The World Series of Poker, held annually at Las Vegas casinos, was first started in 1970 when Benny Binion invited 7 of the most famous poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a tournament.

The tournament has grown substantially over the years and has been sponsored by Harrah’s Entertainment since 2005.

Each event’s winner receives a cash prize based on the total number of players and buy-in costs, as well as a WSOP bracelet, which is known to be the most prestigious non-cash prize a poker player can win.

The annual WSOP main event is a $10,000 buy-in no limit Texas hold ‘em tournament that typically draws participants totaling in the thousands from all over the world.

The main event in 2011, which featured 6,865 players, began on July 7th and took eight days and over 500,000 hands to reach the final nine players.