The 1971

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 pl ...

(WSOP) was a series of

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

held at

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, Ben ...

during May 1–15, 1971. This was only the 2nd installment of the

, but unlike at the 1970 event, freezeout tournaments were played to decide the winner of the main title. The freezeout structure replaced the cash games, and it was kept in use ever since. 5 freezeouts were played in total—4 preliminary events and the Main Event—each featuring a different poker variant. The preliminary events required player to put up a

buy-in Buying in may refer to: * Buying in (poker), a tournament entrance fee * Buying in (securities), a process in which a buyer whose seller fails to deliver the securities contracted for, can "buy in" the securities from a third party *Management buy ...

of $1K, while the Main Event buy-in was $5K.

Preliminary events

Main Event

There were 6 entrants to the main event, each paying $5K to enter the tournament. The game played was no limit

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fa ...

. Johnny Moss won the tournament and took the whole prize pool. Moss's victory that year was the 1st time a player had been awarded the Main Event Championship 2 years in a row, a feat that would later be also accomplished by

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 ...

(in 1976 and 1977), Stu Ungar (in 1980 and 1981), and Johnny Chan (in 1986 and 1987).

Preliminary events

Main Event

Final table

References

External links