World Series of Poker (WSOP).

Nick Geber

Nick also hosts the Bluff Magazine show Poker Night Radio on Sirius, and broadcasts from the World Series of Poker.

O'Neil Longson

Longson first finished in the money at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1980, finishing 4th in the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event.

Phi Nguyen

Nguyen has multiple cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) including two bracelets, his first was in the 2003 WSOP $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em event, earning $222,800, with a final table made up of fellow professional poker players T.J. Cloutier (9th), David Singer (7th), Steve Zolotow (6th), Tom Jacobs (5th), Kenna James (4th), Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow (3rd) and Jim Miller who Nguyen beat during heads-up play.

PlayNow.com

Each year PlayNow.com offers seats to select poker tournaments, including the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the B.C. Poker Championships and the Roberto Luongo Charity Poker Classic.

Rafe Furst

Furst has spoken about transformation of early-stage finance at TED, and in 2006, he won a World Series of Poker Championship Bracelet.

Rep Porter

Porter has 23 cashes at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) among them was making the Final Table in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout event at the 2006 WSOP, coming in 4th earning $39,339, and a 39th place in the Main Event at the 2007 WSOP, earning $237,865.

Sam Stein

Of his nine World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes, his last five are in pot limit events.

Simon Trumper

At the World Series of Poker he has had a 4th place finish in the 2001 $3,000 No Limit Hold-Em event (which also featured Johnny Chan and Kathy Liebert; and a 5th place finish in the 2005 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event (which also featured Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein (who lost a critical pot to Simon, and then complained about it in his blog.), Erik Seidel and Julian "The Kid" Gardner.

Tony Cousineau

Anthony "Tony" Cousineau is an American professional poker player from Daytona Beach, Florida who has cashed 58 times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which ranks him 15th in all-time WSOP cashes, and first among players who have never won a WSOP bracelet.

Voorhees High School

Brett Jungblut (born 1979, class of 1997), poker player, won the World Championship Omaha Hi/Lo event in 2004 at the World Series of Poker.