The Only Poker Blog
That Matters PokerJunkie.com

     With the WSOP fast approaching, and with it my hopes of being amongst the throngs chasing dreams. I thought it would be good to take a look back over the last 40 years.  I’m a pretty big trivia fan, none of my family wants to play me in Trivial Pursuit or Scene It, so here are some interesting tidbits you may not know about the World Series of Poker.

    The first WSOP was played in 1970 and it was an invitational where Benny Binion invited the six of the most well known players to play.  It was a timed event, not a freeze out, and the winner was voted on.  Johnny Moss was voted that years champion.

     To the winner go the spoils; well a bracelet, huge amount of money, and in the case of the Main Event instant fame. The highly coveted bracelets were first awarded in 1976. Many people have won multiple bracelets, Phil Ivey won two in last years WSOP.  The top five bracelet winners are Phil Hellmuth (11), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), Eric Seidel (8), and Johnny Moss (5).

     Four players have won the Main Event multiple times.  Johnny Moss (1971, 1974, voted champion in 1970), Doyle Brunson (1976, 1977), Stu Ungar (1980,1981, and 1997), and Johnny Chan (1987, 1988).  Ungar is the only player to win the Main Event three times, although Chan came close when he came in second to Phil Hellmuth in 1989.

     Even though people seem to love to hate him, Phil Hellmuth holds several records for the WSOP.  He has the most bracelets (11), the most cashes (75), and the most final tables (41).  He also ranks 9th on the all-time money list at the WSOP.  He has won each of his 11 bracelet in Hold ‘Em (No Limit, Limit, and Pot Limit) events with the latest being in the 2007 $1500 No Limit Hold ‘Em.

A few quick tid-bits:

9-9 is the hand that has won the most Main Events (Brian “Sailor” Roberts 1975, Hellmuth 1989, Joe Cada 2009)

Youngest player to win Main Event Joe Cada 2009 (21)

Oldest player to win Main Event Johnny Moss 1974 (67)

Oldest player to win WSOP Bracelet Paul “Cigar” McKinney 2005 (80)

And finally the first player to win a WSOP bracelet starting from a single chip???  If all goes well that would be yours truly, Frank Willburn.

Remember to always play it like you’ve got the nuts.