World Series of Poker in its 43rd Year

I’ve been participating in the World Series of Poker since 1980 and am in awe of how much it has grown since then. I remember the days when the side games and tournaments would fit downstairs in the Mexican restaurant at Binion’s Horseshoe. There have been lots of venues for the WSOP since then. As the tournament grew, they even had preliminary tables at some of the other casinos in downtown Las Vegas and the joke was that “your goal was to make it to the Horseshoe, the final casino.” One year the final table was played outside on Fremont Street in the afternoon in May. Whoever thought that one up didn’t factor in that it is often 100 degrees or higher at that time of year… ask Ron Stanley who showed up to play in a tuxedo. The lesson was learned and they never had another outdoor venue. One year we played in a tent that was put up in the valet area if I remember correctly. Everyone was happy (except for the bingo players) when they finally moved the tournament upstairs into what had previously been the bingo hall because there was plenty of room for hundreds of players there. Obviously that room became too small in time and the WSOP was moved to the Rio in 2005.

There were some pros and some cons about the “old WSOP” vs. the “new WSOP.” I liked the fact that it was an annual reunion of “friends” since we knew at least 95 percent of the players. When I walk through the halls today, the majority of people I see weren’t even alive back then. I love the way they treated the players: the buffets were amazing and were free to all participants. They were a gourmet extravaganza….exotic meats like buffalo raised at the Binion’s ranch, the biggest shrimp you’d ever seen, and a dessert table that would add five pounds to most players by the end of the short (compared to today) tournament series.

Not many women played in the cash games and almost none entered tournaments other than the ladies event or the mixed-doubles event. I remember being in the buffet line by myself one year and the only other women in line were there with their husbands. When I finally got to the front of the line, the security guard said, “I’m sorry miss, but this buffet is for poker players only.” Needless to say, I wasn’t happy that he didn’t think I was a poker player because I was a woman, but that demonstrates how few women really played poker back in 1980.

The ladies event has seen a lot of changes in the game format. It started out as seven-card stud in 1977 with a $100 buy-in. In 2000, it became half limit hold’em and half seven-card stud, and then was changed to limit hold’em in 2004. In 2005, the game was changed to no-limit hold’em but there were a lot of people who predicted that women wouldn’t like no-limit hold’em…wrong!.

One of the biggest changes is in the media reporting of the events. I remember very little media in the old days and the reporters who were there used their note pads to record what was happening. I love the fact that today we can follow along with the play through tweets, updates, texting, etcetera. The 2012 WSOP will use more modern software technology that for the first time ever, will create a true live in-game scoreboard for all bracelet events so that people at home can follow along.

This scoreboard will appear exclusively on WSOP.com during the 2012 WSOP as well as on monitors throughout the tournament venue for players to view. During scheduled breaks, dealers will input the accurate chip count of all players at the table. This will allow families, friends, and fans to keep track of every player in a tournament and know who is and isn’t left in any tournament at any time.

The way they assigned tables for the main event was different in the ‘80s. They didn’t have computers that spit out your table and seat number. They would write all the names of the entrants on a big board that took up almost an entire wall in the cardroom. Next the tournament director would draw the table and seat number and the official recorder would write it on the board next to the player’s name. I guess this was a preview of what was to come in events like the NBC Heads-up Championship where the table-draw ceremony was quite an exciting event in itself.

There’s been a lot of improvement in the WSOP during my poker lifetime. Players no longer have to endure sitting in smoke-filled rooms for hours at a time. We also no longer have to put up with abuse like we did before the penalty system was introduced in the mid-’90s. There are a lot more tournaments and a lot more side games from which to choose.

According to the 2012 Official Media Guide which is a brilliant compilation of interesting facts and figures produced by Seth Palansky (with contributors Nolan Dalla and Alan Fowler), in 2012, a total of 61 WSOP gold bracelets will be at stake at the Rio this year. To date, there have been 960 gold bracelets awarded at the World Series of Poker. I’m proud to wear mine! ♠

Linda Johnson is a partner in Card Player Cruises and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She is available to host poker events, seminars, and charity fundraisers. You can contact her at [email protected].