Binion's: Where the World Series of Poker Was Born

Benny Binion was a Texas gambler who wore gold coins for buttons and opened the Horseshoe in Las Vegas in nineteen fifty-one with a simple philosophy: treat players well and they will come back. He laid carpet and installed air conditioning when neither was standard downtown, offered the highest table limits on Fremont Street, and arranged free rides to the airport. But his most lasting innovation came in nineteen seventy, when he gathered a handful of the world's best poker players for an informal showdown that evolved into the World Series of Poker.

For thirty-five years, Binion's Horseshoe hosted every championship. The winner was decided by a vote of participants the first year, then by a freeze-out tournament format that became the global standard. Binion's remains open on Fremont Street, still running poker.