This June 1 will herald the beginning of the 38th World Series of Poker, an event that began officially in 1970, but had its origins some two decades earlier, so the story goes, in a titanic five-month poker showdown between legendary players Nick "the Greek" Dandalos and Johnny Moss, organized by Benny Binion, whose famous Horseshoe casino downtown was home to the WSOP until 2005.
In addition to the first-prize money for the Main Event ($10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas hold 'em), which reached $12 million last year, since 1970 winners of WSOP events have also been awarded a gold bracelet. These much-coveted prizes have become the benchmark of success in the poker world and in 2005, Johnny Chan became the first player to own ten of them. He's since been joined by Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth Jr.
After more than three decades and at the instigation of Harrah's, which now owns the event, last year the champion's bracelet underwent a modernizing redesign by TRITON Jewelry, a division of Frederick Goldman, Inc., of New York. The champion's bracelet -- bestowed only upon the winner of the $10,000 no-limit Texas hold 'em contest -- was crafted from 14-karat white and yellow gold, with full-cut white diamonds. The plaque is handset with another 170 hand-picked diamonds weighing more than six carats, while the bracelet's center features uniquely shaped precious stones to represent the suit designs -- a heart-shaped ruby for the heart suit, a princess cut-shaped ruby for the diamond, a heart-shaped black sapphire for spades, and three round black diamonds for clubs. The bracelet's plaque is supported by roughly 58 grams of solid diamond-cut rope chain. Other championship bracelets followed the same design, but without all the precious stones.
It's hard to place a monetary value on last year's bracelet, since it's a unique design and imbued with so much added prestige value, but Frederick Goldman Inc. confirmed that it's retail value was $11,000.
As far as this year's bling is concerned, a call to Harrah's confirmed that the deal with TRITON will not be extended and that this year a new designer will be creating the WSOP bracelets. At the time of this writing, however, the deal had not yet been sealed, so they weren't naming any names, but expect an announcement imminently.
