Seven Memorable Moments In Pokers Past
While poker tournaments have been held for decades, it’s undeniable that there are many moments throughout poker’s long history that deserve to be highlighted. While there are hundreds of these ‘first’ moments to choose between, these are the 7 most recognised ‘firsts’ in a while.
1. The First World Series of Poker - 1970
Despite being a regular calendar event at casinos around the world, and one of the most well-known tournaments around the world, the first official World Series of Poker was held in 1970. This first event did not feature a tournament format, and was instead a game played by invitation only for seven players, in a cash-based game in the Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Out of this, Johnny Moss was voted as the champion of the game.
2. First Televised Poker Game - 1973
After the success of the first WSOP event in Las Vegas, the next step was to showcase this event to the general public in order to gain more followers and allow people to learn some of the more intricate rules and plays available. This was done by televising the WSOP poker game in Las Vegas in 1973. Soon after, female poker players were invited to join in on the game.
3. First Online Poker Room - 1998
As poker gained popularity, players in remote areas wanted the chance to play too, which led to a whole new avenue in pokers history. Planet Poker by Randy Bluer was the first online poker room to open and offer real money payouts, which took off in 1998. Soon after, a host of new online poker operators joined in, leading to what we now have in present day.
4. PokerStars Set A World Record - 2013
PokerStars is renowned for having set a world record for having 225,000 players playing in a single tournament. The buy in for the tournament was only $1, with a prize pool of $300,000. As it stands, no one has yet beaten this incredible record.
5. First Poker Subscription Service Launched – 2015
While we have plenty of options when it comes to learning about poker now, such as sits like big dollar online casino, the first paid subscription service of dedicated poker content was PokerGo. Launched in 2015 by Poker Central, it quickly gained attention and subscribers, and has led to numerous similar sites offering paid subscription poker services.
6. First Software Bot To Win a Heads-Up Poker Game - 2015
With top teams from universities around the world developing software to play poker, it was inevitable that eventually a ‘poker bot’ would win against players at some point. This happened in 2015 when ‘Cepheus’ became the first of its kind to solve Heads-Up Limit games and became unbeatable when played one-on-one.
7. AI Pluribus Beat Players in 6 Max Format - 2019
After the success of Cepheus, the next step has been to get AI software to beat more than one player at a time. This was achieved by Pluribus who was able to beat five of the best players around, including Darren Elias and Chris Ferguson, in a 6Max no-limit Texas Hold’em poker game.