1981 Super Bowl of Poker


The Super Bowl of Poker was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world during the 1980s. While the World Series of Poker was already drawing larger crowds as more and more amateurs sought it out, the SBOP "was an affair limited almost exclusively to pros and hard-core amateurs."
Prior to 1979, the only high dollar tournament a person could enter was the WSOP. 1972 WSOP 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 the February 1979. Slim modelled his SBOP after the WSOP with several events and a $10,000 Texas Hold'em Main Event.
One of the principal differences between the WSOP and the SBOP was the prize structure. The WSOP's prize structure was flat ensuring more people received smaller pieces of the prize pool. The SBOP typically used a 60-30-10 payout structure. In other words, only the first three places received money and generally in the ratio of 60% to first place, 30% to second place, and 10% to third. This payment schedule predominated the SBOP for the first 5 years of the event, but as the event grew the number of payouts increased while keeping the payout schedule top heavy.

1981 Tournament

The 1981 SBOP was one of the most anticipated poker events in the 1980s. In 1980, Welcome Back Kotter's lead actor, Gabe Kaplan had won the SBOP Main Event. His victory proved that anybody could play poker. Because of his popularity as an actor, people were eager to see how the returning actor would fare in the 1981 event.
Billy Baxter, a Poker Hall of Famer won the Ace-to-Five Lowball event while fellow Hall of Famer Johnny Moss won the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event.

Key

Event 1: $ 10,000 No Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stJunior Whitehed$130000
2ndPerry Green$78000
3rdJay Heimowtz$52000

Event 2: Ace-to-Five Lowball

PlaceNamePrize
1stBill Baxter$26400
2ndDon Rowe$13200
3rdHal Fowler$4400

Event 3: $ 400 Ladies Seven Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stRuth Godfrey$7440
2ndJane Drache$3720
3rdShelly Cory$1200

Event 4: $ 1,000 Ace to Five Lowball

PlaceNamePrize
1stJim McDaniel$23400
2ndKen Smith$11700
3rdSeymour Leibowitz$3900

Event 6: $ 1,000 Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stDavid Chew$40200
2ndGlenn Garrod$20100
3rdDon Zewin$6700

Event 7: $ 5,000 Seven Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stJohnny Moss*$57000
2ndPat Callihan$28500
3rdRodney Pardey$9500

Event 8: $ 1,000 Razz

PlaceNamePrize
1stSam Angel$10200
2ndDavid Singer$5100
3rdMike Sexton$1700

Event 9: $ 10,000 Deuce to Seven Lowball

PlaceNamePrize
1stDave Hampton$54000
2ndDoyle Brunson*$27000
3rdDick Carson$9000

Event 10: $ 500 Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stMark Porter$43800
2ndKitty Sowa$21900
3rdGary Carlson$7300

Event 11: $ 2,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Split

PlaceNamePrize
1stTommy Hufnagle$18000
2ndSam Moon$9000
3rdSpence Edwards$3000

Event 12: $ 1,000 Hold'em "Follow the Stars"

PlaceNamePrize
1stRalph Morton$46000
2ndDick Albano$18400
3rdDoug Johnson$9200