World Series of Poker

^* awarded by vote. This legislation has been considered as controversial by some Australians who contend it disenfranchises those who have forgotten to register or provide a change of address. For more information, view the article on the WSOP for that specific year. Traditionally voters cannot register within three weeks of an election, but in 2004 the Howard Government passed legislation that prevents registration after an election has been announced. Below are the past winners of the main event, together with brief information about each year's main event. I forgot is not considered acceptable and will incur the $50 fine. Cloutier, the 1985 and 2000 runner-up. Acceptable reasons for not voting may include: being in the Accident Department of a Hospital, being ill (requires confirmation), being out of the country since from before the election was anounced until after the election was held and having not been contacted by an Australian Embassy or Consulate, being incarcerated etc.

J. Usually people are issued with warnings when it is found that they have missed voting, and they are given an opportunity to show cause for not voting. Several living poker legends have tried unsuccessfully for years to win the main event, including T. In Australia it is a legal offense to miss voting at any Federal, State or Local election, and can incur a fine of $50 or more. Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, the winners in 2003 and 2004 both qualified for the main event through satellite tournaments at the PokerStars online cardroom. The one registration covers Federal, State and Local voter registration. The end of the 1988 main event was featured in the movie Rounders. Periodically the Electoral Commission conducts door-to-door campaigns to try to ensure that all eligible persons are registered in the correct electorate.

Four players have won the main event multiple times: Johnny Moss (1970, 1971 and 1974), Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977), Stu Ungar (1980, 1981 and 1997) and Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988.). Similarly, if a change of address causes an individual to move to another electorate (Electoral Division) they are legaly obliged to notify the Electoral Commission within 8 weeks. There have been many memorable events during the main events, including Jack Straus's 1982 comeback win after discovering he had one $500 chip left when he thought he was out of the tournament. An individual has 8 weeks after turning 18 to register. (In 1971, the buy-in was $5,000.) Winners of the event not only get the largest prize of the tournament and a gold bracelet, but additionally their picture is placed into the Gallery of Champions at Binion's. Voter Registration is mandatory for all citizens 18 years of age or above. The main event of the WSOP is the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament since 1972. This current system is controversial as it is possible for one person to delete people who may live with them from the electoral roll.

The fees and licences bring in over a million dollars to Harrah's. Across the country, the registration of electors is still technically the responsibility of the 'head of the household', a concept seen by some as being somewhat out of step with modern society. Licensees include Activision (video games for different plaforms such as Nintendo's GameCube, Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation 2 and PC featuring computer generated versions of stars like Ferguson among others), and products made by different companies ranging from chip sets, playing cards, hand held games and clothing like caps and shirts. The system of individual registration used in Northern Ireland may be piloted in Great Britain if the recently introduced Electoral Administration Bill is made into law in time for the local elections n 2006. Besides the Harrah's properties and ESPN, major sponsors have included Miller Brewing's "Milwaukee's Best" brand of beers, Pepsi's SoBe Adreneline Rush energy drink (sponsors of the 2005 TOC), Helene Curtis' Degree brand of anti-perspirant/deodorant, Card Player magazine, and GlaxoSmithKline/Bayer's Levitra erectile dysfunction medicine are all official corporate sponsors. Following an experiment in Northern Ireland using personal identifiers, such as National Insurance numbers and signatures, the number of registered electors fell by some ten thousand; it is understood that this may have taken off the electoral roll fictitious voters. Like any event or sports league, the WSOP also has corporate sponsors and licensed products, which like any leagues or events, pay fees to market themselves as an official sponsor and/or licensee and exclusively use the WSOP insigina and cross-promote with their events. This replaced the twice-yearly census of electors which often disenfranchised those who had moved house in-between surveys.

If the limit of 8,000 players buying in for $10,000 each is reached, the first prize is estimated to be $10 million as well as a special bracelet different than the others. The current system of registration, introduced by the Labour government is known as rolling registration whereby electors can register with a local authority at any time of the year. The Rio will again host all 2006 WSOP major events, begining on June 25 with satellite events and formally start the next day with the annual Casino Employee tournament, and will feature the TOC on June 28 and 29, 2006, along with the various events leading up to the main event, which will be held from July 28 until August 10. A voting card is sent to each registrant shortly before any elections which is used as proof that you are registered when voting. A second event, scheduled to be held at Harrah's New Orleans, Louisiana property, is in limbo due to damage that it also suffered in said hurricane.). Voters must be on the Electoral roll in order to vote in national, local or European elections. (One event, that was scheduled for Biloxi, Mississippi was cancelled after the Grand Casino Biloxi, which was scheduled to host the event, suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina. It is not compulsory to vote however.

