Party Poker has always focused on keeping the games fun and easy to play, making it a great room for new players. They focus on the European market and offer their software and website in many different languages, making it easy for everyone to play, no matter where you are from.

Party Poker does not accept players from the USA, Israel, Italy & Asia.

Party Poker Promotions ·
Party Poker is always organising fun promotions. Right now they are running satellites to the World Series of Poker and the Party Poker Million cruise.

New players are eligible not only for the bonus mentioned below, but also the new lucky dollar tournaments at 14:35 every day and the rookie daily freerolls. For the first 30 days of your membership you can play in the 10:45, 13:40 and 16:45 $100 freeroll tournaments. There’s also a $1000 freeroll for new players every Wednesday at 16:50.

Party is also very active in holding and promoting live poker events, like the Sports Star Challenge and the Party Poker Premier league. Sometimes they will offer spots in their televised events via online satellite tournaments.

Party Poker Bonuses ·
New players signing up to Party Poker from marawapokerclub.eu are eligible for a 100% bonus of up to $500! Just use the Party Poker bonus code POKERCOM when you make your first deposit.

Party Poker Available Games ·
Party Poker offers Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Hold’em, Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha and Seven Card Stud. They also have blackjack easily available from the tables and more casino games are just a click away.

Party Poker Software Features ·
Party Poker were the first to come up with some great features such as re-sizeable tables, a tournmanet deal making interface and the ‘Play Anywhere’ version of their software that works within a browser for play on any type of operating system. In September 2008, they upgraded their software to a brand new interface.

The software is very easy to use, with a simple layout and quick loading times. They have done a good job of retaining a stable and uncluttered interface, whilst still adding new features. It’s one of the best online poker platforms around because it is so easy to use.

Party Poker Players ·
As they have been around since 2001, Party Poker has a very large database of players. You will always find plenty of opponents at all times of the day. There’s a good mix of experienced and new players too.

Party is a great place to learn how to play, with special tables and tournaments for new players and an interactive poker trainer available on the Party Poker Website. Party Poker does not accept players from the USA, Israel, Italy or Asia.

Party Poker Tournaments ·
Party Poker offers over $50,000 a month in free tournaments, with many country and regional specific tournaments in the schedule. They also offer a wide range of online poker tournament variations like Sit & Gos, Multi Table Tournaments, Shootouts, and satellites to live poker events such as the World Series of Poker.

Unique to Party Poker are the HellKat or time based tournaments. Instead of playing until there is one player remaining, the tournaments run for a set period of time. They’re perfect for busy people who love to play poker, but need to finish games quickly.

Party Poker’s signature tournament is the Party Poker Million. The million is a limit holdem tournament that is held in spring every year on a cruise ship, sailing the Mediterranean. You can qualify from just $1, and play for $1 million. It was the first major live tournament offered by an online poker room, and further information can be found on the Party Poker Website.

$300,000 Guaranteed
Every Sunday at 12:45 there is a huge $300,000 guaranteed tournament. You may buy in directly for $215, or you can win yourself an entry via the satellite tournaments that start at just $3. It’s one of the biggest tournaments online.

Party Poker Rewards & Community ·
The ‘Party Points’ system rewards players for their regular play and there’s four levels of membership to aim for - Ace, King, Queen, and Jack. You earn Party Points whenever you play on the site and can then redeem the points for cash, tournament entries, or special promotions.

They also run weekly and monthly tournament leaderboards. The top ranked players each week & month earn seats in free tournaments thay give away up to $5000.

Party Poker Deposits & Cashouts ·
Party Gaming has a very good cashier and payment processing system, known as your ‘Party Account’. With the one login you are able to not just transact to and from your online poker wallet at Party Poker, but also move funds to and from all of the other Party Gaming sites to play backgammon, casino games, bingo or place sports bets.

The Party Account system is excellent, with speedy processing and best of all, many different localised payment options. They offer more payment options than any other poker room such as Moneybookers, NETeller, Visa, Mastercard, bank transfers, WebMoney, paysafecard, eps, Diners Club, Click2Pay, uKash, Switch, Solo, UseMyBank and more.

