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1991 World Series of Poker |
1991 World Series of PokerA summary of 1991 world series of poker.
Everyone would readily agree that when the World Series of Poker makes its annual staging, one, and sometimes two, events will take place that will tend to make the present year's staging more historic and more significant than the preceding year's. 1991 proved to be no exception, as several important happenings did take place during this particular year as regards the history of the WSOP.
One of these, of course, was the fact that the tournament had entered its 21st year of existence. From its humble beginnings as a seven-player poker event, the WSOP has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon where even the least known poker player has an equal chance of winning as that of the long-time veteran.
Another noteworthy WSOP event that happened in 1991 was the increase in the amount of the prize pool that was at stake in the championship round. In the previous year, WSOP grand winner Mansour Matloubi took home around $835,000 in cash prize, a little less than a million. However, in 1991, the prize pool easily reached the one million mark, and this unforgettable milestone is being considered by many as the biggest event of that year regarding the WSOP.
Of course, equally important was the lucky poker player who was able to outlast and outwit all the others to ultimately bring home the $1M prize catch. He was none other than Missouri-born poker player Brad Daugherty, who, from that time on, became known in poker history books as the first player to be awarded a cool $1M in cash prize as the grand champion of the 1991 WSOP.
Settling for second place was Don Holt, who may not have become a million dollar richer after the event, but nevertheless still got to walk away with an equally astounding $402,500 cash award. The other winners were as follows: Bob Veltri at third place ($201,250); Don Williams at fourth spot ($115,000); Perry Green at fifth (69,000); and Ali Farsai at sixth ($34,500).
It is significant to note that the players who got to compose the final round of the 1991 WSOP were relatively new names. Even the high finishers that made up the top 30 were generally new faces, with the exception perhaps of Hans 'Tuna' Lund, who was at the WSOP final round the year before where he landed at second place behind the eventual champion Matloubi. In the 1991 edition though, he had to settle for the ninth place, but good enough to rank him as among the best 30 finishers for that year. Additionally, he got to take home $9,200 as his prize.
The preliminary table, on the other hand, was a mixture of old and new players, of Americans and non-Americans. Particularly worth mentioning would have to be An Tran, the Vietnamese-American poker player who beat Swedish Chris Bjorin in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha and eventually bagged the cash prize of $87,600.
The buy in for the 1991 WSOP main event remained at $10,000 and this attracted a total of 215 participants, almost double the number of the preceding year's. Definitely, this is one noteworthy 1991 event stacked in favor of the WSOP.
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