WSOP 2003
All throughout the unbelievably exciting history of the World Series of Poker, there have been many milestones which deserve special mention in the history books.
Starting way back in 1970, when Benny Binion first had the genius idea of inviting the seven best poker players in the country to gather at his beloved Horseshoe casino on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, each passing year has introduced new champions, shattered old records and continually confounded expectations of even the most acute observers.It is unlikely to imagine that Binion could ever have had a clear picture of what would happen to his brainstorm so many years ago. That is simply because the world itself has changed so much in that time, in ways which would have been totally crazy to ponder during previous decades.
It is not any great stretch to propose that the introduction of the Internet to our daily lives has been in the most seismic and widely felt change of the past 30 years. There's almost no element of daily life that is not now directly handled via a computer and a modem. Naturally, this would seem like the wildest science fiction to someone of Benny Binion's era. And yet it is no more than a simple truth today.
In terms of the World Series of Poker, 2003 is known as the year in which the Internet made its first massive impact on the result of the tournament. This is because cyberspace had become increasingly populated with online poker rooms in which people with no professional exposure to the game were able to log on and play competitively. Some genius had the idea of hosting online tournaments by which individuals could earn a seat at the WSOP. These are called satellites and they continue to this day in dozens - if not hundreds - of Web sites all across the Internet.
Still, it was highly unpredictable that an amateur would not only find his way to the WSOP in 2003 by virtue of winning a satellite, but actually go on to defeat a wide field of much more experienced competitors and take the grand prize. But, as they say, life is stranger than fiction and that was certainly proved to be the case when a fellow from Tennessee named Chris Moneymaker charged across the green felt tables, winning his first bracelet and a massive of pot of millions in the process. He was instantly transformed from an unknown to an internationally recognized poker celebrity and now serves as a spokesman for PokerStars.com which was the Web site hosting his satellite. A new age had clearly arrived.
by Mason Raymond
