World Series of Poker set to begin

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

The 33rd annual World Series of Poker is scheduled to begin next week at Binion's Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas.

This year's tournament will feature 37 separate events, up from 27 a year ago. It will conclude May 20-24 with the championship, a five-day, no limit Texas hold 'em event. The buy-in for that event is $10,000, though many players win entries into the game by winning "satellite" tournaments.

More than 600 participated in last year's championship game, and a total of $6.13 million in prize money was awarded -- including a top prize of $1.5 million. Event organizers are projecting 750 to 800 players will participate in this year's championship, with the top prize reaching a record $2 million.

Last year's tournament had 5,300 participants and a total prize pool of $17.75 million; this year's prize pool is expected to exceed $20 million.

"So far it looks like it will be bigger and better than last year," Becky Behnen, owner of Binion's, said. "We've been seeing more card rooms in California doing satellite tournaments, so that increases the total."

Prior to the championship game, a new event will include "Gold Bracelet Match Play," a game open only to previous winners of a World Series event.

This year's tournament will also branch away from poker for the first time -- next week's events include world championships of hearts and gin. The first poker game in the tournament will be a casino employees' game April 19.

"It'll be interesting to see how it (the hearts and gin tournaments) goes," Behnen said. "It's right before taxes, a slow week, so we just kind of inserted it in."