The popularity of the World Series of Poker gained tremendous



momentum from The Travel Channel's World Poker Tour showings.

Although the event had been showing for a number of years on

ESPN, when new technologies such as the table camera were used,

television watchers began getting involved in the hands as they

were being played.

Other advancements will also take place since the purchase of

the World Series of Poker (WSOP) from Binion's in 2004 by

Harrah's. They will need them because of the sheer increase in

the number of players entering the tournament. In 2003 when

Chris Moneymaker won the title and $2,500,000, there were 839

entrants. In 2004 Gregory Paul Raymer became champion after

defeating 2576 players and was rewarded with $5,000,000. For

2006, the WSOP will be estimated to have over 7500 players

hammering each other for a top prize of $6,000,000. And most

of these will come from Internet poker rooms. A significant

number of online poker rooms will host online tournaments to

sponsor seats to the WSOP main event with buy ins that are

far less than the $10,000 fee.

The Internet will be instrumental in tournament poker because of

the 24/7 availability to play large numbers of hands that would

take months in just a number of days. This will allow experience

in the game to be gained much more quickly than one could gain

say 5 years ago. With the numerous poker games that are played

at the annual WSOP, (in 2005 there were 32), anyone can learn

and practice any game over the Internet in order to compete

for a WSOP bracelet and title.

Players come from all walks of life to play at the WSOP, both

male and female. But the makeup of the top performers has

changed. Aggressive players who understand areas of mathematics

in analytical professions will come out on top more and more.

No longer will champions be made up of just those who have

played poker for 20 to 25 years in order to build up razor

sharp instincts. This is why so many younger players are

being seen winning championship events. A number of newer

champions will be current college students.

For those who do not possess such knowledge, that will not stop

them from playing the game from a competition standpoint. Expect

more satellite tournaments at land based casinos to sponsor

seats to the WSOP in order to cash in on the poker craze. They

admit they don't make much from the tables, but what they make

on other sales and games from the players and the crowds they

attract, make poker something they will promote. Land based

casinos went from closing down poker rooms to opening them

up again and building new ones to handle the capacity.

You will still see familiar faces playing at the top of their

games like Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, T.J. Cloutier, Doyle

Brunson, Annie Duke and others. They are excited because even

though it is becoming tougher to win more tournament titles at

the World Series of Poker, overall they win more money because

of their level of expertise at the game. Players of this caliber

will stay contenders to be respected (and feared) at any final

table. The future of the World Series of Poker has an incredible

amount of potential with an estimated 50,000,000 poker players

in the United States alone. Keep your eyes open to see what

will happen next.