1988 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.

1988 Tournament

The 1988 SBOP was possibly one of the most notable years in the tournament's history. Two future Poker Hall of Famer's Stu Ungar and Jack Keller were playing heads-up for the right to claim the title. Stu won the event and went on to become the only person to win three SBOP Main Events. The loser, Jack Keller, ended up winning two SBOP Main Events. The Main Event was not the only final table that Jack made it to in 1988. Jack faced off against another future Poker Hall of Famer at the $1,000 Ace to Five Draw tournament. This time he fell short to Chip Reese.

Key

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

PlaceNamePrize
1stStu Ungar*$210000
2ndJack Keller*$84000
3rdDon Williams$42000
4thDavid Baxter$21000
5thPerry Green$21000
6thRicardo Alem-Simon$21000
7thJose Rosenkrantz$21000

Event 2: $ 500 Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stRobert Turner$38000
2ndEric Treichel$15200
3rdEarl Kim$7600
4thMichael Halford$3800
5thStan Singer$3800
6thKen Flaton$3800
7thJohnny Hale$3800
8thJohn Fallon$2000

Event 3: $ 1,000 Ace to Five Draw

PlaceNamePrize
1stChip Reese*$25000
2ndRay Rumler$12500
3rdPat Flanagan$7500
4thJack Keller*$5000
5thJack Lewis$2500

Event 4: $ 500 Limit Seven Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stJim Brenner$36000
2ndBarbara Gold$14400
3rdWallace Phipps$7200
4thSaid Barjestch$3600
5thRobert Miller$3600
6thJack Shirley$3600
7thKaren Wolfson$3600
8thJack Lewis$2000
9thKen Flaton$1000
10thJohnny Moss*$1000

Event 5: $ 200 Pot Limit Omaha

PlaceNamePrize
1stJohn King$54180
2ndSeymour Leibowitz$25080
3rdRon Graham$12040
4thGeorge Tsiklitiras$6020
5thEd Edmonson$6020
6thDavid Baxter$6020
7thMike Hart$6020
8thDon Williams$3010
9thArtie Cobb$3010

Event 6: $ 1,000 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo

PlaceNamePrize
1stMarty Sigel$46500
2ndAl Korsin$9300

Event 7: $ 200 No Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stRicardo Alem-Simon$72585
2ndMen Nguyen$32260
3rdTony Abadi$16130
4thEldon Elias$8065
5thDewey Tomko*$8065
6thTom Franklin$8065
7thAl Korsin$8065
8thEddie Schwettmann$4032
9thGeorge Rodis$4032

Event 8: $ 500 Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stDoug Roche$36225
2ndRay Rumler$16100
3rdLauri Foreman$8050
4thHumberto Brenes$4025
5thAl Korsin$4025
6thTony Thang$4025
7thT. J. Cloutier$4025
8thHector Williams$2013
9thDon Thrash$2013

Event 9: $ 1,000 Limit Seven Card Stud

PlaceNamePrize
1stJohn Cernuto$58000

Event 10: $ 2,500 No Limit 2-7 Draw

PlaceNamePrize
1stCarl Rouss$71250

Event 11: $ 200 Pot Limit Omaha

PlaceNamePrize
1stRalph Morton$60975

Event 12:$ 1,000 No Limit Hold'em

PlaceNamePrize
1stDon Holt$60750
2ndGeorge Rodis$27000
3rdJens Nielsen$13500
4thYosh Nakano$6750
5thBrad Daugherty$6750
6thPerry Green$6750
7thHarve Morgan$6750
8thScott Mayfield$3375
9thDavid Baxter$3375