The 1997 World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

(WSOP) was held at Binion's Horseshoe

Binion's Horseshoe

Binion's Horseshoe, also known as the Horseshoe Casino or simply The Horseshoe, was a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on what is now the Fremont Street Experience. The casino was named for its founder, Benny Binion and had 366 rooms, three restaurants and a rooftop pool.The...

. Most notably, it was the only WSOP where the final table of the main event took place outdoors, at the Fremont Street Experience

Fremont Street Experience

The Fremont Street Experience is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost 5 blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch," and portions of some other adjacent streets.The attraction is a barrel vault canopy,...

, just outside of Binions. The 1997 WSOP is also famous for marking the comeback of Stu Ungar

Stu Ungar

Stuart Errol "Stu" Ungar was a professional poker and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest Texas hold 'em and gin rummy player of all time....

 who had last won the main event in 1981 and spent much of the previous years abusing cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

.

Preliminary events

Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
$2,000 Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...  Hold'em	Kevin Song Kevin Song Kevin Song is a Korean-American professional poker player from Hacienda Heights, California who started playing poker since 1980 and began playing in poker tournaments since 1994 where he has cashed in many of them throughout his poker career, among them are over 20 cashes at the World Series of...	$397,120	Yuan Lanvin
$1,500 Razz Razz (poker) Razz is a form of stud poker that is normally played for ace-to-five low . The object of Razz is to make the lowest possible five-card hand from the seven cards you are dealt. In Razz, straights and flushes do not count against the player for low, and the ace usually plays low...	Linda Johnson Linda Johnson Linda Johnson is an American professional poker player, journalist and consultant, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was elected into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2011.-Early life:Linda Johnson was born in 1953 in Long Island, New York...	$96,000	Peter Brownstein
$1,500 Limit Omaha	Claude Cohen	$110,400	Frankie Havard
$1,500 Seven Card Stud	Maria Stern Maria Stern Maria Stern is an American professional poker player who won the 1997 World Series of Poker $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event. That same year, her husband Max won two of his three bracelets.- Poker :...	$140,708	Adam Roberts
$1,500 Pot Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...  Omaha w/Rebuys	Chris Bjorin Chris Bjorin Christer "Chris" Björin is a Swedish professional poker player, now based in London, England. Throughout his career, Björin has kept a relatively low profile and avoided many televised poker tournaments and interviews.-Poker:...	$169,200	Michael Davis
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split	Doug Saab	$130,305	Bernie Rosenthal
$2,000 No Limit Betting (poker) In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...  Hold'em	John Cernuto John Cernuto "Miami" John Cernuto is an American professional poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada, specialising in Omaha hi-lo events.-Early years:...	$259,150	Thomas Sparks
$2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split	Scotty Nguyen Scotty Nguyen Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...	$156,950	Mike Matusow Mike Matusow Michael Matusow is an American professional poker player, residing in Henderson, Nevada. Matusow's nickname of "The Mouth" reflects his reputation for trash-talking at the poker table...
$2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Dave Ulliott Dave Ulliott David A. Ulliott , known by the nickname Devilfish, is an English professional gambler and poker player. Formerly, Ulliott was a minor figure in the Hull underworld, but went on to become a World Series of Poker bracelet-winner, and a mainstay of televised poker...	$180,310	Chris Truby
$2,500 Seven Card Stud	Vasilis Lazarou Vasilis Lazarou Vasilis Lazarou is a Greek-American professional poker player who has won two bracelets at the World Series of Poker. He is mainly a seven card stud player but has also cashed in tournaments in other poker games as well...	$169,000	Caesar Como
$2,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys	Matthias Rohnacher	$183,000	Surinder Sunar Surinder Sunar Surinder Sunar is a British professional poker player based in Wolverhampton, who gained fame as a three-time finalist in the Late Night Poker television series....
$2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split	Max Stern Max Stern (poker player) Dr. Max Stern is a professional poker player, pediatrician and author.He is the co-author of Championship Stud, with Tom McEvoy and Linda Johnson. Stern contributed to the sections on Seven-card stud and Seven Card Stud tournament and ring game play.Stern is considered to be a Texas hold 'em,...	$117,000	Artie Cobb Artie Cobb Artie Cobb is an American professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally from New York, Cobb began playing poker there and moved to Las Vegas in 1976.- Poker career :...
$3,000 Limit Hold'em	Louis Asmo Louis Asmo Louis Asmo is a professional poker player from Columbus, Ohio. He won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 1997 in the $3,000 Limit Texas hold 'em event. Asmo's other notable finish came when he lost heads up against David Chiu in the 1999 Tournament of Champions of Poker. In a famous hand of the...	$231,600	Jim Meehan Jim Meehan "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan is an American professional poker player from Burnsville, Minnesota. Prior to his poker career, Meehan worked as a lawyer for many years....
$3,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split	Dean Stonier	$145,200	John Hom
$3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em	Phil Hellmuth Phil Hellmuth Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...	$204,000	Tom McEvoy Tom McEvoy Thomas K. McEvoy is a professional poker player and author. He is best known for his win in the 1983 World Series of Poker main event.-Early life:...
$5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw Draw (poker) A poker player is drawing if they have a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. The hand itself is called a draw or drawing hand. For example, in seven-card stud, if four of a player's first five cards are all spades, but the hand is otherwise weak, they are drawing to...  w/Rebuys	Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (poker player) Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....	$164,250	Lyle Berman Lyle Berman Lyle Arnold Berman is a professional poker player and business executive.-Business:Berman grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota where he graduated in 1964 with a degree in business administration. He then went to work for his father's leather business, Berman Buckskin. ...
$3,000 No Limit Hold'em	Max Stern Max Stern (poker player) Dr. Max Stern is a professional poker player, pediatrician and author.He is the co-author of Championship Stud, with Tom McEvoy and Linda Johnson. Stern contributed to the sections on Seven-card stud and Seven Card Stud tournament and ring game play.Stern is considered to be a Texas hold 'em,...	$237,615	Kathy Liebert Kathy Liebert Kathleen H. Liebert is an American professional poker player.- Poker :Liebert started her professional poker career as a prop player in Colorado...
$5,000 Seven Card Stud	Mel Judah Mel Judah Mel Judah is an Australian professional poker player, also known as "The Silver Fox" . He learned poker at the age of 14 by watching his father play 5-card draw....	$176,000	Vasilis Lazarou
$5,000 Limit Hold'em	Bob Veltri	$224,000	Ed Stevens
$1,000 Ladies' Seven Card Stud	Susie Isaacs Susie Isaacs Susan J. Isaacs is an American professional poker player, who has been based in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1986....	$38,000	Karen Wolfson Karen Wolfson Karen Wolfson is a poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada. She has cashed in various poker tournaments during her career, and has several titles including one World Series of Poker bracelet.-World Series of Poker:...

