The Place That Made Poker Famous

Written by Tom L | Friday, December 19th, 2008

Binion’s Gambling Hall and Casino gets a state of the art makeover. The new poker room keeps the nastalgia and history that put this casino on the map, but offers some well recieved luxuries as well.

Binion’s Gambling Hall and Casino calls itself “the place that made poker famous” and not without reason. But more on that later. The casino now has a state of the art poker room in place of the lounge that has seen some of the greatest poker action in the world. And amidst the elegance and luxury of the new room the nostalgia has not been forgotten.

Brad Thomte is the Poker Room Manager at Binion’s. He said that every item in the 10-table room is new. No existing table or equipment has been used. And the entire room has been structured on the recommendations of the people who matter the most – the players. The room is spacious and yet private. Eleven plasma television sets are the last word in luxury. And excellent food service is on offer. And because it is a poker room there is poker on offer as well. $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em, $3/$6 and $2/$4 Limit Hold’em, and $4/$8 H.O.R.S.E. are popular at the tables. But Thomte will arrange any game that the players request. The history of poker is brought alive by black and white photographs of events and personalities. Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson, Jack Binion, Steve Wynn, Bobby Baldwin, Stu Ungar, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder and Jack Straus bless the current generation of poker players some of who hope someday to be placed beside the legends. As Thomte put it, “We want to give the players the comfort they deserve with the historic perspective that only Binion’s can provide.”

Now to how Binion’s made poker famous. In 1969 Benny Binion organized an invitational tournament called the Texas Gambling Reunion at the Holiday Hotel and Casino in Reno. The concept of the World Series of Poker was born there. In 1970 the inaugural WSOP event was held at Binion’s or as it was then known as Binion’s Horseshoe. WSOP grew from strength to strength under the guidance of the Binion family. And As WSOP grew so did poker and so did Binion’s. From 1997 Binion’s experienced a downturn because of a split in the family. This period also saw a decline in poker. Then in 2003 Chris Moneymaker came from nowhere and won the WSOP Main Event and the poker world has not looked back since. History was once again made at Binion’s. In 2004 Harrah’s purchased Binion’s. They kept the rights to WSOP and sold the casino to MTR Gaming. In 2004 WSOP was held at the Harrah’s owned Rio Hotel and Casino. In 2005 Las Vegas was celebrating the centennial of its founding. Harrah’s very graciously held the finals of the Main Event at Binion’s for the last time to honor the place that made poker famous.

The Place That Made Poker Famous

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