Although the game of poker has been around for nearly two hundred years, the most popular form of poker over the last few years has been the no-limit Texas hold’em tournament. From small back room games with a few friends, to massive undertakings with millions in prize money and worldwide TV coverage, no-limit Texas hold’em tournaments have captured the imagination of players around the globe.
The first and most prestigious set of poker tournaments is the World Series of Poker, held every summer in Las Vegas. The WSOP hosts tournaments in multiple varieties of poker, from Deuce-to-Seven Lowball to Omaha and Seven-Card Stud. The Main Event features a no-limit Texas hold’em tournament with a buy-in of US$10,000 and prizes that guarantee the winner millions of dollars and poker immortality.
On the heels of the WSOP came the World Poker Tour. The WPT has featured events in Las Vegas as well as other stops around the world, such as Aruba, Costa Rica and Paris. Veteran poker pros, Hollywood A-list actors, and hopefuls from around the world have played in and won at WPT final tables. Danish pro Gus Hansen established much of his reputation by winning three WPT titles.
When WSOP officials saw the success of the WPT, they established their own traveling tournament calendar, called the World Series of Poker Circuit. WSOP Circuit events have been held all over the United States at the various Harrah’s casinos. In 2007, the group also organized the World Series of Poker Europe, held in casinos in and around London, England, to expand their global brand.
Other groups have established regional tournament circuits. The online poker site PokerStars has set up the European Poker Tour, with stops in London, Barcelona, Prague, Copenhagen and other major European cities. The site also sponsors two other tours: the Latin American Poker Tour, with tournaments in Brazil, Costa Rica and Uruguay; and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, with events in the Philippines, South Korea and Australia.