|
1992 World Series of Poker |
1992 World Series of PokerA summary of 1992 world series of poker.
The idea of non-American poker players getting to win the championship event of the World Series of Poker may have been largely unthinkable in the early days of the tournament. However, as the WSOP began to grow and started receiving a lot of publicity, players coming from different parts of the world eventually learned of the many ways by which they could gain entry to the tournament. Consequently, this led to the participation of many non-Americans in the WSOP, culminating in the victory of Iran-born Mansour Matloubi who emerged as WSOP grand champion in 1990, and being hailed as the first non-Caucasian poker player to win the WSOP main event.
The following year, an American player, Brad Daugherty, bagged the same title, but what was significant during that year was the increase in the number of foreign players who made a respectable showing either in the preliminary table or in the final event. Poker players like An Tran, a native of Vietnam, and Chris Bjorin, who hailed from Sweden, were the perfect examples as they fought for the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha, with Tran eventually being named champion while Bjorin ended up as the runner-up.
In 1992, the poker scene saw this trend continue when Hamid Dastmachi of Iran bested 201 other players for the right to be crowned as the 1992 WSOP main event winner. Aside from the title, Hamid brought home $1M in cold cash, thus becoming the second WSOP poker player to do so after Brad Daugherty.
In the preliminary table of the 1992 WSOP, foreign poker players also made a spectacular showing. One of these was Vietnam-born Men Nguyen who took the first prize in the $1,500 Seven-Card Stud where he brought home $120,600. Additionally, he also figured prominently in the $1,500 Seven-Card Razz of the same table where he finished runner-up behind Lamar Hampton.
Two other non-American players rose to fame in the 1992 WSOP preliminary table although at a lesser degree since they had to settle only for second spot. Nevertheless, their efforts are worth mentioning, and they include Filipino Noli Francisco who was runner-up to Kenny Dugan in the $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem, and Humberto Brenes of Costa Rica who battled it out with Lyle Berman in the $2,500 No Limit Holdem before finally settling for second position.
Among the best 30 finishers of the WSOP that year, at least four were of foreign descent. These included Johnny Chan of China who finished in the seventh place with a prize of $25,250; Surinder Sunar of India whose 20th place finish gave him an $8,080 cash prize; Telly Savalas, the late film actor who was of Greek lineage and who took home $8,080 for landing in the 21st spot; and Swedish Chris Bjorin, who likewise took home a cash prize of $8,080 for his 25th place ranking.
In general, the 1992 WSOP can be characterized as having a bigger field, where foreign players were allowed to enter and take part in the games, which augurs well for the tournament as this indicates a growing acceptance of poker games as both enjoyable and profitable ventures. Although a slight drop took place in the total number of entrants in the final event (201) when compared against that of the preceding year (215), still, the 1992 WSOP was relatively successful as its player base had significantly broadened.
|
