The World Series of Poker has been underway since late May. The main event will get underway soon and the final table is scheduled for early July. The WSOP, as it is usually called, is the main poker tournament in the world. Juicy Stakes Poker is as excited about the WSOP 2025 as are poker players from around the world.
We would like to revisit some of the enduring highlights of WSOP history.
Why is it Called the World Series of Poker?
This is a fascinating question and the answer brings us back to the lasting power of tradition. Baseball was once called the National Pastime and was widely recognized as the most popular American sport. Football (American) overtook baseball as the most popular sport in the United States but it has never been called the National Pastime.
Baseball was the National Pastime for a few reasons. First, it was a summer game and boys (and girls, too) could play baseball until very late every night in the summer. Baseball is played in an open field, which there were many before urban sprawl started sprawling.
You need only a bat and a ball. Kids play softball so they don’t need a glove, although every American boy, and plenty of girls, had a glove until very recently.
There is a famous scene in the YouTube clips of the Chicago Cubs' 2016 National League Championship Series when, in the 9th inning, with the Cubs ahead by five runs, the camera found people in the stands. One was a middle-aged woman who was near tears as the Cubs inched closer to going to the World Series and she was holding her glove tightly.
The glove, the bat, and the ball are the symbols of baseball, while helmets, shoulder pads, and other artifacts of protection are the symbols of football.
Baseball, as kids play it, is a non-violent game. You hit the ball and run.
The championship series in baseball has been called the World Series for over 100 years. The championship game in football is called the Super Bowl. When the people who started the WSOP in 1971 were looking for a name, no one thought to call it the Super Bowl of Poker.
It literally is the World Series of Poker.
Amarillo Slim Takes Winning in 1972 to International Stardom
This is an extended WSOP highlight. Amarillo Slim was given that name because he was thin and lived with his father in Amarillo. After he won the WSOP in 1972, he took to the talk show circuit and made poker famous.
Amarillo Slim gave advice to poker players that resembles the advice we give to our poker players.
- Play the players. Always pay attention to the way the other players are playing.
- Find the weakest player and exploit him. If you can’t find one, then you are probably the weakest player at the table.
- Find a happy medium between carefulness and aggressiveness. Too much carefulness will cost you pots and too much aggressiveness will cost you pots.
- Winning poker is work. Treat it as work.
- Change your modus operandi so the other players can’t pick up on tells.
- Always look for tells. Even in online poker, you can look for tells.
Johnny Chan Wins Back to Back Titles
By winning in 1987, Johnny Chan made the WSOP a true world series. Johnny Chan had Taiwanese citizenship. It was a huge moment at the time that a non-Western player won the title.
Phil Helmuth Wins
These days, despite his many belts and tournament wins, Phil Helmuth is known widely as a whiner, a player who will berate an amateur for winning while playing “incorrectly”. But in 1989, Phil Helmuth dethroned Johnny Chan and won the WSOP.
He was only 24 at the time. He showed tremendous poise and calm. What might have been if he hadn’t sunk into whining land?
Stu Ungar
When Stu Ungar was at the top of his game, he was by far and away the best poker player on the planet. He had both deep understanding and the intangibles that might be called poker instincts.
Unfortunately, he squandered a million dollars in one year after winning in 1998. He had also won in 1980 and 1981 and then went on a long drug-induced bender. The win in 1998 was supposed to be the last brick in his wall against drugs but the drugs prevailed and he died of a drug overdose with only a few dollars to his name.
The Stu Ungar story reminds all gamers and gamblers that there is a fine line between healthy gaming and dangerous and irresponsible gambling. It is the reason why all good online casinos and poker rooms, including Juicy Stakes, take a deep interest in every person who plays at their, and our, venues.
Do You Believe in Miracles?
In 1983, people were still glowing from the US win over the Soviet Union in Olympic hockey in 1980 and the classic call by Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles?”
Chris Moneymaker, whose name is possibly the most appropriate name in sports history, qualified for the WSOP by winning an online tournament with an $80 buy-in.
He knocked out well-known players and he knocked out Phil Ivey with a miracle ace on the river in an all-in scenario.
Moneymaker’s win made the WSOP a truly open event with thousands of people buying in, hoping to pull off a Moneymaker-like win.
YouTube Immortalizes the WSOP
When YouTube first appeared, it had a 9-minute limit on clips. The WSOP clips went a long way to ending that limit. YouTube made the WSOP a main attraction even in “rerun” form.
Now, millions of people watch poker clips on YouTube. Poker is one of the most popular YouTube subjects
The WSOP Has Not Reached its Potential Yet
The buy-in may be $10,000 but there are a lot of people who can make that call. The biggest names flock to Las Vegas every year for the tournament. Every day is recorded because no one knows when an immortal hand will be played.
Juicy Stakes Provides Great Online Poker to Aspiring WSOP Players
A lot of poker players gain a tremendous amount of experience before they hit 30 years of age by playing online. Juicy Stakes is a leading online poker room.
We cater to all types of poker players from rank beginners to seasoned pros. Most of our players are average Joes and Josephines who love poker and play for the enormous pleasure they get from locking heads with excellent opponents.
