Poker has a rich and storied history, dating back for as long as people remember. In its new “This Month In Poker History” series, The Sporting News will break open the poker time capsule and reveal some memorable moments during a specific month of the past. First up is a look at what happened in poker history during the month of September.
MORE: Stream the WSOP on PokerGO | Complete World Poker Tour Schedule
Rounders Is Released
If you’re reading this, then you’ve likely seen the classic poker movie Rounders. What you might not know is that the movie was released in the month of September, back in 1998.
Written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, Rounders is a drama taking place in the underground poker scene in New York City and the surrounding areas. Matt Damon stars in the film as Mike McDermott, alongside Edward Norton who plays Lester Murphy aka “Worm.” Worm gets himself into trouble, and McDermott takes it upon himself to use his poker skills to save the day.
Rounders became quite the cult classic within the poker world, and played an important role in spreading the game of poker — specifically no-limit Texas hold’em — to the masses. For Damon, his poker playing didn’t just take place on screen. He also competed at the World Series of Poker. Take a look at the best WSOP hands from Matt Damon in this video.
PokerStars Is Founded
PokerStars, one of the largest online poker platforms in the world, launched in the month of September. On September 11, 2001, players were allowed to virtually compete at the poker tables in play-money games before real money was offered two months later.
Now owned by Flutter Entertainment, which also owns FanDuel, TVG Network, and more, PokerStars was founded as a private company by Isai Scheinberg. Scheinberg would later exit with a sale to Amaya Inc. in 2014.
Today, PokerStars remains one of the largest online poker sites in the world, offering a wide variety of online poker games covering tournaments and cash games. It’s home to both the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) events and launched successful live events such as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) and European Poker Tour (EPT).
First-Ever WSOP Europe Takes Place
Las Vegas isn’t the only place that holds World Series of Poker events. The WSOP truly is a global brand and international expansion began in 2007 with the first-ever WSOP Europe in September of that year.
The 2007 WSOP Europe took place at the Empire Casino in London, England, and featured three tournaments - £2,500 H.O.R.S.E., £5,000 Pot Limit Omaha, and £10,000 Main Event. The series ran September 6 through September 16, with the 2007 WSOP Europe Main Event starting on September 10.
In the £10,000 Main Event, a field of 362 entries built a £3,676,990 prize pool, and it was Norwegian Annette Obrestad taking home the title the day before she turned 19 years old. Obrestad topped John Tabatabai in heads-up play to win the first-ever WSOP Europe Main Event and the £1,000,000 top prize that came with it.
Cary Katz Wins Super High Roller Bowl London
In September 2019, Cary Katz won Super High Roller Bowl London at Aspers Casino in Stratford, England. The event had a buy-in of £252,500 and a prize pool of £3,000,000 was on offer. Katz topped Ali Imsirovic in heads-up play to take home the £2,100,000 first-place prize. At time of writing, the score remained Katz’s largest live tournament payday.
Inaugural Poker Masters Is Held
The 2022 Poker Masters is right around the corner, scheduled to start on September 21. Five years ago is when Poker Masters got its start, as the inaugural event was held in September 2017 in Las Vegas.
The 2017 Poker Masters featured five events. The first four had buy-ins of $50,000, with the finale being a $100,000 buy-in affair. German Steffen Sontheimer won the second event for $900,000 and the final event for $1,512,000 en route to earning the first-ever Poker Masters Purple Jacket. Sontheimer also finished fourth in the first event for $204,000 and fifth in the fourth event for $117,000.
Other event winners from the first-ever Poker Masters were Nick Schulman (Event #1 - $918,000), Bryn Kenney (Event #3 - $960,000), and Brandon Adams (Event #4 - $819,000).
Famous Poker Birthdays In September
There are some very notable poker players who were born in September. Actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly was born September 16, 1958, and her longtime partner Phil Laak was born September 8, 1972.
VIDEO: Watch Jennifer Tilly pick up a huge pot on High Stakes Poker
Stu Ungar, a three-time winner of the WSOP Main Event, shares a birthday with Laak, born September 8, 1953.
Three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner and three-time Super High Roller Bowl winner Justin Bonomo was born September 30, 1985.
Some other big poker September birthdays:
| Isaac Haxton | September 6, 1985 |
| Jean-Robert Bellande | September 17, 1970 |
| Nick Schulman | September 18, 1984 |
| Mike Sexton | September 22, 1947 |
| Ted Forrest | September 24, 1964 |
| Josh Arieh | September 26, 1974 |
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