World Series of Poker bracelet
The Bracelet ( German band ) is the trophy, each player who wins a tournament of the World Series of Poker in addition to the prize money. Although it is officially awarded only since the World Series of Poker 1976, a bracelet is now equated with a tournament victory.
The quality of the bracelet increased steadily over the years. While the first only had a value of several hundred dollars, today's bracelets are designed by renowned jewelers.
History
Bracelets will be awarded at the World Series only since 1976. The winner of the World Series of Poker 1970, Johnny Moss, only received a silver cup and the money he had earned to the days of the tournament for his triumph.
According to Becky Behnen, the daughter of the World Series of Poker founder Benny Binion, a blank trophy was awarded from 1971 to 1974. Also at the World Series of Poker bracelet in 1975 no, but a trophy was awarded.
Today, the number of bracelets a player is usually the number of tournaments won, even if this holds tournaments before 1976.
There are two special cases in which players received a bracelet without a tournament win: At the World Series of Poker in 1980 and 1981, the Poker Players HD Hale and David "Chip" Reese got gold bracelets in recognition of their outstanding achievements in various poker games. This award, which is most likely to compare today with the Player of the Year Award will not be counted as an official bracelet.
Description
The first band, which was awarded in 1976, is to have "like a flat hammered nugget " looked like. These bracelets had an estimated value of about $ 500. From the 1980s the sole production rights were at the Las Vegas-based jeweler Mordechai Yerushalmi. This partnership came to an end, as Harrah 's Entertainment bought up the rights to the World Series of Poker in 2004.
The bracelets, which were handed over at the World Series of Poker 2006 the winners were made by Frederick Goldman, Inc., during the Swiss watchmaker Corum integrated some watches in the price package. The bracelets in the world champions were equipped with 259 stones and 7.2 carats. In addition, 120 grams of gold and white gold have been implemented. In addition, rubies were used to mimic the map symbols hearts and diamonds. For the spade a sapphire was used as a cross three black diamonds were used.
In 2007, Corum became the sole producer of the bracelets. Some of the winners received both a bracelet and a valuable watch. For the 56 competitions 4 different bracelets were produced. The winners of the "usual" 53 competitions were given the standard version with 53 diamonds. The bracelet for the winner of the women's tournament was equipped with four black diamonds, two rubies and 87 blue sapphires. The trophy, which went to the winner of the $ 50,000 HORSE tournament, Freddy Deeb, had 91 black diamonds and rubies two. The bracelet for the winner of the main tournament, Jerry Yang, featured 120 diamonds on white gold 136 grams heavy. The true value of the bracelets was indeed not announced, however, the typical price for a Corum - clock 1500-30000 U.S. dollars.
Prestige
In the early years, the bracelets no great popular. So was at ten times the tournament winner Doyle Brunson, that it was damn the gem after his first triumph.
Many professional poker players are now of the opinion that there are two types of players - those who have already won a bracelet, and those who are still waiting. The former would belong to an exclusive club. The Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack, stated in 2006 that it was impossible for a player to appreciate a bracelet too. It should be equated with the victory of an ice hockey teams in the Stanley Cup.
Many poker players make the recognition that brings a tournament victory with him in the foreground. So Phil Gordon stated that he the bracelet more than anything else would. Freddy Deeb, though, claimed that he did not appreciate his first bracelet correctly, its current but everything means to him. The actress and bracelet winner Jennifer Tilly was immediately after their victory in 2005 that a bracelet is better than an Oscar.
Records
The current record holder, measured by the number of his tournament victories, the Americans Phil Hellmuth, who was from 1989 to 2012 collecting a total of thirteen bracelets. He is three bracelets before Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. The latter was the first person who won ten tournaments.
Of these three frontrunners Chan is the only one who still has all the bracelets. Hellmuth and Brunson gave on the majority of their bracelets to family and friends.
The five-time world champion Ted Forrest is Hamid Dastmalchi have a bracelet that did not like, bought for $ 1,500. Forrest also reported that three of his bracelets were stolen over the years and he gave one of his daughter.