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1990 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 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.

1990 Tournament

The 1990 SBOP had arguably one of the toughest final tables ever assembled. Four of the final six players (Jack Keller, Stu Ungar, T.J. Cloutier, and Chip Reese) have all been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. A fifth player, Hamid Dastmalchi won the WSOP Main Event in 1992. Between the five of them, they have acquired 20 WSOP bracelets. T.J. Cloutier did at the SBOP what he has failed to do at the WSOP, despite making 4 WSOP Main Event Final tables, by winning the SBOP Main Event. Billy Baxter won the Deuce To Seven Lowball. Deuce to Seven is the format type where Baxter has won five WSOP bracelets. Baxter had finished in second place in various SBOP Deuce to Seven Lowball five times and third once.

Hoyt Corkins a two time bracelet and one time World Poker Tour winner won his first major tournament at the 1990 SBOP.

Key

* Elected to the Poker Hall of Fame.
† Denotes player who is deceased.
Place The place in which people finish.
Name The name of the player
Prize (US$) Event prize money

Event 1: $ 400 7 Card Stud (Ladies)

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Marsha Waggoner $9,600
2nd Linda Ryke-Drucker $6,000
3rd Liz Jameson $2,400
4th Glenda Bridges $1,680

Event 2: $ 500 Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Fred Sigur $58,400
2nd Jose Rosenkrantz $29,200
3rd Bob Ensley $14,600
4th David Stone $8,760
5th Howard Berger $7,300

Event 3: $ 500 Limit 7 Card Stud

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Ester Rossi $53,600
2nd Paul Kornelly $26,800
3rd Alex Murray $13,400
4th Mike Berry $8,040
5th Michael Simon $6,700

Event 4: $ 1,000 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Gene Fisher $47,600
2nd Artie Cobb $23,800
3rd Sam Grizzle $11,900
4th John Yarmosh $7,140
5th Jeff Campbell $5,950
6th Bud Moore $4,760

Event 5: $ 1,000 7 Card Razz

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st John Cover $41,600
2nd Johnny Moss* $26,000
3rd Steve Edelson $10,000
4th Mike Markos $7,280
5th Don Zewin $6,240
6th Mike Sexton $5,200

Event : $ 200 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Ron Stanley $72,160
2nd Lyle Berman* $36,080
3rd Rodger Hutchinson $18,040
4th Johnny Chan* $10,824
5th Ken Flaton $9,020

Event 7: $ 1,000 7 Card Stud

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Artie Cobb $55,600
2nd John Agliolora $27,800
3rd Dewey Tomko* $13,900
4th Don Zewin $13,900
5th Tommy Fischer $8,340

Event 8: $ 200 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st John Spadavecchia $88,120
2nd Lyle Berman* $44,060
3rd Bill Smith $22,030
4th Humberto Brenes $16,025
5th Scott Johnson $11,015
6th Max Stern $7,710

Event 9: $ 1,000 Limit Hold'em

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Ron Stanley $68,000
2nd Tommy Fischer $34,000
3rd Ronald Ross $17,000
4th Tony Thang $10,200
5th Mickey Finn $8,500
6th Barney O'Malia $5,950
7th Humberto Brenes $5,100
8th Tommy Grimes $3,400
9th John Spadavecchia $2,550

Event 10: $ 200 Limit Omaha with Rebuys

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Hoyt Corkins $65,680
2nd Jack Keller* $32,840
3rd David Baxter $16,420
4th Stan Johnson $9,852
5th Vasillis Lazarou $8,210
6th John Cernuto $5,747
7th Tony Thang $4,926
8th Roger Moore $3,284
9th Brent Carter $2,463

Event 11: $ 1,500 Limit 7 Card Stud

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Cyndy Arynn $61,200
2nd Jimmy Athanas $30,600
3rd Don Williams $15,300
4th Flan Pikington $9,180
5th Mike Hart $7,650
6th Alan Boston $6,120
7th Harry Thomas $4,590
8th Robert Miller $3,060
9th Unknown $2,225

Event 11: Deuce To 7 Lowball

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st Billy Baxter* $43,750
2nd Roger Van Driesen $21,875
3rd Rick Riolo $13,125
4th John Bonetti $8,750

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

Final table
Place Name Prize
1st T.J. Cloutier* $240,000
2nd Jack Keller* $96,000
3rd Stu Ungar* $48,000
4th Richardo Alem-Simon $31,200
5th Hamid Dastmalchi $26,400
6th Chip Reese* $21,600
7th Jim Doman $16,800
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