During a break in the final table of the 2005 Main Event on July 16, Harrah's announced that eleven properties — including the recently added Bally's and Caesar's properites — would host 2005-06 WSOP Circuit events that started on August 11 in Tunica, Mississippi. In the UK voter registration is by law compulsory (when asked to do so), though this is rarely actually enforced. Mike "The Mouth" Matusow won the first prize of $1 million (US), and all the players at the final table were guaranteed a minimum of $25,000 for the eighth and ninth place finishers. In these states, one type of voter intimidation is to inform people falsely that registration is closed. The 2005 TOC, made up of the top twenty qualifying players at each circuit event, along with the final table from the 2005 Main Event and the winners of nine or more bracelets (Hellmuth, Chan and Doyle Brunson) would participate in the revamped TOC at Caesar's Palace. states: Minnesota, Maine, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Idaho. Starting in 2005, the WSOP began a tournament "circuit" at Harrah's-owned properties in the United States where in addition to the $10,000 buy-in tournament at each site, qualifying players became eligible for a revamped Tournament of Champions. This tactic, called same-day registration, has been adopted by several U.S.

It also added a made-for-television $2 million "freeroll" invitational "Tournament of Champions" (TOC) event won by Annie Duke as a "winner-take-all" event. Other groups, while not agreeing with this specific suggestion, argue that the laws should be reformed; for instance, allowing voters to register on the day of the election. In 2004, Harrah's Entertainment purchased Binion's Horseshoe, renaming it just "Binion's" and announced that the 2005 Series events would be held at the Harrah's-owned Rio Hotel and Casino, located just off the Las Vegas Strip, with the final two days of the main event held downtown at Binion's in celebration of the centennial of the founding of Las Vegas. Because of this, they are often controversial; some, especially on the left wing, advocate for their abolition (thus allowing all residents of a given area to vote, including non-citizens). Subtracting the $10,000 buy-ins, over $47 million was won by 560 players in the event. This lower turnout is especially concentrated among low-income voters and young voters — i.e., those least likely to vote no matter what the registration requirements. In the 2005 main event $52,818,610 (US) in prize money was distributed, including a $7.5 million first prize. Laws requiring individual voters to register, as opposed to having the government register people automatically, have a strong correlation with lower numbers of people turning out to vote.

Like most tournaments, the sponsoring casino takes a "rake" (a percentage between 6%-10%, depending on the buy-in) and distributes the rest, hence the prize money increases with more players. Even in countries where registration is the individual's responsibility, many reformers, seeking to maximize voter turnout, have pushed for wider availability of the required forms; one such effort in the United States led to the passage of the Motor Voter laws, which required states to offer to register people when the people came in for a driver's licence. Much of this growth can be attributed to the WSOP airing on ESPN and the World Poker Tour being shown on the Travel Channel, along with other televised series, as well as the boom of online poker. Governments registering people has been shown to be one of the most powerful predictors of high voting turnout levels. For the 2006 main event, a cap of 8,000 players has been established. In many others, however, citizens must "opt in" to voting, generally by filling out a specific form registering them to vote. In the main event alone, participants grew from 839 in 2003, to 2,576 in 2004, to 5,619 in 2005. In some countries, registration is the responsibility of the government, either local or national.

In 2000 there were 4,780 entrants in the various events, but in 2005, the number rose to over 23,000 players. . The number of participants in the WSOP has grown every year, and in recent years the growth has exploded. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive. Also, celebrities Patrick Bruel and Jennifer Tilly have won WSOP bracelets in 1998 and 2005 respectively. Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens to check in with some central registry before being allowed to vote in elections. Doyle's son, Todd Brunson, won a bracelet in a pot limit Omaha event in 2005, making them the first father/son combo to win at least one event at the WSOP.

Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson and Johnny "Oriental Express" Chan have each won ten bracelets, while Phil Hellmuth has nine. Event winners get, in addition to their prize money, a coveted gold bracelet. In 2006 there will be 42 events at the WSOP, covering the majority of poker variants. Since then new events have been added and removed.

In 1973 a new event, five-card stud, was added to the main event of no limit Texas Hold 'em. From 1971 on, all WSOP events have been tournaments with cash prizes. The winner, Johnny Moss was elected by his peers as the first World Champion of Poker and received a silver cup as a prize. In 1970 the first WSOP at Binion's Horseshoe took place with seven players.

Through better security techniques as well as the Binion's tireless promotion through events like the WSOP, poker became a very popular game. Prior to the 1970s, poker was not found at many casinos because of the difficulty of keeping cheaters out. The Binion family not only nurtured the WSOP, but poker in general. The set of tournaments the World Series of Poker (WSOP) would evolve to was the brainchild of Las Vegas legend, casino owner, and poker player Benny Binion as well as his two sons Jack and Ted.

The original World Series of Poker was started by Tom Morehead of the Riverside casino in Reno and was an invitational event. . The World Series of Poker is the most prestigious set of poker tournaments in the world.