Super Bowl of Poker
Encyclopedia
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker
(WSOP) was already drawing larger crowds as many amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."
Six of the thirteen SBOP Main Events and many of the preliminary events were won by players eventually elected to the Poker Hall of Fame
. Numerous events had several future members of the Hall sitting at the final table. For example, the competition at the final table of the 1990 SBOP Main Event included Poker Hall of Famers T.J. Cloutier, Chip Reese
, Stu Ungar
, Jack Keller, and 1992 WSOP
Main Event winner Hamid Dastmalchi
. But it was the 1986 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event that may have had the toughest final three competitors ever. As of 2009, the final three competitors, all members of the Poker Hall of Fame, own a combined twenty-seven WSOP bracelets. Doyle Brunson
, a ten time WSOP bracelet winner, won this event. In order to win, he had to defeat seven time bracelet winner Billy Baxter
and ten time bracelet winner Johnny Chan
.
In addition to winning three WSOP Main Events, Stu Ungar was the only person to win the SBOP Main Event three times. Stu's first major poker tournament was at the 1980 SBOP
. Four years later, having already won two WSOP Main Events, Stu's Main Event victory in 1984
helped establish the SBOP as a premier event while his back to back victories in 1988
and 1989
, gave the SBOP a publicity boost as one of the premier poker tournaments. Prior to Stu's victory, the top professionals had encountered some difficulty at the SBOP. 1982
was noted for the poor performances of many of the games top names. By the end of the second break of the second day of the Main Event, all of the tournament favorites had been knocked out.
Main Event Champion and outspoken ambassador for poker, Amarillo Slim
saw this as an opportunity. "The World Series of Poker was so successful that everybody wanted more than one tournament," he said. Slim called upon his connections and friendships with poker's elite to start a new tournament in February 1979. Slim modeled his SBOP after the WSOP with several events and a $10,000 Texas Hold'em Main Event.
World Poker Tour
commentator Mike Sexton
recalls that "All the big players at the time were there. Amongst the big players [the SBOP] was very popular. They all went." While only 30 people participated in the inaugural event, six of them were future Poker Hall of Fame
rs (Johnny Moss, Bobby Baldwin
, Chip Reese, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts
and Doyle Brunson). It was held at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, but because the Hilton closed its door to poker later that year, the tournament was forced to move to the Sahara in Reno the following year.
After two years at the Sahara in Reno, the casino was acquired by the Hilton Corporation and the SBOP was forced to change its location again. Starting in 1982, the SBOP was held at the Sahara in Lake Tahoe. After a few years at the Sahara in Lake Tahoe, Slim moved the event to Caesar's in Lake Tahoe where it would be played for just one year. The location again changed to Caesar's in Las Vegas, where it would be held for several more years. When Caesar's closed its poker room in 1990, Slim took the best deal he could find. This took the tournament to a small casino the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, Nevada. Slim said that in order to get to the tournament, "You had to fly to Vegas and rent a car and drive 125 miles, and that didn't go over real big." Only 12 people showed up for the 1991 SBOP Main Event. The lack of stability in the tournaments location has been cited as one of the reasons why the tournament ultimately failed.
One of the trademarks of the SBOP, was the personalized gift from Amarillo Slim that the winner received. The first year, the gift was a $3,000 pair of customized cowboy boots, but as the tournament grew so too did the value of the gift. In 1980, a trophy was presented to the winners, "a loving cup that was so enormous it made the gaudy gold bracelets given to the winners at the World Series of Poker look understated."
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 already drawing larger crowds as many amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."
Six of the thirteen SBOP Main Events and many of the preliminary events were won by players eventually elected to the Poker Hall of Fame
Poker Hall of Fame
The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker playing in the United States. Founded and located in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest poker players and to serve...
. Numerous events had several future members of the Hall sitting at the final table. For example, the competition at the final table of the 1990 SBOP Main Event included Poker Hall of Famers T.J. Cloutier, Chip Reese
Chip Reese
David Edward Reese , more commonly known as Chip Reese, was an American professional poker player and gambler from Centerville, Ohio...
