40 Years Of The World Series Of Poker

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the most storied and significant poker event in the world. It started in 1970, when Benny Binion, a legendary Vegas pioneer, invited six of the best players in the world to The Horseshoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas. That year the winner was decided by a vote, but in every year since a tournament has been held to determine who’s the best in the world.

From very humble beginnings, the WSOP is now an unbelievably huge event. Lasting over a month, with more than fifty events and hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money up for grabs, the Series is as good as it gets.


If you want to be considered a world-class champion, you simply need to have a WSOP winner’s bracelet. The winner of each tournament gets one (on top of their prize money) and in the poker tournament world, bracelets are how the greats keep score. Here’s a list of the players with the most hardware:

Phil Hellmuth 11
Johnny Chan 10
Doyle Brunson 10
Johnny Moss 9
Erik Seidel 8
Phil Ivey 7
Billy Baxter 7
Men "The Master" Nguyen 6
TJ Cloutier 6
Jay Heimowitz 6
Layne Flack 6
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson 5
Berry Johnston 5
Allen Cunningham 5
Scotty Nguyen 5
Ted Forrest 5
Stu Ungar 5

That’s an impressive list, and you’d be hard pressed to find an all-time great that isn’t on it. Of course, as poker has gained in popularity throughout the years, the fields have grown in size.