World Series of Poker on Satellite
Monday, March 3rd, 2008The World Series of Poker is the biggest poker competition in the world, or at least the most prestigious poker tournament there is. Winning WSOP is the same as placing you permanently on the poker map among the great players of the world. Other players that have won the main event are Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar and Phil Hellmuth. These of course being players everyone recognize.
A big change to the poker society and to WSOP in particular came in 2003 when something big took place. This was the first time someone that came from an online satellite won the main event. The proud winner of 2003 years main event was Chris Moneymaker who had qualified from a $39 satellite online.
Lots of poker players didn’t want to admit that the online players had the talent but the main event of WSOP in 2003 changed it forever. In 2004 the “Moneymaker effect” had it’s way and the participants in the World Series of Poker Main Event increased from 839 participants to 2 576 in 2004. In 2006 the same number had climbed all the way to 8 773, some claim that better media cover has a part in the increase but it’s not called the “Moneymaker effect” for nothing. There is no question that online poker changed the WSOP forever.
Today most poker rooms offer some sort of WSOP Satellite where participants can win the entrance to the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. The number of players playing the satellites is incredible and the competition is getting harder and harder every year in the main event. Most WSOP satellites starts with a small qualifier to the real satellite and in most cases even more steps between the first qualifier and the actual World Series of Poker main event.
Most of us have tried our skills in at least one or two qualifiers but as you might guess, most players don’t make it to the main event final table, most of course does not even make it to the qualifier final table. Even less of us have done with Chris Moneymaker did but in 2004 the year after Moneymaker won the main event Greg Raymer, another satellite player did it again. Raymer and Moneymaker managed to add a lot of credit to the online poker community by showing what the community could produce at the final table of the World Series of Poker Main event.
Tags: Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Satellite, World Series of Poker, WSOP
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