The Super Bowl of Poker (also known as Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker or SBOP) 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 modeled 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.
1985 Tournament
Poker Hall of Famers Chip Reese and Billy Baxter both made runs at various titles, but neither succeeded in winning their events. The only member to win a tournament that year was Johnny Chan in the $1,000 Omaha event. In order to win the title, he had to defeat two other Hall of Fame caliber players in Dewey Tomko who was inducted into the Hall in 2008 and 1993 recipient Jack Keller. Tomko went on to win the $5,000 Seven-Card Stud event.
Key *Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame. Place The place in which people finish. Name The name of the player Prize (US$) Event prize money
Event 1: $400 Ladies 7 Card Stud
Number of buy-ins: 44 Total prize pool: $17,600 Number of payouts: 7 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Kimberly Bye $2nd Betty Wagner $3rd Elsie Brent $4th Starla Brodie $5th Cyndy Violette $6th Lucy Bowman $7th Cheryl Davis $
Event 2: $500 Limit Hold'em
Number of buy-ins: 207 Total prize pool: $103,500 Number of payouts: 7 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Rich Quakenbush $2nd Mark Stropko $3rd Dody Roach $4th Mike Stoltz $5th Dave Walden $6th Peter Etchemendy $7th Andy Myerson $
Event 3: $1,000 Ace-to-Five Lowball
Number of buy-ins: 53 Total prize pool: $53,000 Number of payouts: 7 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Greg Wagner $2nd T. J. Cloutier* $3rd Robert Hunter $4th John Serpa $5th Dennis Horvath $6th Johnny Hale $7th Phil Morgan $
Event 4: $500 7 Card Stud
Number of buy-ins: 89 Total prize pool: $44,500 Number of payouts: 7 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Cheryl Davis $2nd Artie Cobb $3rd Dino Bumbico $4th Gary Berland $5th David Holzderber $6th Peter Christ $7th Bob Ensley $
Event 5: $1,000 No Limit Hold'em
Number of buy-ins: 80 Total prize pool: $80,000 Number of payouts: 7 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Art Youngblood $2nd Chip Reese* $3rd Frank Hunter $
Event 6: $5,000 7 Card Stud
Number of buy-ins: 13 Total prize pool: $65,000 Number of payouts: 3 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Dewey Tomko* $2nd Rick Greider $3rd Frank Hunter $
Event 7: $2,500 Ace-to-Five Lowball
Number of buy-ins: 34 Total prize pool: $85,000 Number of payouts: 5 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Austin Squatty $2nd Mike Markos $3rd Billy Baxter* $4th Rick Riolo $5th Seymour Liebowitz $
Event 8: $500 Omaha
Number of buy-ins: 103 Total prize pool: $51,500 Number of payouts: 5 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Terry Fielder $2nd Dave Chanduloy $3rd Fred Bowen $
Event 9: $2,500 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo
Number of buy-ins: 32 Total prize pool: $80,000 Number of payouts: 3 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Ken Smith $2nd Jeff Burdasall $3rd Chip Reese* $
Event 10: $1,000 Omaha
Number of buy-ins: 154 Total prize pool: $154,000 Number of payouts: Unknown Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Johnny Chan* $2nd Dewey Tomko* $3rd Jack Keller* $
Event 11: $500 Limit Hold'em
Number of buy-ins: 176 Total prize pool: $88,000 Number of payouts: Unknown Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Dave Keiser $2nd Terry Farmer $3rd Hal Kant $
Event 12: $5,000 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball
Number of buy-ins: 24 Total prize pool: $120,000 Number of payouts: 3 Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Gary Lundgren $2nd Billy Baxter* $3rd Jim Ray $
Event 13: $1,000 "Follow the stars" Hold'em
Number of buy-ins: 157 Total prize pool: $157,000 Number of payouts: Unknown Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Bill Strothers $2nd Norman Jay $3rd Ray Legett $
Event 14: $10,000 Main Event - No Limit Hold'em
Number of buy-ins: 41 Total prize pool: $410,000 Number of payouts: Unknown Reference:
+ Final tablePlace Name Prize1st Mickey Appleman $2nd Dewey Tomko* $3rd John Esposito $4th Lyle Berman* $5th Jack Keller* $6th Al Ethier $7th Gary Lundgren $
References