The history of the World Series of Poker started when poker player Nicholas “the Greek” Dandolos approached Benny Binion in the summer of 1949 with an curious request: defy the best poker player in a poker marathon. Binion agreed to organize a game between Dandolos and renowned Johnny Moss on one condition: the game would be played in public.

The poker marathon lasted five months and the players only stopped to sleep. Johnny Moss was the winner of the “greatest game in town” and took home approximately $2 million dollars. When Greeek lost the last poker hand, he stood up, approached Moss and said “I have to let you go”, and then he went to sleep.

Those five months were extremely important in the history of poker and Benny Binion. He noticed the large number of people who gathered at the casino door, just to watch the poker tournament. This happened not just one day but during the whole competition.

In 1970 Benny Binion organized the “battle of poker giants”, which is currently known as the World Series of Poker. In the eighties, the popularity of the poker competition had already grown and nowadays thousand of poker players sign up to play poker every year.