Las Vegas Poker Room Guide

Las Vegas Poker Rooms

Also See: California Card Club Poker Rooms

World Series of Poker

The first tournament was held in 1970 at the Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. This is a list of the World Series of Poker champions since the first tournament in 1970...

  • 1970: Johnny Moss | Unknown Prize
    Note: The one and only time the winner was awarded by peer vote.
  • 1971: Johnny Moss | $30,000
  • 1972: Amarillo Slim Preston | $80,000
  • 1973: Puggy Pearson | $130,000
  • 1974: Johnny Moss | $160,000
  • 1975: Sailor Roberts | $210,000
  • 1976: Doyle Brunson | $220,000
  • 1977: Doyle Brunson | $340,000
  • 1978: Bobby Baldwin | $210,000
  • 1979: Hal Fowler | $270,000
  • 1980: Stu Ungar | $385,000
  • 1981: Stu Ungar | $375,000
  • 1982: Jack Strauss | $520,000
  • 1983: Tom McEvoy | $580,000
  • 1984: Jack Keller | $660,000
  • 1985: Bill Smith | $700,000
  • 1986: Berry Johnston | $570,000
  • 1987: Johnny Chan | $625,000
  • 1988: Johnny Chan | $700,000
  • 1989: Phil Hellmuth | $755,000
    Note: Youngest player to win first place.
  • 1990: Mansour Matloubi | $895,000
  • 1991: Brad Daugherty | $1,000,000
    Note: First one million dollar prize.
  • 1992: Hamid Dastmalchi | $1,000,000
  • 1993: Jim Bechtel | $1,000,000
  • 1994: Russ Hamilton | $1,000,000
  • 1995: Dan Harrington | $1,000,000
  • 1996: Huck Seed | $1,000,000
  • 1997: Stu Ungar | $1,000,000
  • 1998: Scotty Nguyen | $1,000,000
  • 1999: J.J. Noel Furlong | $1,000,000
  • 2000: Chris "Jesus" Ferguson - $1,500,000
  • 2001: Carlos Mortensen | $1,500,000
  • 2002: Robert Varkonyi | $2,000,000
  • 2003: Chris Moneymaker | $2,500,000
  • 2004: Greg Raymer | $5,000,000
  • 2005: Joe Hachem | $7,500,000
  • 2006: Jamie Gold | $12,000,000
    Note: As of 2019, the largest prize in the history of the tournament.
  • 2007: Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 | 8D 8C
  • 2008: Peter Eastgame | $9,152,416 | AD 5S
  • 2009: Joe Cada | $8,574,649 | 9D 9C
  • 2010: Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,138 | AS JH
  • 2011: Pius Heinz | $8,715,638 | AS KC
  • 2012: Greg Merson | $8,531,853 | KD 5D
  • 2013: Ryan Riess | $8,359,531 | AH KH
  • 2014: Martin Jacobson | $10,000,000 | 10H 10D
  • 2015: Joe McKeehen | $7,683,346 | AH 10D
  • 2016: Qui Nguyen | $8,005,310 | KC 10C
  • 2017: Scott Blumstein | $8,150,000 | AH 2D
  • 2018: John Cynn | $8,800,000 | KC JC
  • 2019: Hossein Ensan | $10,000,000 | KH KC

Poker Terms

Limit Poker: Set limits such as 2-4 indicate the maximum you can bet. The first number usually represents when you can bet on the first 2 rounds of betting and the second number usually represents how much you can bet on the later rounds of betting.

No Limit: You can bet any amount up to the amount of chips that you have on the table on any given card.

Pot Limit: You can only bet the amount that's in the pot.

Blinds: A forced bet (usually in Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em) that starts the betting action.

Kill Pot: When someone wins two pots in a row, the limits of the game are doubled and the person that won the pots must post a large blind regardless of what position he is on the table.

1/2 Kill Pot: Same as Kill Pot but limits only increase by 50%.

Poker Tournaments: When players pay an entry fee and receive tournament chips to play against other players until most if not all of the players are eliminated. The number of players that are awarded money varies from one tournament to another.

Tournament Re-Buys: When you buy additional tournament chips once you run out of your original tournament chips you purchased with your entry fee.

Tournament Add Ons: When you buy additional tournament chips at a predetermined time regardless of how much you already have in tournament chips.

Tournament Freeze Out: Tournaments that don't allow rebuys.

Tournament Satellites: Smaller limit tournaments that award the winner of the tournament a seat at a higher limit tournament in the future.

In Texas Hold'em poker, each player is dealt 2 hole cards. Here are a few nick names for those cards:

  • Ace, King - Big Slick
  • Ace, King (suited) - Big Slick in a Suit
  • Ace, Queen - Little Slick
  • Ace, Ace - Pocket Rockets or Bullets
  • King, King - Pocket Cowboys or Kangaroos
  • Queen, Queen - Pocket Ladies or Siegfried and Roy
  • Jack, Jack - Hooks
  • Jack, Ace - Jack Ass
  • Ten, Four - Over and Out
  • Nine, Five - Dolly Parton
  • Seven, Six - Union Oil
  • Five, Ten - Woolworth
  • Four, Four - Magnum
  • Two, Two - Ducks
  • 10 of Spades and 2 of Spades - Doyle Brunson

Nick names for poker hands in other games such as 5 card draw:

  • A Pair of Aces and a Pair of Eights - Dead Man's Hand
  • A Pair of Jacks and a Pair of Fives - Motown Hand
  • Four Kings - The Four Horsemen
  • Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five - Bicycle or Wheel
  • Ace, Two, Three, Four, Five (suited) - Steel Wheel