Our cashouts have always been processed quickly to Moneybookers, NETeller or a bank account.

We’ve always found the Party Poker support staff to be courteous and helpful, if a little structured in their responses. They’re perhaps too well trained and could do with a little personality sometimes! But that’s hardly a major complaint and they certainly are better than most telephone support you would have exprienced previously.

Party Poker Management & Integrity ·
Party Poker is part of the publicly traded Party Gaming group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. They are licensed and regulated by both the government of Gibraltar and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. The company has been in business since 1997 and are the largest online poker room that is not open to players from the USA. Due to their size, longevity & publc company status, they score very highly for management and integrity.

Things to Improve at Party Poker
Some more ways to spend your Party Points would be good, and although the ‘Play Anywhere’ browser based poker software works perfectly, we’d like to see a downloadable MAC option for all the Apple users out there.

Party Poker Overall Rating ·
Party Poker is a great online poker room, especially for new players. They are a poker room you can trust, and you will always be able to find a game to play due to their good number of players online.

The first hand of the show saw Doyle’s Room namesake Doyle Brunson put his entire chip stack at risk. Holding pocket kings, Brunson called a raise to $2,500 pre-flop by Negreanu. Show commentator Gabe Kaplan noted, “Doyle thinks this is an aggressive table. He’s hoping to catch someone holding a marginal hand putting in a raise.” Eli Elezra made it $13,300 pre-flop holding pocket nines and Brunson shoved for $95,600. The two poker veterans decided to run it twice, meaning that in order for a player to rake the pot, they must win both boards. The first ran out J-7-8-Q-7, giving the win to Brunson. The second came 5-4-3-10-6 with four hearts. Elezra held the only heart, giving him a flush and resulting in a chopped pot.

The show featured very little action by Tom  Dwan, who had been featured heavily over the previous two weeks. Instead, much of the buzz was around Daniel Negreanu, who came out on the losing end of a $151,000 hand. In it, Barry Greenstein raised with J-10 on the button and Negreanu called holding A-8 of spades. The flop came 8-9-Q, giving Greenstein the nuts. He led out and bet $5,500 and Negreanu called. The dealer flipped over an ace on the turn. Negreanu checked, Greenstein fired out $15,000, and Negreanu called. The river was a king and Negreanu once again checked. Greenstein bet $50,000 and Negreanu went into the tank before calling. Kaplan noted that, upon seeing Greenstein turn over J-10, Negreanu “is going to see the last thing he thought he would.”

Shortly thereafter, Negreanu (A-8) was involved in four-way action to the flop with Brunson (A-9), Greenstein (2-2), and Elezra (K-Q). The four poker veterans saw a flop of A-K-Q, giving Elezra bottom two pair and Brunson and Negreau top pair. Brunson bet $9,000, Greenstein folded, and Elezra called. Perhaps on tilt from the previous hand, Negreanu raised to $24,000. Brunson got out of the way and Elezra called. The turn came a jack. Negreanu checked while acting extremely frustrated and Elezra bet out $35,000, prompting Negreanu to fold. Kaplan explained, “Daniel is making a fundamental mistake that I’ve never seen him make before: He’s giving up.”

Coming back from a commercial break, Negreanu spoke on his influences in poker: “The biggest influences on my game are the guys I grew up with: Guys like Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Allen Cunningham. We were the young guns. We’d go to dinner and discuss strategy.”

Another out of character move by Negreanu came after reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Peter Eastgate inadvertently bet $32,000 into a $13,000 pot. Negreanu commented, “You have the wrong color” and then quickly covered his mouth and laughed. Elezra then promptly made it $140,000 and Eastgate folded. Kaplan said, “Daniel really influenced the action in that pot. If Eli didn’t know that Peter bet the wrong amount, he might not have raised and Peter could have won the pot. It was a mistake by Daniel that should not happen in a game like this.”

