Poker tournaments and the broadcasts in TV rose in the following years. The popularity of these events was recognized everywhere and soon they were part of the internet. Robert Varkonyi won the WSOP and the record amount of $2.000.000 in 2002. In 2003 the legend of the dishwasher who became millionaire became true with Chris Moneymaker. Chris qualified for the main event of the WSOP by winning a satellite, he beat 838 players, and he won the event! This moneymaker-effect was the reason for the number of participants to rise to a number of 2500. Greg Raymer won the price money of $5.000.000. In 2005 Harrah`s Entertainment got the rights of the WSOP and they moved it completely to the Rio Hotel & Casino. Only the last few days were still played at Binion`s. With more than 5600 players the Main Event of 2005 again was a record year and the Australian Joe Hachem got the victory and won more than $7.5 million!

New Venue of the World Series of Poker

Since 2006 the WSOP was played in the Rio. With 8773 participants this year had the highest number of participants at a casino tournament. Because of the high number of participants the pot also grew immensely and Jamie Gold won $12.000.000. But there also were negative news about the WSOP. Voices were heard, saying, that the cards could easily be imitated and there was a tournament, where suddenly too many chips were played in total. It was never proven that a single player was the cause of this fraud. The organizers made sure to shed light on this matter and they tightened the controls and security standards.

Breakdown because of the US Licensing

In 2006 the Unlawful Internet Entertainment Act (UIEA) was approved and since then the internet gambling in the USA is prohibited. The whole internet poker industry was put into a crisis. Even the WSOP suffered from this change, because there was a great feed by the internet. However, the crisis didn’t last long and they cannot complain to have too few interested persons.

WSOP 2008, an Event staying in the memory of the people

In 2008 the WSOP became an extra class event. The final took place in November, at a later date than the other events. Peter Eastgate was the youngest winner in 2008 at the age of 23 years and in 2009 this record was beaten by Joseph Cada. Since last November, the 21 year old man is world champion and winner of a bracelet.