Some bracelets are considered retroactively rewarded as they were not officially used as prizes until 1976. The following chip uses apply to bracelet events only.
The 1987 WSOP Main Event had 152 entrants, the 2018 Main Event had 7,874. All players said they never would have imagined the tournament sizes they were witnessing. In interviews in the 1980s, players from the early 70s like Amarillo Slim and Puggy Pearson were asked if they could have imagined tournament fields would grow to the sizes they had. In 1973, when asked how big the Main Event could be, Binion speculated it could eventually grow to over 50 players. The evolution to the modern WSOP as we know it was not predicted by anyone involved in its early stages. The idea was to attract patrons to his casino to watch the best poker players in the world battle it out on the felts. Barnum style grand spectacle instead of the massive poker tournament we know of it today. Ever the showman, the event was intended by Binion to be more of a P.T. After attending the lone held 1969 Texas Gamblers Reunion which assembled some of the most infamous gamblers alive at the time, he decided to host his own event at his family owned casino. The World Series of Poker was the brainchild of casino legend and old school cowboy Benny Binion. WSOP Chip Usage History – Binion’s Horseshoe