On the final hand of the evening, Negreanu raised with pocket jacks pre-flop to $2,800. Eastgate called with pocket threes, David Benyamine called with pocket fours, and Elezra splashed around with 3-2. The flop came 2-4-7 with two diamonds, giving Benyamine a set. Negreanu was the first to bet, firing $8,000 into the pot. Eastgate called and Benyamine raised to $41,000. Kaplan commented, “Daniel knows that David is capable of making this raise with a hand like A-5 of diamonds.” Negreanu called and Eastgate got out of the way.

The turn came the four of clubs, giving Benyamine quads. Benyamine bet $35,000, which Kaplan described as a “really good bet. If Daniel is drawing to a flush, he wants him to continue to draw. If Daniel has an overpair, he wants him to call.” Negreanu shoved for $156,200 and Benyamine insta-called, scooping the $416,200 pot. Negreanu asked Dwan if he had $200,000 to reload with and the credits rolled.

High Stakes Poker airs at 9:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN. It is followed by an episode of Season VI of the World Poker Tour.

The tournament attracted 208 entrants.  The total prize pool amounted to $1,009,200.  The top 27 finishers collected prize money.  All of the action took place inside the Palladium Ballroom, steps away from the famous Atlantic City boardwalk.

The tournament began with honorary emcee Dennis Phillips announcing “Shuffle Up and Deal.”  Phillips, from St. Louis, is best-known as the third-place finisher in last year’s WSOP Main Event.  Other poker notables who played in the championship event included 2008 Ladies World Poker Champion Svetlana Gromenkova.  Other former WSOP gold bracelet winners included Jason Young, Chris Reslock, and Cliff “Johnny Bax” Josephy.  The defending Caesars champion was Eric “Sheets” Haber, who also participated.  But only Jason Young survived past the first day, who ended up making it all the way to the final table.

Day two played from 52 players down to the final nine.  The final table was played on Saturday, March 14th in front of a packed ballroom full of spectators.  The battle lasted eight hours.  In addition to the mix of poker locals mostly from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, the finale included two Canadians.  In fact, four Canadians took the top 11 payout spots.  No one could have guessed that Canadians would also end up finishing first and second, and taking what amounted to nearly half of the total prize pool. 

When action resumed on day three, Alex “Diesel” Bolotin had a sizable chip lead over his opponents, with Frank Vizza in second place.  No player was severely short-stacked, which meant the WSOP Circuit championship and gold ring was within the grasp of every player at the table.  Sitting quietly among several prior tournament winners in seat nine was Samuel Chartier.  He started ranked eighth in chips.  The top nine finishers were:

9th Place – About 65 minutes into play, David Zeitlin (Brooklyn, NY) moved all-in with pocket sixes.  Frank Vizza woke up in the blind with pocket aces and instantly called.  Vizza’s big pair ended up making aces full on the hand, which meant Zeitlin became the final table’s first casualty.  The former attorney-turned-poker player from Brooklyn, NY received a cash settlement totaling $20,184.  Zeitlin now has nearly $750,000 in career tournament winnings – including previous wins at the Borgata, Taj Mahal, and Foxwoods.  He won his way into this event via a satellite tournament.

8th Place – A few hands later, Chris Klodnicki (Voorhees, NJ) was eliminated when he was dealt pocket jacks.  This time, Frank Vizza had pocket kings and called the all-in raise holding the best hand.  Vizzo big pocket pair held up again, knocking out Klodnicki.  While Vizza was busy stacking another 300,000 in chips and taking over the chip lead from Alex Bolotin, Klodnicki was forced to settle for an eighth place finish, which paid $30,276.  At age 23, Klodnicki’s biggest claim to fame so far is his 12th-place finish in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, which paid nearly $600,000.

7th Place – About 70 hands into the finale, Jason Young (Suffern, NY) tried to steal a pot with a bluff, which failed miserably.  Down to less than 200,000 in his stack, he moved all-win with two overcards but no pair (K-Q) to a flop which showed 8-4-3.  Samuel Chartier made an easy call and tabled pocket jacks.  Young failed to improve and ended up going out in seventh place, good for $40,368.  Young was the winner of a WSOP gold bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout last year.