Main Event

There were 312 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament.

Final table

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Stu Ungar Stu Ungar Stuart Errol "Stu" Ungar was a professional poker and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest Texas hold 'em and gin rummy player of all time....	$1,000,000
2nd	John Strzemp John Strzemp John Strzemp, II is a casino executive and poker player based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. He is the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Wynn Resorts...	$583,000
3rd	Mel Judah Mel Judah Mel Judah is an Australian professional poker player, also known as "The Silver Fox" . He learned poker at the age of 14 by watching his father play 5-card draw....	$371,000
4th	Ron Stanley	$212,000
5th	Bob Walker	$161,120
6th	Peter Bao	$127,200

Other High Finishes

NB: This list is restricted to top 30 finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

Place	Name	Prize
9th	Chris Bjorin Chris Bjorin Christer "Chris" Björin is a Swedish professional poker player, now based in London, England. Throughout his career, Björin has kept a relatively low profile and avoided many televised poker tournaments and interviews.-Poker:...	$48,760
12th	Marsha Waggoner Marsha Waggoner Marsha Waggoner is an American professional poker player who lives in Los Angeles, California.Waggoner has finished in the money at 20 World Series of Poker events as of 2010...	$33,920
13th	Jay Heimowitz Jay Heimowitz Jay B. Heimowitz is an American poker player from Bethel, New York. Heimowitz was one of the original players to help establish the Mayfair Club as a premier poker house....	$29,680
14th	Andrew Black	$29,680
15th	Rod Peate Rod Peate Rod Peate is a poker player from Downey, CaliforniaIn the 1983 World Series of Poker, Peate finished runner-up to Tom McEvoy in the Main Event. Since then, Peate has cashed in the Main Event four times: 1987, 1990, 1997, and 1998....	$29,680
16th	Doyle Brunson Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.Brunson is the first player to...	$25,440
18th	Ken Flaton Ken Flaton Ken Flaton was an American professional poker player who was born in New York City, New York and settled in Henderson, Nevada after serving in the US Army....	$25,440
19th	Paul Clark Paul Clark (poker player) Paul "Eskimo" Clark is an American professional poker player, living in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Life and career:Before turning to poker, Paul Clark was a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he worked as a medic....	$21,200
21st	Phil Hellmuth Phil Hellmuth Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...	$21,200
22nd	Billy Baxter Billy Baxter (poker player) William E. Baxter, Jr. is an American professional poker player and sports bettor. He has won numerous tournament titles in his career as a professional poker player, including seven World Series of Poker bracelets....	$21,200

External Links

• 1997 World Series of Poker at Conjelco.com