, 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....
, Jack Keller, and 1992 WSOP
1992 World Series of Poker
The 1992 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe. Among notable participants was actor Telly Savalas of Kojak fame.-Preliminary events:-Main Event:...
Main Event winner Hamid Dastmalchi
Hamid Dastmalchi
Hamid Reza Dastmalchi is an Iranian-American professional poker player.Dastmalchi won the 1992 World Series of Poker main event, which is his largest tournament win at $1 million...
. But it was the 1986 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event that may have had the toughest final three competitors ever. As of 2009, the final three competitors, all members of the Poker Hall of Fame, own a combined twenty-seven WSOP bracelets. 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...
, a ten time WSOP bracelet winner, won this event. In order to win, he had to defeat seven time bracelet winner 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....
and ten time bracelet winner 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....
.
In addition to winning three WSOP Main Events, Stu Ungar was the only person to win the SBOP Main Event three times. Stu's first major poker tournament was at the 1980 SBOP
1980 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s...
. Four years later, having already won two WSOP Main Events, Stu's Main Event victory in 1984
1984 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s...
helped establish the SBOP as a premier event while his back to back victories in 1988
1988 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s...
and 1989
1989 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s...
, gave the SBOP a publicity boost as one of the premier poker tournaments. Prior to Stu's victory, the top professionals had encountered some difficulty at the SBOP. 1982
1982 Super Bowl of Poker
The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s...
was noted for the poor performances of many of the games top names. By the end of the second break of the second day of the Main Event, all of the tournament favorites had been knocked out.
History
Prior to 1979, the only high dollar tournament a person could enter was the WSOP. 1972 WSOP1972 World Series of Poker
The 1972 World Series of Poker was a series of poker tournaments held during early May 1972 at the Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the third annual installment of the World Series of Poker, and also the second one to feature the freezeout structure...
Main Event Champion and outspoken ambassador for poker, Amarillo Slim
Amarillo Slim
Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. , known as Amarillo Slim, is an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets...
saw this as an opportunity. "The World Series of Poker was so successful that everybody wanted more than one tournament," he said. Slim called upon his connections and friendships with poker's elite to start a new tournament in February 1979. Slim modeled his SBOP after the WSOP with several events and a $10,000 Texas Hold'em Main Event.
World Poker Tour
World Poker Tour
The World Poker Tour is a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting the final table of each tournament. It was started in the United States by attorney/television producer Steven Lipscomb, who served as CEO of WPT Enterprises , the firm that...
commentator Mike Sexton
Mike Sexton
Michael Richard Sexton is an American professional poker player and commentator. He is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.-Early years:...
recalls that "All the big players at the time were there. Amongst the big players [the SBOP] was very popular. They all went." While only 30 people participated in the inaugural event, six of them were future Poker Hall of Fame
Poker Hall of Fame
The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker playing in the United States. Founded and located in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest poker players and to serve...
rs (Johnny Moss, Bobby Baldwin
Bobby Baldwin
Bobby Baldwin is a professional poker player, off-road racer and casino executive. As a poker player, Baldwin is best known as the 1978 world champion, becoming the youngest main event champion at that time....
, Chip Reese, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts
Sailor Roberts
Bryan W. "Sailor" Roberts was an American professional poker player.Before becoming a poker professional Roberts was a rounder and traveled the country looking for games along with other legends such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim...
and Doyle Brunson). It was held at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, but because the Hilton closed its door to poker later that year, the tournament was forced to move to the Sahara in Reno the following year.
After two years at the Sahara in Reno, the casino was acquired by the Hilton Corporation and the SBOP was forced to change its location again. Starting in 1982, the SBOP was held at the Sahara in Lake Tahoe. After a few years at the Sahara in Lake Tahoe, Slim moved the event to Caesar's in Lake Tahoe where it would be played for just one year. The location again changed to Caesar's in Las Vegas, where it would be held for several more years. When Caesar's closed its poker room in 1990, Slim took the best deal he could find. This took the tournament to a small casino the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, Nevada. Slim said that in order to get to the tournament, "You had to fly to Vegas and rent a car and drive 125 miles, and that didn't go over real big." Only 12 people showed up for the 1991 SBOP Main Event. The lack of stability in the tournaments location has been cited as one of the reasons why the tournament ultimately failed.