6th Place – Vizza lost the chip lead temporarily when Alex Bolotin doubled up to nearly 1,000,000 in his stack.  But he regained the chip lead when his pocket kings crushed Matt Brady’s pocket tens.  That left Brady as the smallest stack.  He was eliminated a few hands later on a brutal beat.  Brady had pocket eights.  Samuel Chartier had pocket threes.  Four spades came on board and Chartier had the only spade, which made a flush – and thus Brady was gone.  Sixth place paid $50,460.  Matt Brady (Havertown, PA) now has 51 cashes, 25 final table appearances and over $2 million in career tournament winnings – all since 2006.

5th Place – After another hours passed, Alex “Diesel” Bolotin (Brooklyn. NY) went out next.  The early chip leader suffered a brutally cold run of cards during his closing stages of the tournament.  On his final hand he was forced to move all-in with K-3 offsuit, which lost to Frank Vizza’s A-Q.  Bolotin, a 28-year-old poker player was once a weightlifting champion, carried away $60,552 in prize money as the fifth-place finisher.

4th Place – Entering the fifth hour of play, Michael Michnik (Voorhees, NJ) got all his chips in with A-J.  He was called by Samuel Chartier, also holding A-J.  Just about everyone expected a split pot, but the board came with four consecutive clubs.  Chartier had a club in his hand – good for a flush — and scooped up the 700,000 pot.  As he crowd buzzed, all Michnik could do was shake his head in disbelief and he walked away in a cold daze with $70,644 for fourth place.  The student-turned-poker pro is close friends with Chris Klondicki, who also made it to the final table and finished eighth. 

3rd Place – Prior to the dinner break, Samuel Chartier continued to roll as he took down a 1,200,000 pot at Frank Rizza’s expense.  His all-in river bet went uncalled, and Chartier dragged the huge pot seizing the chip lead for the first time.  After returning from the break, Vizza’s misfortune continued.  He finally moved all-in with A-2 and was eliminated by John Nixon’s K-J after a jack fell on the river, good for best pair.  Vizza (Cold Spring Harbor, NY), a commodity trader who won a WSOP Circuit event ring at Harrah’s Atlantic City in 2007, earned $90,828 as the third-place finisher.  With the last American out, the showdown became an all-Canadian matchup.

2nd Place – When heads-up play began, Montreal’s Samuel Chartier held a 5 to 3 chip lead over Toronto’s John Nixon.  The rival countrymen battled back and forth for about a dozen hands.  Then, Nixon re-raised all-in with A-10 and Chartier called with A-J.  The flop came A-J-5 and Nixon was left nearly drawing dead.  All he and his supported could do was watch in disappointment as the final board showed A-J-5-5-10.  Both players made two pair, but the aces and jacks gave Chartier the victory. 

“I like playing heads-up,” Nixon stated afterward.  “I liked my chances playing him heads-up, but then I got it in bad – and lost.”  As the runner up, Nixon, a 23-year-old student, received $177,619.

1st Place – Samuel Chartier collected first-place prize money totaling $322,944.  He also received a gold ring, the ultimate token of achievement for WSOP Circuit championship events.  Chartier was also awarded a $10,000 seat into the 2009 WSOP Main Event to be played in Las Vegas in July.

“It’s amazing.  I can’t describe the feeling I have right now,” Chartier said in a post-tournament interview.  “I knew the final table lineup was pretty tough so I hoped to pick up a few good spots to put my money in, and that’s what I managed to do.”

Despite a short resume of tournament cashes, Chartier has enjoyed success in four different countries.  His previous tournament successes came on the European Poker Tour at Barcelona championship (in Spain), the British Columbia Poker Open (in Canada), and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (in Bahamas).  This was his second time to cash on American soil and was his first and only WSOP-related in-the-money finish.

Once again, Caesars Atlantic City hosted one of the most successful turnouts of the year.  More than 5,000 players entered 11 tournaments, generating more than $3 million in total prize money.  This is the third consecutive year Caesars has hosted a WSOP Circuit stop, which has consistently proven to be one of the most popular attractions on the schedule.  Special recognition goes out to Dan Nita (Senior Vice President and General Manager), Fred Niceta (Vice President of Table Games), Paul A. Natello (Director of Table Games), Tom McDonough III (Tournament Director) and Jake Devries (Poker Pit Manager) for another successful series of tournaments at Caesars Atlantic City. 

