World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour is a series of worldwide poker events. It is collection of Texas Hold’Em Games; most of them are played in the US. The first tour was played in 2003 at the Bellagio Casino in the poker city Las Vegas, Nevada. Every poker player who is able to pay the “buy-in” of at least $2,500 (depending on the event) can try his poker skills against the most famous poker stars. Another way to catch a seat at one of the tables is to win one of the satellite tournaments.

The World Poker Tour is one of the highest rated cable programs in the entire US. Interestingly, the commentary on the game seems to be live since it is an interesting mix of offline commentary and players interviews. But the commentary is produced after the event in order to prevent cheating. The series have become a classic and the first three seasons are available on DVD.

World Series Of Poker (WSOP)

The World Series of Poker is the most famous, oldest and largest annual poker tournament in the world, established already in 1970. In this year the six most famous and best poker players were invited to one of the most famous casinos at the time - The Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. In the first decade, the numbers of players went slowly up to around fifty. From this moment, the number of players participating in the main event started to increase constantly, there were several hundred players in 1990s. With the poker boom after the year 2000, the number increased to more than 6,000 players. Nowadays, everyone who can afford the buy-in of $10,000 can participate in the tournament or everyone who wins one of the satellite tournaments. There are no exclusions for former winners, famous poker stars or celebrities.

Every winner of one of the WSOP tournaments gets a bracelet. Among poker players, a WSOP bracelet is a sign for outstanding skills. It is considered for membership in the club of the world’s most famous poker players. In 2009, there will be 57 bracelets events. Phil Hellmuth won 11 bracelets in his career which makes him the all-time bracelet leader.
The prize money of the all events depends directly on the number of participants. The largest number of participants was in 2004, afterwards the number dropped most probably because of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.
In 2004, the organizers of the WSOP invented the award for the best player of the year. The best player over the year is determined by a ranking of all open World Series of Poker tournaments within a year without the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E (up to 2007) and the main event. Up to now, each winner of the award was reached at least three final tables of the tournaments. Beside the fee of the participants of the events, license products and sponsoring are the main sources of funding the WSOP. There is an exclusive broadcast partner for all WSOP events. Since 2008, the final table of the main event is delayed until November which gives greater possibilities of marketing to the producer and the participants.

WSOP Europe

The WSOPE is the first expansion of the WSOP to another continent. Europe. It was established in Europe in 2004 when the poker boom has swapped completely to the continent. In the beginning, the licence was given to three casinos in London. In 2007, the WSOPE hosted the first bracelet event outside Las Vegas. Since the European casinos have a completely different flair than the most known casinos in LV, the WSOPE events differ remarkably from the original WSOP events. This can even lead to a dress code at the table, which will never happen during an event in an US casino.
Also the laws in England differ remarkably from those in the US. In Europe, younger player can participate in an event and online casinos are allowed to sponsor the events. With her18 years, the youngest bracelet winner of all times is Annette Obrestan who won the main event in 2007.