Worth his weight in gold?

Author: Simon Dexter

We were delighted to see big Duncan Pumper Bell win in Vegas during the week and so too were WSOP* organisers who were equally pleased we were not witnessing the 40th world series, merely the 39th. You see, whenever ‘special’ anniversary dates are celebrated (20th, 25th, 30th, 40th etc) the WSOP* has a habit of adding one or two unique prizes to their sought-after bracelet. A number of these are planned for next year, but there were sighs of relief after the big man’s success; organisers were reportedly ‘delighted’ they were not offering any additional bounty which could have cost them a small fortune.

In 1994, to commemorate the silver anniversary of the WSOP*, in addition to prize money of million, champion Russ Hamilton received his own weight in silver. Hamilton was another big guy who weighed in at a hefty 330lb, more than 23 stone. The value of the silver bars he was awarded set the WSOP organisers back an additional ,512.

They’re hoping that the price of gold has dropped in time for the 2019 world championships (the 50th) for if someone of Hamilton’s weight won at the WSOP*’s golden anniversary and had their prize money supplemented in gold bars, at current prices that would cost the organisers a cool .49 million.

*World Series of Poker and WSOP are trademarks of Harrah’s License Company, LLC (”Harrah’s”). Harrah’s does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with Littlewoods Gaming or it’s products, services, promotions or tournaments.

Tags: Las Vegas, Russ Hamilton, WSOP

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 9:46 am and is filed under News & Promotions Blog.