1986 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. Before the SBOP had developed a reputation of its own, many of the most respected names in poker attended the tournament "more to support Slim and take advantage of the very fat cash games the event would obviously inspire." 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.

1986 Tournament

, a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, won the Pot Limit Omaha in the 1986 SBOP. But it was the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball event that may have had the toughest final three competitors ever. Doyle Brunson, a Poker Hall of Famer, has won ten WSOP bracelets and won this event. In order to win, he had to defeat two other Poker Hall Famers. Billy Baxter, who own 7 bracelets, came in second place while Johnny Chan, the third-place finisher, is tied with Doyle for the second most bracelets at 10. T. J. Cloutier, another member of the Hall, and Jack Keller both won separate $500 Limit Hold'em events.

Key

Event 1: $500 Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stJack Keller*$41000
2ndEddie Schwettman$16400
3rdRalph Morton$8200
4thJohn Esposito$4100
5thRonnie Willis$4100
6thCharles Wright$4100
7thMike Catherwood$4100

Event 2: $1,000 Ace-to-Five Lowball

PlaceNamePrize
1stDale Conway$23000
2ndBrad Martin$9200

Event 3: 7 Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stJohn Yarmosh$21500
2ndEugene Lang$8600

Event 4: $500 Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stT. J. Cloutier*$24250
2ndAJ Jackson$9700

Event 5: $500 Omaha

PlaceNamePrize
1stJay Heimowitz$13500
2ndBernie Salter$5400

Event 6: Seven-Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stDon Williams$14400
2ndNorman Jay$7200

Event 7: Deuce-to-Seven Lowball

PlaceNamePrize
1stDoyle Brunson*$43500
2ndBilly Baxter*$21750
3rdJohnny Chan*$7250

Event 8: $200 No Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stBill Smith$51200
2ndJesse Alto$20400
2ndJack Lindsay$10240

Event 9: $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

PlaceNamePrize
1stBob Massie$24000
2ndChuck Sharp$12000

Event 10: Pot Limit Omaha

PlaceNamePrize
1stBob Massie$24000
2ndunknownunknown
3rdunknownunknown
4thunknownunknown
5thBetty Carey$7750

Event 11: $1,000 Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stMickey Appelbaum$77500
2ndBill Stewart$18200

Event 12: $10,000 No Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stBilly T. Walters$175000
2ndRichard Klamian$70000
3rdDale Conway$35000
4thAl Ethier$17500
5thJay Heimowitz$17500
6thLouis Hunsucker$17500
7thJunior Prejean$17500
8thRoger Can Ausdall$17500
9thChip Reese*$17500