Tom Morehead - Unsung WSOP Hero
As your humble correspondent, I would like to make a confession at this point. Though I undoubtedly come across as a highly educated and erudite individual, the type of person who has been schooled in the finest institutions on an international level, the truth is far from that.
In fact, I was an absolutely lousy student, starting from kindergarten. The process of matching up square pegs with round holes was utterly beyond me. My confidence was so shattered by a first-grade finger painting lesson (in which I managed to create a work of art which I thought was beautiful but the teacher publicly branded as "an abomination against my every sensibility") that for the remainder of my years as a student I was always counted on to underachieve. And I did.
There was one subject, however, that always managed to catch my interest and that was history. In fact, the highlight of my academic career came in eighth grade when I got a B-minus in American history. There is something undeniably fascinating about reading the exploits of the great men and women who have come before us, shedding light on who we are as a people and where we are going.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that I am utterly fascinated by the history of the World Series of Poker. It is a long and twisting tale, populated by an unbelievable but totally authentic cast of heroes and villains. If you're looking for drama, triumph and tragedy, the World Series of Poker is one heck of a lot more entertaining than the French Revolution or the Civil War. At least in my opinion.
But, as I am running out of space in this article and plan to revisit this subject in greater detail soon, I would just like to point out one aspect of the history of the WSOP that is not known to many people. It is generally assumed that the first World Series of Poker was held in 1970 at Benny Binion's Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas. And while this is true in a sense, in another sense it's totally false. Why the discrepancy? Because there was a previous World Series of Poker held in Reno, Nevada. This tournament was strictly an invitational, so it functioned rather differently than the 1970 event.
Nonetheless, Tom Morehead of the Riverside casino in Reno deserves credit in the history books for having been the first individual to come up with the idea - and coin the phrase - World Series of Poker. But, as they say, history is written by the winners and therefore Benny Binion is widely regarded as the father of the WSOP. Makes you think, doesn't it? Stay tuned for more thrilling history lessons to come from Mason Raymond in the near future.
