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The Binion name has been pivotal in the history of poker
for decades. In his book The Biggest Game In Town author Al Alvarez
describes how Benny Binion turned the legendary 1949 heads-up match between
Johnny Moss and Nick "The Greek" Dandalos into a public event by having the
two combatants play at the entrance to his casino in downtown Las Vegas. The
publicity generated by that event sparked in Benny's mind the idea of the
World
Series of Poker, which since its inception in 1970 has been the
greatest
poker
tournament in the world. Early on in the WSOP's history Benny had
involved his sons, Jack and Ted, in the management of the tournament. After
Benny's death and the subsequent internal family struggles that landed the
boys' sister Becky in control of the Horseshoe, Jack took off for the
birthplace of poker - the mighty Mississippi River - and eventually created
another tournament series in Tunica: the Jack Binion World Poker Open.
The World Poker Open may not rival the World Series of Poker in terms of
outright prestige, but it is certainly a favorite among players. Tunica is
known for its Southern hospitality, and the host casino (also named
Horseshoe) has earned a reputation for giving players what they want. And
much like his father's WSOP, Jack Binion's WPO has given players all they
can handle in terms of game selection in its tournaments. Pot-limit
Omaha, limit
Omaha hi-lo,
seven card stud, stud hi-lo, and all three popular variants of
hold'em
(limit, pot-limit, and no-limit) have had their own tournaments at the WPO
since it was first held in 2000. The WPO also has also given out gold and
diamond bracelets to its winners and WPO jackets to those who make the final
table of any event. From top to bottom, the WPO has always concentrated on
the players first. As a result the tournament series has had top-flight
attendance every year, both from North American players and their
international counterparts - something that few tournament series in America
other than the WSOP can claim.
Since 2003 the WPO Main Event has been a stop on the World Poker Tour. This
association has been great for business, increasing the popularity of
Mississippi's biggest poker tournament and helping to cement the WPO's
reputation as one of the premiere events on every year's tournament
calendar. When January rolls around, there's nowhere most players would
rather be. That is evidenced by the growing participation in the event: 160
players entered the Main Event during the first year of WPT affiliation, 367
played in 2004, and a whopping 512 descended on Tunica for the 2005 event.
With the poker boom showing no signs of slowing down, the 2006 event is
expected to be just as successful as those in recent memory.
Some of the top names in poker today have had great results at the WPO.
John Juanda
topped the field of 146 in 2001 to take home first prize. Costa Rica's
native son Humberto Brenes defeated
Erik Seidel
heads-up to claim the Main Event title in 2002. Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott
completely annihilated the tournament field in 2003, en route to a heads-up
victory over
Phil Ivey
and a $590,000 prize. The 2004 WPO Main Event title - the first with a prize
over $1 million - was claimed by elite player
Barry
Greenstein, who held off the legendary
Chip Reese and dangerous Can Kim Hua on the way to donating every
penny of his prize to the charity Children, Inc. The 2005 Main Event final
table featured
Scotty
Nguyen, Chau Giang,
Daniel
Negreanu, and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - all of whom were
upset by a 23-year-old University of Wisconsin student named John
Stoltzmann. Many other well-known players have had success at the WPO as
well: John Bonetti, Alan Goehring, David Pham, Toto Leonidas, Surinder
Sunar,
Phil
Hellmuth, Tom McEvoy, John Spadavecchia, Barry Shulman, Jeff
Shulman, Padraig Parkinson,
Men "The
Master" Nguyen, John Phan, David Levi, Michael Gracz, An Tran, Allen
Cunningham, Dewey Tomko, Andy Bloch, Sam Grizzle, and Andy Glazer have all
made the money at the WPO Main Event. These names demonstrate just how
popular the biggest tournament in Tunica is with poker's top players.
The 7th installment of the World Poker Open is set to begin in early January
2006, and the big-money tournament tradition started by Benny Binion in 1970
will carry on when the Main Event kicks off on January 22.
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