Much more than just an entertaining and exciting card game, poker has reached far beyond the origins of its invention, having first appeared during the early 1800s on riverboats and in saloons across the southern United States.
Poker is now a staple of the iGaming business internationally, captivating millions of regular players around the whole globe, keen to test their skills and wits against international opponents. Meanwhile, poker itself now contributes towards a booming economy built upon gambling activity, recently highlighted by Forbes, as the casino gaming industry generated record revenues of more than $54.9 billion through 2022.
Since the original concept was introduced in 1970, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has become something of a global phenomenon, taking the game to a broader and much larger audience. What started as very much an American deal, filled with all the usual hype and razzamatazz, this event is now touching the lives of millions who watch the annual competition unfold.
American event with increasingly European flavour
While the early WSOP main event winners were almost exclusively America, just like the game of poker itself, this tournament quickly began to attract attention and gain popularity internationally. Up until 1990, all the WSOP Main Event winners also hailed from the United States, before Iranian-British professional poker player Mansour Matloubi became the first non-American to reign supreme at the tables.
Then came another breakthrough for avid poker fans in Europe, when Irish businessman Noel Furlong won the 1999 WSOP Main Event, defeating many highly renowned professional players on his way to the $1 million prize. His achievement also paved the way for more opportunities, as players from around the globe soon began featuring at the world’s most famous tournament.
Over the last couple of decades and according to Poker Industry Pro reports, more and more European players are getting involved each year, leading to a much greater diversity of nationalities featuring alongside the US-based competitors. Indeed, three of the last five WSOP Main Event winners were European, including Hossein (2019) and Koray Aldemir (2021) are from Germany.
The most recent champion Espen Jørstad (2022) is from Norway, and worked at a brewery prior to embarking upon his professional poker career. Much of his earliest success came via playing at virtual poker tables online, ahead the spectacular ascent last year. The first bracelet was earned in a Tag Team poker event, before emerging from a field of 8,663 participants to claim the second, winning the WSOP Main Event last year with a thrilling ‘all in’ play on the 19th hand.
2023 WSOP features enhanced schedule
When he clinched the WSOP Main Event prize of $10 million in 2022, Espen Jørstad featured in the second-largest field of competitors in the tournament’s history. The number of overall events featured over the years also continues to grow, opening up the possibility for more and more participants to test their poker skills at the highest level. Winning players in each event are awarded WSOP bracelets, which are considered the greatest non-monetary prize.
Now the 2023 schedule has been released, with constant and continuous WSOP updates provided by the Legal US Poker Sites team, there will be a greater selection of events than ever before. Indeed, there will be 95 live tournaments held at land-based venues, hosted by the Paris and Horseshoe casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, alongside 35 online events. This will offer participants the opportunity to compete for 129 bracelets.
There’s also plenty of variety featuring at the WSOP 2023 events, aiming to encourage a more diverse range of entrants, along with poker games that provide something for everyone keen to participate. These range from the all-new $300 buy-in Gladiators of Poker tourney, right the way up to the blockbuster $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller event, where the most famous professional players will be chancing their hands.
WSOP 2023 has quite an extensive calendar scheduled through the summer, when key events due to begin on May 30th, continuing until July 18th this year. Much of the focus will inevitably be aimed towards the WSOP Main Event, which is expected to smash all previous records for participation, although every event will enjoy plenty of coverage, whether based at the land-based venues or hosted online. And organisers expect many records to be broken.
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