|
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.
|
