A brief history of the World Series of Poker
Benny Binion with daughter Becky outside Horseshoe Casino
In 1968 a select group of around fifty high rollers were invited to “The First Annual Gaming Fraternity Convention”, a table games tournament to promote the Holiday Hotel in Reno. This event was not as successful as the ones to follow, when in 1969 Tom Moore decided to reformat the event making it a high stakes poker game and invite all the top players as well as some of the biggest bookies in the U.S. This time the Second Annual Gaming Fraternity Convention drew between twenty to thirty poker players, bookmakers and pool hustlers and became the first ever major poker tournament with legends like Doyle Brunson, Benny Binion, Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson and others. The event lasted one week and because it was on a smaller scale than it is nowadays, players could rebuy chips thus making it tougher to win, as this meant the winner had to be the best player not just the luckiest. Sure enough, Doyle Brunson won the “Mr Outside” Trophy.
In 1970, Tom Moore sold the hotel and Benny and Jack Binion acquired the rights for the tournament but renamed it World Series of Poker. The first World Series of Poker was held at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas in 1970. (source Doyle Brunson’s Super System 2)
The introduction of ‘ladies only tournaments’ at the World Series of Poker
WSOP 2011 Ladies Event Photo (featuring Christina Lindley)
The WSOP is held in Las Vegas annually and attracts professional, semi professional and amateur poker players from around the World. This event has played a major role in encouraging women to play poker and has also introduced a ladies only poker tournament in 1977. This event is now named the Ladies World Poker Championship.
Originally, the ladies only event game played was Seven-Card Stud, however in 2001, the game was changed to a mix of both Stud and Hold’em. Since 2005 the tournament has been a No-Limit Hold’em competition.
Previously the ladies event used to be held on Mothers Day since the event takes place between April and May, however, this had to be changed for the women who wanted to participate in the event but could not make it due to family commitments. As a result, the ladies event was moved in 2004.
Only three women have won multiple Ladies Poker Championships to date and these are Barbara Enright, Nani Dollison and Susie Isaacs.
List of Ladies World Poker Champions:
1977 — Jackie McDaniels
1978 — Terry King
1979 — Barbara Freer
1980 — Deby Callihan
1981 — Ruth Godfrey
1982 — June Field
1983 — Carolyn Gardner
1984 — Karen Wolfson
1985 — Rose Pifer
1986 — Barbara Enright
1987 — Linda Ryke-Drucker
1988 — Loretta Huber
1989 — Alma McClelland
1990 — Marie Gabert
1991 — Donna Ward
1992 — Shari Flanzer
1993 — Phyllis Kessler
1994 — Barbara Enright
1995 — Starla Brodie
1996 — Susie Isaacs
1997 — Susie Isaacs
1998 — Mendy Commanda
1999 — Christina Pie
2000 — Nani Dollison
2001 — Nani Dollison
2002 — Catherine Brown
2003 — Barb Rugolo
2004 — Hung Doan
2005 — Jennifer Tilly
2006 — Mary Jones-Meyer
2007 — Sally Boyer
2008 — Svetlana Gromenkova
2009 — Lisa Hamilton
2010 — Vanessa Hellebuyck
2011 — Marsha Wolak
The establishment of the World Series of Poker Europe
In 2007, Caesars Entertainment decided to extend the WSOP brand to bring the event to other destinations around the globe, thus the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) was established. The destinations to date include UK, London, at the Empire Casino in Leicester Square where the event was held for four consecutive years, followed by Cannes, France at the Casino Barrière de Cannes Croisette where the event was held for the first time in 2011.
WSOP open events female winner(s)
Barbara Enright was the first lady to win an open event at the WSOP.
Vanessa Selbst was the last female player to win a WSOP tournament open to both sexes in 2008.
WSOPE open events female winner(s)
Annette Obrestad won the WSOPE Main Event in 2007. She won a whopping US $2,013,102. This is the largest sum of money any female has won at a sporting event.
With the WSOP 2012 schedule readily published, we at GirlsDoPoker are looking forward to finding out who the next female WSOP winner is, if any, this year. Good luck ladies 
