The first World Series of Poker was contested in 1970 in Las Vegas. There were less than 20 players competing.
The 2005 World Series of Poker brought together 6,000 players from over 40 countries at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, competing for an estimated prize pot of $60 million. (£35 million).
Recent celebrity entries for poker torunanamnts include Hollywood star James Woods, Tobey Maguire and Matt Damon.
The World Series of Poker Tournamant is the richest poker tournament in the world, where the winner received $7.5 million in July 2005.
Today a large portion of all the entrants in the World Series of Poker Tournamnets Finals have secured their place through online poker competitions.
In 2003 Chris Moneymaker, won his seat at the tournamnts through a $39 internet tournament, he had never entered a casino. After ten days play Moneymaker was $2 million dollars richer and the poker world had introduced a new breed of online gambling champions.
There over 300 online poker sites in the UK offering the chance to play poker live online.
There are 1.5 million regular poker players registered in the UK.
The record for the number of registered players in a live poker event has already been broken. The previous record, set at last year's world series, was 14,054.