The World Series of Poker Circuit continues with its next stop at Harrah’s Rincon, near of San Diego, which runs March 18th through April 1st.

German players dominated the Dortmund EPT event with Sandra Naujoks, 27, a member of the prestigious PokerStars.de ShootingStar team taking the title and claiming a staggering €917,000.

Naujoks, known online as the ‘Black Mamba’, started playing live last year and almost immediately had her first big result winning a European Championship on the Casinos Austria Poker Tour. She was elected Europe’s Leading Lady at the European Poker Awards and joined the ShootingStar team at the PCA in January.

Naujoks was the third German EPT winner this season after ShootingStar Sebastian Ruthenberg won EPT Barcelona and Moritz Kranich won Deauville.

Between them, German players won €2.1 million – more than half the total prize pool of €3,335,000.

Luca Pagano ended in a disappointing 6th place but managed a record 10th EPT cash.

Reigninig EPT Dortmund champion Canadian Mike McDonald was eliminated in 5th place by Naujoks. Among those competing for the title was WSOP champion Peter Eastgate.

One of the toughest final tables in the history of the European Poker Tour (EPT) produced the tournament series’ second female winner. PokerStars.de ShootingStar member Sandra Naujoks took home €917,000 for taking down EPT Dortmund in a final table which also included Team PokerStars Pro members Luca Pagano and William Thorson along with Johan Storakers and former EPT Dortmund winner Mike McDonald.

In 2006, the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London saw Team PokerStars Pro member Vicky Coren become the EPT’s first female winner. The tournament series was in its third season then and Coren blazed through a field of 398 players. Two and a half years later, Naujoks became the second woman to win an EPT title, this time in Dortmund. She also won a €4,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event at the CAPT Baden Open last October for €174,000, besting World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder Alexander Kravchenko heads-up.

Cengizcan Ulusu was sent home in eighth place in a three-way pot. On the short stack, Ulusu pushed with J-9 and was called by Marc Gork, who held pocket jacks, and Johan Storakers, who had pocket sixes. The flop came J-Q-3, giving Gork a set. The turn and river came a harmless four and deuce, respectively, sealing Ulusu’s exit, €83,500 richer for his efforts. Taking seventh place in Dortmund was William Thorson, who went all-in with 8-9, but ran into Storakers’ K-J. Thorson took the lead after the flop came 7-8-10, but a king on the turn and four on the river sealed his fate. He earned €116,500.

Italian poker pro Luca Pagano hit the skids in sixth place, picking up €153,000. Pagano shoved from the button and Gork called from the small blind. When the cards were flipped over, the two were off to the races, with Pagano holding pocket sevens and Gork showing A-9. The flop came a benign 10-K-4, no help to either player, but a nine on the turn gave Gork the lead for good. Mike McDonald, who won the Dortmund event last year, finished in fifth, losing a race with K-J versus Najouks’ pocket tens. Fifth place was worth €197,000.

Johan Storakers exited in fourth place. The Swede was all-in holding A-Q against Naujoks’ A-K, leaving Storakers needing to catch lightning in a bottle in order to survive. However, the board was no help and Storakers was ousted, earning €237,000 in the process. Gork was eliminated in third place for €307,000, also coming out on the losing end of a race. This time, he held K-10 against Holger Kanisch’s pocket sevens. The board ran out 2-Q-5-J-5, sending Gork to the exit and setting up a heads-up battle between Kanisch and Najouks.

