1972 World Series of Poker
Encyclopedia
The 1972 World Series of Poker (WSOP) 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. In comparison with the previous year's series
, the number of events was cut back and the buy-ins were raised, resulting in one preliminary event and the Main Event both having the same buy-in of $10,000 (equals about $54,000 in 2011 U.S. dollars). The preliminary event featured five-card stud
poker and was won by Bill Boyd, the same man who won the 1971 five-card stud preliminary event. The previous years' double champion Johnny Moss
was defeated early in the main event and Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston
went on to win the tournament after a series of deals.
The preliminary event had a very small turnout, featuring only last year's five-card stud champion Bill Boyd, and an unknown player. The event was played out on May 7, and Boyd relieved the other player of his money, cashing for $20,000. Boyd went on to win two more five-card stud events in 1973
and 1974
until five-card stud was dropped from the WSOP due to waning popularity.
Twelve people were slated to appear at the main event, but due to reportedly attractive side cash game
s only eight of them appeared at the tables on May 11, the date the event was scheduled to run. Half of each player's $10,000 buy-in was covered by Benny Binion
, who was looking to gain publicity from the event and thus draw bigger crowds into Binion's Horseshoe. The winner of previous two WSOP main events, Johnny Moss
, took an early lead in the tournament, but soon ended up eliminated. Moss hit a set of deuces with 2-2 on a 9-7-2 flop and after a ten came on the turn, he got all-in versus Doyle Brunson's
pocket aces. However, Brunson hit a third ace on the river to win the hand. Moss had almost no chips left and got eliminated shortly afterwards.
With four players left on the second day of the tournament, Amarillo Slim
, the would-be champion, was very short-stacked with less than 2,000 chips. Beating Brunson's pocket tens with trip 5s on a 5-5-3 flop, Slim made his way back into the game and soon saw Jack Straus
eliminated. With only three players (William "Puggy" Pearson
, Brunson and Slim) remaining, Jack Binion
led news reporters and a television crew to the poker table. At that point, Brunson and Pearson announced they did not want to win the event. Brunson was not only afraid of not being let in on future lucrative cash game
s if he were to be pronounced the world champion of poker, but also of a tax
audit
. The players struck a deal whereupon Pearson and Brunson would let Slim win the tournament, but in return they would take the cash value of their current chip stacks from Slim's prize.
Jack Binion was not happy with the outcome, as players openly changed their play to let Slim win. He held a meeting with the players in the Sombrero room of the Binion's Horseshoe, demanding that players resume fair play. Brunson laid out his reasons and Binion allowed him to withdraw from the tournament and cash his chips, while the reason for Brunson's departure was reported to be an upset stomach. The sum that Brunson received in the end is disputed; some sources lay out figures as low as $20,000, while according to Des Wilson
, Brunson might have left the tournament with as much as half the prizepool.
After Brunson left, Pearson and Slim resumed play. According to Slim, Pearson was not content with the deal and was still trying to win the tournament, but in the end Jack Binion reportedly persuaded him to soft-play Slim and thus throw the match for publicity reasons. In the final hand, Pearson raised to 700 chips with 6-6 (of unknown suits) and Slim called with . A flop of K-8-8 was seen. Slim pushed his 51,000-chip stack in the pot and Pearson promptly called, both players getting all their chips in the pot. Turn and river (poker) were a deuce and an eight, respectively, and Slim won with a bigger full house. However, in the end, according to The Hendon Mob
, Slim walked away from the table with winnings of mere $15,000, only three times his investment.
The Tonight Show
on June 12 the same year. Slim later made ten more appearances on The Tonight Show, an appearance on CBS's
60 Minutes
, and a cameo
in the 1974 film California Split
. His life story inspired the Kenny Rogers's
song The Gambler
. Slim's large media exposure contributed to the recognizance of the World Series of Poker and the popularization of poker in mainstream U.S. media and popular culture. The next year's WSOP
was covered by CBS
and over 7,000 newspaper articles were written about it. Even the Time
magazine featured an article on Amarillo Slim with an excerpt about WSOP and rules of poker.
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
tournaments
Poker tournament
A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table , and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tables...
held during early May 1972 at the 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...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. It was the third annual installment of the 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...
, and also the second one to feature the freezeout structure. In comparison with the previous year's series
1971 World Series of Poker
The 1971 World Series of Poker was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe during May 1–15, 1971. This was only the second installment of the World Series of Poker, but unlike at the 1970 event, freezeout tournaments were played to decide the winner of the main title. The...
, the number of events was cut back and the buy-ins were raised, resulting in one preliminary event and the Main Event both having the same buy-in of $10,000 (equals about $54,000 in 2011 U.S. dollars). The preliminary event featured five-card stud
Five-card stud
Five-card stud is the earliest form of the card game stud poker, originating during the American Civil War, but is less commonly played today than many other more popular poker games. It is still a popular game in parts of the world, especially in Finland where a specific variant of five-card stud...
poker and was won by Bill Boyd, the same man who won the 1971 five-card stud preliminary event. The previous years' double champion Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of his peers in 1970, He also twice won the current tournament format of the WSOP Main Event in...
was defeated early in the main event and Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston
Amarillo Slim
Thomas Austin Preston, Jr. , known as Amarillo Slim, is an American professional gambler known for his poker skills and proposition bets...
went on to win the tournament after a series of deals.
