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1985 Super Bowl of Poker

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. Dewey 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

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Kimberly Bye $8,880
2nd Betty Wagner $3,520
3rd Elsie Brent $1,760
4th Starla Brodie $880
5th Cyndy Violette $880
6th Lucy Bowman $880
7th Cheryl Davis $880

Event 2: $500 Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Rich Quakenbush $51,750
2nd Mark Stropko $20,700
3rd Dody Roach $10,350
4th Mike Stoltz $5,175
5th Dave Walden $5,175
6th Peter Etchemendy $5,175
7th Andy Myerson $5,175

Event 3: $1,000 Ace-to-Five Lowball

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Greg Wagner $26,500
2nd T.J. Cloutier* $10,000
3rd Robert Hunter $5,300
4th John Serpa $2,650
5th Dennis Horvath $2,650
6th Johnny Hale $2,650
7th Phil Morgan $2,650

Event 4: $500 7 Card Stud

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Cheryl Davis $8,900
2nd Artie Cobb $4,450
3rd Dino Bumbico $2,225
4th Gary Berland $2,225
5th David Holzderber $2,650
6th Peter Christ $2,225
7th Bob Ensley $2,225

Event 5: $1,000 No Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Art Youngblood $40,000
2nd Chip Reese* $20,000
3rd Frank Hunter $2,225

Event 6: $5,000 7 Card Stud

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Dewey Tomko* $39,000
2nd Rick Greider $19,500
3rd Frank Hunter $6,500

Event 7: $2,500 Ace-to-Five Lowball

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Austin Squatty $42,500
2nd Mike Markos $25,500
3rd Billy Baxter* $8,500
4th Rick Riolo $4,250
5th Seymour Liebowitz $4,250

Event 8: $500 Omaha

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Terry Fielder $25,750
2nd Dave Chanduloy $10,300
3rd Fred Bowen $5,100

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

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Ken Smith $56,000
2nd Jeff Burdasall $24,000
3rd Chip Reese* $8,000

Event 10: $1,000 Omaha

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Johnny Chan* $77,000
2nd Dewey Tomko* $46,200
3rd Jack Keller* $15,400

Event 11: $500 Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Dave Keiser $44,000
2nd Terry Farmer $17,600
3rd Hal Kant $8,800

Event 13: $5,000 Deuce-to-Seven Lowball

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Gary Lundgren $72,000
2nd Billy Baxter* $36,000
3rd Jim Ray $12,000

Event 14: $1,000 "Follow the stars" Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Bill Strothers $72,000
2nd Norman Jay $36,000
3rd Ray Legett $12,000

Event 15: $10,000 Main Event - No Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Mickey Appleman $205,000
2nd Dewey Tomko* $82,000
3rd John Esposito $41,000
4th Lyle Berman* $20,500
5th Jack Keller* $20,500
6th Al Ethier $20,500
7th Gary Lundgren $20,500
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