The six players to exit Sunday and their respective winnings are:

4th Matt Giannetti $3,011,655
5th Phil Collins $2,268,909
6th Eoghan O’Dea $1,720,396
7th Badih Bounahra $1,313,851
8th Anton Makiievskyi $1,009,910
9th Sam Holden $782,115

That left Pius Heinz, Martin Staszko and Ben Lamb left from the starting field of 6,865 players to fight it out for the title on Tuesday night.

It didn’t take long for the fireworks to begin. On hand #1, Ben Lamb on the short stack, pushed all in with KJ off suit and was called by Staszko’s pocket sevens. The sevens held up and Lamb is crippled with just 10 big blinds left.  On hand #4 Lamb has little choice but to shove with Q6 off and is called again by Staszko’s pocket pair, this time jacks. They hold up and Lamb finishes in third.

Heads up between the 22 year old Heinz and the 35 year old Staszko then begins on hand #5 with the blinds at $800,000/$1,600,000 and a $200,000 ante. Heinz, the more aggressive of the two is looking to become the 2nd youngest player to win the WSOP main event. (Joe Cada age 21 in 2009)

Heinz had trouble making hands in heads up play and fell behind to Staszko but the aggressive Heinz hung in and eventually pulled ahead.

The final hand saw Staszko,  down to just over $44,000,000 in chips, pushing all in with 10c-7c  against the As-Kc of Heinz. When neither player hit a pair, Heinz was the champion, winning $8,715,618. Staszko collected $5,433,086 for second.

The 41st annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) is set to begin on Thursday, May 27, 2010. As every poker fan knows the WSOP is
an annual event that began back in 1970.

That year, Johnny Moss was awarded the championship by votes of the other players in the event. It became the freeze-out event that it is today in 1971 and Moss won again.

Today the fields are considerably larger and the number of events have grown over the years to the current total of 57, with a gold bracelet being awarded to the winner of each event.

This year’s events will run from May 27 to July 17, 2010. The World Series of Poker will have the following events and more;  limit, pot-limit and no-limit hold ‘em, seven-card stud, pot-limit Omaha, Omaha high-low split eight-or-better, seven card stud high-low eight or better, 2-7 triple draw, HORSE, Razz and of course, the main event which will be held from July 5 to
July 17, 2010.

The main event will not conclude on July 17, but it’s expected that on that date the final table will be determined, at which time play is halted and the players who make up the final nine (now known as the “November Nine”) will be brought back together in early November to play for the championship.

What do you need to be able to play in an event? Twenty-one or more years on your age meter and of course, the buy-in. If you don’t have the full amount you need for the buy-in, you could always try to satellite your way in. What do you need to win a bracelet? All of the above and a lot of skill, focus, determination and endurance. And oh, yes, a little more than an
average amount of luck.

If you’re even a little serious about poker, then winning one of the many gold bracelets that are awarded each year has to be at the top of your poker wish/want list, so if you decide to play in one of this year’s events, good luck! And if you can’t get to Vegas, you can always watch the events on ESPN with the rest of us.

Poker is one of the most widely played games all over the world, both in online casino rooms and their land-based counterparts. From online poker rooms, to a traditional poker game with a group of your friends gathered around a table, poker is played in many different forms by people from all walks of life. But where did it come from and how did it become the most popular form of online gambling today?

Poker’s history is open to debate. Historians often disagree about its origins, but what they do know is that it has evolved over many centuries from a variety of different games. Most, if not all of these games involved numbered or ranked cards and tricking your opponents by what is now known as bluffing.

In the 12th Century, Egyptians used some of the first incarnations of playing cards as a form of entertainment. In the 16th Century, Persians used “Treasure Cards” to gamble. A Ganjifa deck, which consisted of 96 cards, was used. These decks were often made of paper-thin slices of ivory or wood. The Persians also played a game called “As Nas” which consisted of a deck of 25 cards and involved rounds of betting and hand rankings.

In the 16th century, the Spanish created a game called “Primero” in which each player was dealt three cards and bluffing was a big part of the game. From here the French created a game around the 17th Century, called “Poque” and the Germans created a game called “Pochen”. Bluffing was also a huge part of these casino games as well.

The French then brought the game to Canada and its popularity spread throughout all of North America. Jonathan H. Green wrote in 1834 about “The Cheating Game” that was being played on Mississippi river boats and was supplanting the popular cardsharp game of 3-card monte on the gambling circuit.

By the Wild West era almost every saloon had a poker table and cowboys would gather ‘round each night to play the new popular card game. From this, poker developed into the game it is today.

As of September, 2008:

1. Which poker player has made the most WPT final tables?

2. Which player has the most WPT wins?

3. Who has won the most money at World poker Tour Events?

Please scroll down for the answers.

1. Phil Ivey holds the record of final table appearances with eight.

2. Gus Hansen leads all players with three WPT titles.

3. Daniel Negreanu has won the most money in World Poker Tour events with $5,527,510 won, to date.

11. Who is the only poker player to win a WSOP (World Series of Poker) bracelet, a WPT (World Poker Tour) title and an EPT (European Poker Title) event?

12. In what year did the WSOP award its first million dollar cash prize?

 Scroll down for the answers.

10. Mansour Matloubi. (Hey, no one said they were all going to be easy)

11. Gavin Griffin is the only player to hold all three.

12. One million dollars was first awarded at the WSOP in 1991.

 7. In what year did the World Series of Poker (WSOP) add a Ladies World Championship to the poker menu? 

8. In 1983, this tournament director is credited with coming up the idea of the poker satellite. What was his name?

9. Who was the first WSOP main event winner to qualify through a satellite?

Scroll down for the answers.

7. 1982 was the year a Ladies World Championship was added.

8. Eric Drache was the tournament director.

9. Tom McEvoy won the main event in 1983 by entering through a satillite in the first year they were offered.

5. The World Series of Poker saw many changes in 1978. To start, it was the first year that the main event’s prize money was divided up, with the top five finishers all received a cash payout. It was also the first year a woman entered the WSOP. Who was she?

6. The year was 1979 and it was the first year that the World Series of Poker’s main event was won by an amateur player. What was his name?

Scroll down for the answers.

4. Seven-card stud, razz, deuce-to-seven draw, and a lower buy-in no limit hold’em event.

5. Barbara Freer became the first player to break the sex barrier, taking her place in what had been an all-male poker fraternity.

6. Hal Fowler was the first amateur champion.

This is the first poker trivia post in a series of posts dealing directly with World Series of Poker history.  (WSOP) Let’s start off with an easy one.

1. Who are the only three time winners of the World Series of Poker main event?

2.  The World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event has had four back to back champions. Who were they and what years did they win their back to back championships?

3. The WSOP inaugural world champion did not even win a poker tournament. He was elected “best all-around player” in a vote by his peers after several days of high-stakes card playing. So what year was the WSOP first played as a freeze-out?

Scroll down for the answers.

1. Johnny Moss won the World Series of Poker main event in 1970, 1971, & 1974. Stu Unger also won the event three times, winning in 1980, 1981 and 1997.

2. Along with Johnny Moss and Stu Unger, Doyle Brunson (1976 and 1977) and Johnny Chan (1987 and 1988) were also back to back champions.

3. 1971. In it’s second year, the WSOP was played as a freeze-out. Seven poker players posted a $5,000 entry fee and Johnny Moss won, retaining his title as world champion.