Preliminary event
Event | Winner | Prize | Runner-up |
---|---|---|---|
$10,000 Limit Five-Card Stud Five-card stud Five-card stud is the earliest form of the card game stud poker, originating during the American Civil War, but is less commonly played today than many other more popular poker games. It is still a popular game in parts of the world, especially in Finland where a specific variant of five-card stud... |
Bill Boyd | $20,000 | Unknown |
The preliminary event had a very small turnout, featuring only last year's five-card stud champion Bill Boyd, and an unknown player. The event was played out on May 7, and Boyd relieved the other player of his money, cashing for $20,000. Boyd went on to win two more five-card stud events in 1973
1973 World Series of Poker
The 1973 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe. This year marked the first year a single player won more than one preliminary World Series of Poker event.-Preliminary events:-Final table:...
and 1974
1974 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Final table:...
until five-card stud was dropped from the WSOP due to waning popularity.
Main event
Twelve people were slated to appear at the main event, but due to reportedly attractive side cash game
Cash game
Cash games, also sometimes referred to as ring games or live action games, are poker games played with "real" chips and money at stake, usually with no predetermined end time, with players able to enter and leave as they see fit...
s only eight of them appeared at the tables on May 11, the date the event was scheduled to run. Half of each player's $10,000 buy-in was covered by Benny Binion
Benny Binion
Lester Ben "Benny" Binion was a well-known American casino owner, mobster, poker enthusiast, and convicted felon.-Early history:...
, who was looking to gain publicity from the event and thus draw bigger crowds into Binion's Horseshoe. The winner of previous two WSOP main events, Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of his peers in 1970, He also twice won the current tournament format of the WSOP Main Event in...
, took an early lead in the tournament, but soon ended up eliminated. Moss hit a set of deuces with 2-2 on a 9-7-2 flop and after a ten came on the turn, he got all-in versus Doyle Brunson's
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...
pocket aces. However, Brunson hit a third ace on the river to win the hand. Moss had almost no chips left and got eliminated shortly afterwards.
With four players left on the second day of the tournament, 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...
, the would-be champion, was very short-stacked with less than 2,000 chips. Beating Brunson's pocket tens with trip 5s on a 5-5-3 flop, Slim made his way back into the game and soon saw Jack Straus
Jack Straus
Jack Straus was an American professional poker player. He is best known for winning the poker world championship in 1982....
eliminated. With only three players (William "Puggy" Pearson
Puggy Pearson
Walter Clyde Pearson was an American professional poker player. He is best known as the 1973 World Series of Poker World Champion.-Early years:...
, Brunson and Slim) remaining, Jack Binion
Jack Binion
Jack Binion is an American casino operator. Jack is the son of casino magnate Benny Binion and worked for his father at Binion's Horseshoe, a casino and hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.- Biography :...
led news reporters and a television crew to the poker table. At that point, Brunson and Pearson announced they did not want to win the event. Brunson was not only afraid of not being let in on future lucrative cash game
Cash game
Cash games, also sometimes referred to as ring games or live action games, are poker games played with "real" chips and money at stake, usually with no predetermined end time, with players able to enter and leave as they see fit...
s if he were to be pronounced the world champion of poker, but also of a tax
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
audit
Audit
The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation.- Accounting...
. The players struck a deal whereupon Pearson and Brunson would let Slim win the tournament, but in return they would take the cash value of their current chip stacks from Slim's prize.
Jack Binion was not happy with the outcome, as players openly changed their play to let Slim win. He held a meeting with the players in the Sombrero room of the Binion's Horseshoe, demanding that players resume fair play. Brunson laid out his reasons and Binion allowed him to withdraw from the tournament and cash his chips, while the reason for Brunson's departure was reported to be an upset stomach. The sum that Brunson received in the end is disputed; some sources lay out figures as low as $20,000, while according to Des Wilson
Des Wilson
Des Wilson is a New Zealand born British campaigner, political activist, businessman, sports administrator, author and Poker player. He was instrumental in the 1960s as a founder of the pivotal British homelessness charity Shelter and was for a while an activist in, and President of, the British...
, Brunson might have left the tournament with as much as half the prizepool.
After Brunson left, Pearson and Slim resumed play. According to Slim, Pearson was not content with the deal and was still trying to win the tournament, but in the end Jack Binion reportedly persuaded him to soft-play Slim and thus throw the match for publicity reasons. In the final hand, Pearson raised to 700 chips with 6-6 (of unknown suits) and Slim called with . A flop of K-8-8 was seen. Slim pushed his 51,000-chip stack in the pot and Pearson promptly called, both players getting all their chips in the pot. Turn and river (poker) were a deuce and an eight, respectively, and Slim won with a bigger full house. However, in the end, according to The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:* Joe Beevers* Barny Boatman* Ross Boatman* Ram VaswaniThe name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000....
, Slim walked away from the table with winnings of mere $15,000, only three times his investment.
Aftermath
After winning the tournament, Amarillo Slim was invited to Johnny Carson'sJohnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
on June 12 the same year. Slim later made ten more appearances on The Tonight Show, an appearance on CBS's
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, and a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the 1974 film California Split
California Split
California Split is a 1974 film directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould and George Segal as a pair of gamblers. It was the first non-Cinerama movie to use eight-track stereo sound.-Plot:...
. His life story inspired the Kenny Rogers's
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
song The Gambler
The Gambler (song)
"The Gambler" is the title of a song written by Don Schlitz and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in November 1978 as the title track from his album The Gambler which won him the Grammy award for best male country vocal performance in 1980. Bobby Bare had...
. Slim's large media exposure contributed to the recognizance of the World Series of Poker and the popularization of poker in mainstream U.S. media and popular culture. The next year's WSOP
1973 World Series of Poker
The 1973 World Series of Poker was held at Binion's Horseshoe. This year marked the first year a single player won more than one preliminary World Series of Poker event.-Preliminary events:-Final table:...
was covered by CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and over 7,000 newspaper articles were written about it. Even the Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine featured an article on Amarillo Slim with an excerpt about WSOP and rules of poker.