In the last World Series of Poker before Tennessee native and PokerStars qualifier Chris Moneymaker sparked the poker boom in the summer of 2003, the 2002 WSOP was quite a spectacle. Packed with 35 events ranging from Texas Hold’em to Seven Card Stud to SHOE, the 2002 WSOP attracted the best and brightest poker players from around the world to Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas. One poker player you may have heard of now, but who was a relative unknown then, was Phil Ivey. The composed player known as the “Tiger Woods of Poker” absolutely dominated the competition at the 2002 WSOP. In addition, Robert Varkonyi captured his first WSOP bracelet by winning the $10,000 buy-in Main Event. In the calm before the storm, the 2002 WSOP was anything but ordinary.
The main storyline of the 2002 WSOP has to be the play of Phil Ivey. The young man who grew up in New Jersey won not one, not two, but three bracelets in the 36 event WSOP. You can do the math and see that Ivey won one out of every 12 events, a truly unbelievable feat even with the smaller playing fields. Ivey started off by taking down Event #5, a $1,500 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud event. He beat out a field of 253 entrants and took home $132,000 for his efforts. Sounds easy, right? Think again. He battled Toto Leonidas heads up, who had three cashes of his own during the 2002 WSOP.
Ivey followed up his Limit Seven Card Stud win with victory in a $2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Event (#16). John Juanda was also at the final table. Leonidas placed 13th for $2,960. Ivey would nab another huge payday: $118,440 and, more importantly, his second WSOP bracelet.
In hockey, it’s called a hat trick. In bowling, it’s called a turkey. In golf, scoring three under would be a double eagle. In poker, winning three bracelets in a single WSOP is called “pulling a Phil Ivey.” Ivey captured his third, and final, WSOP title in Event #23, a Limit SHOE event. He defeated bracelet winner Diego Cordovez in the process, pocketing $107,540 more for his win. Ivey would be the talk of Las Vegas for the duration of the 2002 WSOP. He made two other final tables (both limit events, coincidentally), taking home ninth place in a limit Omaha Hi/Lo event and finishing eighth in a limit seven card stud event.
In the $10,000 buy-in Main Event of the 2002 WSOP, Robert Varkonyi beat out a field of 631 players (tiny by today’s standards) for a $2 million first place prize. He defeated Julian Gardner heads up for his first WSOP bracelet. Also making the money in the Main Event were Minh Ly (ninth place for $85,000), Martin De Kniff (13th for $60,000), Ivey (23rd for $40,000), and Brian Haveson (40th for $20,000). The 2002 Main Event included the second to last final table played at Binion’s before its move to the Rio.
Other highlights of the 2002 WSOP included two bracelet wins by poker pro Layne Flack. He beat out Thomas Jacobs in a $2,000 no limit event for $303,880. Also at the final table were Harry Demetriou and JJ Liu. Flack also battled former World Champion Johnny Chan in a $1,500 no limit event, winning his second bracelet and $268,000. His enormous payday solidified Flack’s name as a feared poker pro. It was his second and third bracelets won.
Other bracelet winners in 2002 included Robert Williamson III, Jennifer Harman, Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, Allen Cunningham, and John Cernuto. Legendary poker pros Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth went toe to toe in the $2,500 No Limit Heads Up event with Chan emerging victorious. The final four also included Tom McEvoy and Diego Cordovez in an event many poker fans wish they could experience over and over. Although the payout was just $34,000, Chan being able to defeat Hellmuth was probably more than enough gratification.
In the 2003 World Series, the WSOP would change forever. Chris Moneymaker’s win would propel the WSOP from a cozy card room affair to a goliath poker tournament.