The World Series of Poker is one of the primary reasons that online poker rooms have become so popular. After amateur online qualifiers started taking home millions of dollars in front of millions of televised viewers, there was a noticeable spike in online poker traffic. With more tournaments appearing on television, and more players visiting online poker rooms, the growth of poker on the Internet doesnt look to be subsiding anytime soon.

So whats the story behind the World Series of Poker, and how did this tournament grow from an invitational gathering of poker players to an international multi-million dollar spectacle?

In 1970, Benny Binion hosted an invitational event that featured the best poker players in the world vying for the title of world champion. The first WSOP champ was Johnny Moss. He was voted champ by his peers and his prize was a silver cup.

Events have been added to the WSOP tour ever since. In 2006, there will be 42 events at the WSOP, and the Texas Holdem main event winner will walk away with $10 million. The number of entrants to the main event of the WSOP has increased year by year. What started with only a handful of players in the 70s grew to over 100 players by 1982. By 1991, more than two hundred players entered the tournament annually. By 2001, there were 631 entrants, and in 2003, there 839 heads entered the main event.

Thats when things got crazy. Chris Moneymaker, an amateur player who qualified for the main event after winning a $39 satellite tournament at Poker Stars, shocked the poker world and took home the bracelet that year, along with $2.5 million. His remarkable run of the tournament, coupled with his status as an online amateur, made his multi-million dollar victory that much more memorable.

The following year, the number of entrants jumped from 839 to 2,576, as other amateur hopefuls tried to imitate the success of Moneymaker. Greg Raymer, another online amateur who qualified for the tournament through Poker Stars, bested this huge field of entrants and took home $5 million. In 2005, the number of entrants again spiked, and 5,619 entered the main event in hopes of winning a bracelet and $7.5 million.

Starting in 1972, the buy-in for the no-limit Texas Holdem main event tournament became $10,000. Thomas Amarillo Slim Preston took home $80,000 as the winner that same year. In 2005, more than 1000 online players qualified for the tournament through Poker Stars, and did not have to fork over the $10,000 entry fee. The number of entrants able to enter the main event in 2006 has been capped at 8,000. The winner of the 2006 WSOP main event will take home $10 million.

With the explosion of televised poker tournaments, the popularity of the WSOP looks as if it will continue to skyrocket. What started as an invitational event, has turned into a gargantuan free for all, so much so that we now have limits to the number of people that are able to drop $10,000 to enter the main event. The WSOP, and the recent rags to riches stories associated with the main event, are the primary reasons for the massive growth in online poker rooms. Everyone now wants to get in on the action, win a bracelet, and become a millionaire.