A half hour into heads-up play, Kanisch’s pocket jacks ran into Najouks’ pocket aces, giving the eventual winner a sizable chip lead. On the final hand of the night, Najouks held A-9 against Kanisch’s A-Q and hit one of her three outs on the turn to become the second woman ever to win an EPT tournament. Here were the final payouts from Dortmund:

1st Place: Sandra Naujoks (Germany) - €917,000
2nd Place: Holger Kanisch (Germany) - €533,000
3rd Place: Marc Gork (Germany) - €307,000
4th Place: Johan Storakers (Sweden) - €237,000
5th Place: Mike McDonald (Canada) - €197,000
6th Place: Luca Pagano (Italy) - €153,000
7th Place: William Thorson (Sweden) - €116,500
8th Place: Cengizcan Ulusu (Turkey) - €83,500

The series has come a long way since the first game in 1970, when just a few seasoned pros gathered in Vegas to see who was the best of the best.

How did the World Series of Poker Come to Pass?

It all begins with three men, years before the first World Series of Poker, in 1949, when Nick “the Greek” Dandalos asked Lester “Benny” Binion, owner of the Horsehoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, to arrange the biggest poker game of all time. Binion knew just the guy to take on the Greek – Johnny Moss, who at the time was regarded as the best poker player in the world. With Binion’s promise to bankroll him, Johnny Moss agreed to the match, and sat down to play at a game that would go on for five long months. They played every type of poker for huge pots of hundreds of thousands of dollars until at last, the Greek decided he was beat and got up from the table saying, “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go.”

The epic battle between Moss and the Greek sparked an idea in Benny Binion’s head, and in 1970 he invited the best poker players he knew, including Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, Brian “Sailor” Roberts, Puggy Pearson, Crandall Addington, and Carl Cannon to play No-Limit Texas Hold’em against each other in front of a crowd. Instead of playing until one player had all the chips, the players voted on who was the best, and Johnny Moss was unanimously chosen.

In 1971 the World Series was a freeze-out, winner-take-all tournament, which Johnny Moss once again won. Over the following years, it evolved into a “shared purse” tournament, in which not only the first place winner, but several other top finishers won a share of the prize money. Registration was open to anyone who had the $10,000 bucks to put up, and enrollment grew, but it wasn’t until satellite tournaments for the event were started that the numbers really started growing. Now, instead of plopping down the whole 10K, players could win a 10K seat by winning their way through a field of players at a lower buy-in tournament.

Still, the number of players at the Main Event remained under a thousand until 2003. Then, Chris Moneymaker won the top prize.

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker won a seat to the World Series of Poker through a $40 satellite tournament at the online poker site, PokerStars. This (until then) unknown player had only played online before the day of the tournament, and battled his way through the 838 other players to win an incredible $2.5 million.

America’s imagination latched on to this Cinderella story of a man who turned $40 into millions. If he could do it, we thought, anyone could. The TV coverage of the WSOP and other poker shows grew as well, and more and more people could watch and fantasize about sitting down at the table and beating a poker pro and winning huge prizes. In 2004, registration for the $10,000 main event tripled, and 2,576 players battled for the $5 million first prize. Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, who also won his seat through an online satellite at PokerStars, captured the 2004 WSOP bracelet.

2004 was a landmark year for another reason, as it also marked the final year of the World Series of Poker as part of the Binion’s Horsehoe empire, when they sold ownership of the tournament to Harrah’s, which is hosted the 2005 event at their own casino, The Rio All-Suite, though the final of the main event took place at the Horseshoe.

The main event in 2005 had over 5,600 participants and boasted a $7.5 million first prize, which was captured by Australian Joseph Hachem.

In 2006, the field got even bigger, with 8,773 players competing for a $12 million first prize. Jamie Gold, a Los Angeles producer, took the chip lead on Day 4 of the event and never gave it back, dominating the field all the way to the WSOP bracelet.

Here’s who won the main event of the World Series of Poker, and how much they took home in prize money, from the first game in 1970 to the present day. Click on player’s names to learn more about them.

