The 1970

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

(WSOP) was first held in 1970. Unlike the WSOP events that followed it, which are decided using a freeze-out tournament, the 1970 champion was decided from a vote by the players.

Jack Binion Jack Binion is an American businessman. Binion is the son of casino magnate Benny Binion and worked for his father at Binion's Horseshoe, a casino and hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biography Binion became president of the Horseshoe in 1963 a ...

invited the best seven poker players in America to his

Binion's Horseshoe Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binion's Horseshoe, is a casino on Fremont Street along the Fremont Street Experience mall in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. The casino is named for its founder, Benny ...

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

to decide who was America's best poker player. After a

cash game Cash games, also sometimes referred to as ring games or live action games, are poker games played with "real" chips and money at stake, often with no predetermined end time, with players able to enter and leave as they see fit. In contrast, a pok ...

session,

Johnny Moss Johnny Moss (May 14, 1907 – December 16, 1995) was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of ...

was voted the best in the world by "Amarillo Slim" Preston,

Sailor Roberts Bryan W. "Sailor" Roberts (March 7, 1931 – June 23, 1995) was an American professional poker player. Before becoming a poker professional, Roberts was a rounder and traveled the country looking for games with Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.< ...

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

Puggy Pearson Walter Clyde "Puggy" Pearson (January 29, 1929 – April 12, 2006) was an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1973 World Series of Poker Main Event winner. Early years Pearson was born and raised in Tennessee in a famil ...

Crandell Addington Crandell Addington (born June 2, 1938, in Graham, Texas) is an entrepreneur and poker player who is best known as one of the founders of the World Series of Poker, and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame. Poker Known as "Dandy" because he w ...

, and Carl Cannon. Moss was awarded a silver cup rather than a

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a wikt:supportive, supportive function to hold other items of ...

, which was not established as the prize until

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. According to an

apocryphal Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

legend, two votes were taken to determine the best player in the world. In the first, the players were asked to vote for the best player, and, the story goes, each voted for himself. In the second vote, they were asked to vote for the second-best player, and Moss won the vote and was awarded the title.

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Major Poker Tournaments

World Series of Poker