Prize
While the WSOP uses a flat model wherein there were a fairly large number of contestants making it "in the money", the SBOP used a top heavy formula where the top finishers walked away with a disproportionate share of the cash. For many of the events, the tournament only paid the top three finishers. As the SBOP grew, the number of winners increased, but the prize structure always remained top heavy. From 1985-1989, there were enough participants that the Main Event always paid at least the top seven players. Despite the top heavy pay-out structure, the WSOP Main Event always paid at least twice the amount as the SBOP Main Event during the same year.One of the trademarks of the SBOP, was the personalized gift from Amarillo Slim that the winner received. The first year, the gift was a $3,000 pair of customized cowboy boots, but as the tournament grew so too did the value of the gift. In 1980, a trophy was presented to the winners, "a loving cup that was so enormous it made the gaudy gold bracelets given to the winners at the World Series of Poker look understated."
Key
| * | Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame Poker Hall of Fame The Poker Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional poker playing in the United States. Founded and located in Las Vegas, Nevada, it was created in 1979 by Benny Binion, the owner of the Horseshoe Casino, to preserve the names and legacies of the world's greatest poker players and to serve... . |
| † | Denotes player who known to be deceased. |
| Year | The year of the SBOP tournament. |
| Winner | The person who won the Main Event, number in are the number of WSOP bracelets the person acquired. |
| Prize (US$) | Prize prize money for the SBOP Main Event. |
| Entrants | This column indicates the number of players in that year's Main Event. The number in the are the number of paid prizes. |
| Location | This column represents where the tournament was held. |
| Results | This column provides a link to a breakdown of all events for that year. |
| Ref. | References |
Results
| Image | Year | Winner | Prize | Entrants | Location | Results | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | George Huber | $150,000 | 30 (7) | Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, NV | Results 1979 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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1980 | Gabe Kaplan Gabe Kaplan Gabriel W. "Gabe" Kaplan is an American comedian, actor, poker commentator, and professional poker player.He was born in Brooklyn, New York... |
$190,000 | ca 25 (2) | Sahara, Reno NV | Results 1980 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1981 | Junior Whited | $130,000 | 26 (3) | Sahara, Reno NV | Results 1981 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1982 | Ed Stevens | $195,000 | ca 51 (4) | Sahara, Lake Tahoe | Results 1982 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1983 | Hans "Tuna" Lund Hans Lund Hans J. "Tuna" Lund was an American professional poker player, based in Sparks, Nevada, who won two World Series of Poker bracelets, and was the runner-up at the 1990 WSOP Main Event.-Poker Career:... † (4) |
$275,000 | ca 50 (7) | Sahara, Lake Tahoe | Results 1983 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1984 | 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.... †* (5) |
$275,000 | ca. 50 (7) | Results 1984 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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1985 | Mickey Appleman Mickey Appleman Mickey L. Appleman is an American professional poker player, sports bettor, and sports handicapper now living in Fort Lee, New Jersey... (4) |
$205,000 | 41 (7) | Results 1985 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1986 | Billy Walter | $175,000 | ca 52 (9) | Results 1986 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1987 | Jack Keller†* (3) | $220,000 | ca 44 (7) | Caesars Las Vegas | Results 1987 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1988 | 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.... †* (5) |
$210,000 | 42 (7) | Caesars Las Vegas | Results 1988 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1989 | 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.... †* (5) |
$205,000 | 41 (2) | Caesars Las Vegas | Results 1989 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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1990 | T.J. Cloutier* (6) | $240,000 | 48 (7) | Caesars Las Vegas | Results 1990 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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| 1991 | Jack Keller†* (3) | $52,250 | 12 (3) | Flamingo Laughlin | Results 1991 Super Bowl of Poker The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s... |
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