2008: Peter Eastgate $ 9,152,416

2007: Jerry Yang $8,250,000

2006: Jamie Gold $12,000,000

2005: Joseph Hachem $7,500,000

2004: Greg Raymer $5,000,000

2003: Chris Moneymaker $2,500,000

2002: Robert Varkonyi $2,000,000

2001: Carlos Mortensen $1,500,000

2000: Chris Ferguson $1,500,000

1999: J. J. “Noel” Furlong $1,000,000

1998: Scotty Nguyen $1,000,000

1997: Stu Ungar $1,000,000

1996: Huck Seed $1,000,000

1995: Dan Harrington $1,000,000

1994: Russ Hamilton $1,000,000

1993: Jim Bechtel $1,000,000

1992: Hamid Dastmalchi $1,000,000

1991: Brad Daugherty $1,000,000

1990: Mansour Matloubi $895,000

1989: Phil Hellmuth $755,000

1988: Johnny Chan $700,000

1987: Johnny Chan $625,000

1986: Berry Johnston $570,000

1985: Bill Smith $700,000

1984: Jack Keller $660,000

1983: Tom McEvoy $580,000

1982: Jack Strauss $520,000

1981: Stu Ungar $375,000

1980: Stu Ungar $385,000

1979: Hal Fowler $270,000

1978: Bobby Baldwin $210,000

1977: Doyle Brunson $340,000

1976: Doyle Brunson $220,000

1975: Sailor Roberts $210,000

1974: Johnny Moss $160,000

1973: Puggy Pearson $130,000

1972: Amarillo Slim Preston $80,000

1971: Johnny Moss $30,000

1970: Johnny Moss n/a

The World Poker Tour TV shows debuted in 2002 on the Travel Channel. Each 2-hour show showed the final 6 players competing for first prize. What made this show unique when it debuted was the use of “hole cams” that allowed viewers to see what each player had — and that one feature changed the way people viewed poker and led to the poker boom. In 2008, new episodes aired on Game Show Network instead of the Travel Channel, but the next season in 2009 will be on Fox Sports.
World Poker Tour Hosts:

The hosts of the WPT show have always been poker player Mike Sexton and Vince van Patten. The female co-host was originally Shana Hiatt, who hosted the first three seasons. Later hosts included Courtney Friel, Sabina Gadecki, and Layla Kayleigh.
World Poker Tour Championship:

At the end of each season, the WPT holds a $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event that include all the winners of previous WPT main events and many more poker pros and hopefuls.

It is held at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
World Poker Tour Champions:

The winners of the big WPT championship are:
2003: Alan Goehring
2004: Martin De Knijff
2005: Tuan Le
2006: Joe Bartholdi
2007: Carlos Mortensen
2008: David Chiu

Another variation is played the same as Texas Hold ‘Em, with the exception that there is no flop. Instead, the first three community cards are flipped one at a time instead of all at once. This adds two betting rounds (and pretty much removes all semblance of this being a Hold ‘Em game over a Community game).

The player to the left of the ‘big blind’ is the first player permitted to look at his or her hand before making a betting decision. That player can see the big blind and call, see the big blind and raise, or fold. The rest of the betting round conducts itself as a regular poker betting round, with the opening bet to call, raise, or fold being the big blind’s.

When the betting round reaches the small blind, it must be noted that that player has already invested a sum of money into this betting round. Technically, it was the small blind that opened this betting round by making the initial (albeit, blind) bet. Whatever the amount of the betting round when it reaches the small blind, the amount of the small blind bet is what that player has already invested into this betting round.

The same goes for the big blind. If nobody bumps the bet after the big blind, then the big blind owes nothing, as this was the player that made the last bet. It must be noted, however, that contrary to regular poker betting, if nobody bumps the bet after the big blind, the big blind owes nothing BUT is still allowed the option to bump the betting round when it reaches him or her. If the big blind declines from bumping, then the betting round is over.

The Flop
The top three cards from the deck are flipped face up in the center of the table. The small blind opens a second betting round, which proceeds as a regular poker betting round.

The Turn
The top card from the deck is flipped face up in the center of the table as the fourth community card. The small blind opens a third betting round, which proceeds as a regular betting round.

The River
The top card from the deck is flipped face up in the center of the table as the fifth and final community card. The small blind opens a fourth and final betting round, which proceeds as a regular betting round. After this betting round, players make their best five card hands using the two cards in their hand and the five community cards in the center of the table.