The first event took place on 1 September 2004 with invitations only being extended to ten of the most well-known names on the poker tournament circuit at the time.
Despite public protests from other players that they were lied to as the event was billed as one that one had to qualify for, ESPN and Harrah's newly hired Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Jeffrey Pollack allowed the three to participate.
On March 15, 2010, Harrah's and the World Series of Poker announced that the WSOP Tournament of Champions would return on June 27, 2010 when 27 players competed in a freeroll for $1 million in prize money.
Voted in were: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Dan Harrington, T. J. Cloutier, Sammy Farha, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Antonio Esfandiari.
[1] The remaining two seats were awarded as sponsor exemptions by Harrah's, to Andrew Barton and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.
[1] On June 27, the 27 players began play in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.