The 1978

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

(WSOP) was a series of

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a " heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tabl ...

s held in May 1978 at

Binion's Horseshoe Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binion's Horseshoe, is a casino on Fremont Street along the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. The casino is n ...

, and was the first WSOP that was not a winner-take-all prize. Instead the tournament had a progressive prize structure, as follows 50 percent for the Winner then 20 for second, 15 for third, 10 for fourth, and 5 percent for fifth place.

Events

There were ten preliminary events at the 1978 World Series of Poker. Future Poker Hall of Famer Chip Reese won his first WSOP bracelet in the 1978 WSOP.

Main Event

There were 42 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. The 1978 Main Event was the first edition of the tournament to pay prize money to any players other than the winner. Bobby Baldwin received half of the total prize pool for his win. Crandell Addington finished runner-up in the Main Event, which he did in the 1974 WSOP Main Event.

Final table

Performance of past champions

*Day one:

Johnny Moss Johnny Moss (May 14, 1907 – December 16, 1995) was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of ...

, Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Brian "Sailor" Roberts,

Doyle Brunson Doyle Frank Brunson (August 10, 1933 – May 14, 2023) was an American poker player who played professionally for over 60 years. He was a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) List of World Series of Poker Main Event champions, Main Event champi ...

Other notable players

Gabe Kaplan Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the title character in the 1970s sitcom '' Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commentat ...

and Barbara Freer (the first woman player).

References

External links

Tournament results
at the

Tournament results
at the Hendon Mob Poker Database {{1970s WSOP bracelet winners World Series of Poker

1978 in Nevada