WSOP 1978 – Bobby Baldwin Becomes the Youngest Champion

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Las Vegas, 1978. By this time, Doyle Brunson had won two consecutive WSOP main events (1976, 1977), and in 1978 he came to Binion’s Horseshoe casino to set new records.

The series organizers planned 11 tournaments, fewer than in the previous year. Players also faced another significant change — the prize distribution in the Main Event.

Until 1978, the Main Event winner took the entire prize. This worked well for attracting media attention, but was not very convenient for players. Participation in the tournament became highly variable. You could spend $10,000 year after year, like Crandell Addington, and repeatedly make it to the final table, but still end up in deep loss.

Additionally, players made deals at the final table. We don’t have exact information on whether Doyle Brunson shared the prize money from his previous tournament wins, but rumors suggested that it was Doyle who insisted on splitting the prizes. The deal made remained off the tournament record, and the winner officially received the full amount, thus paying tax on the entire sum, while deal participants received their winnings and avoided tax authorities’ attention.

With these changes, the 1978 WSOP series began on May 7. There is a version that the game started on April 25, but we use the official WSOP information.

The Overview of WSOP 1978 Tournaments

The first tournament, Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball, was won by Billy Baxter, a familiar face. The legendary player and tournament organizer was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006. By that time, Billy already had one Lowball bracelet from the 1975 tournament, and he would win 7 bracelets in his career. Of these, 6 were in Lowball and one in Razz. Perhaps Baxter is the best Lowball player in WSOP history.

Gary Berland, a participant in the decisive heads-up at the ME WSOP 1977, won two consecutive bracelets in tournaments Event #2: $1,000 Limit Razz and Event #3: $500 Limit Seven Card Stud. These bracelets went to Gary’s collection, which already had one bracelet from the Limit Razz tournament in 1977.

Gary Berland was a rising star in the late ’70s. He dropped out of college to become a professional player, overcame all obstacles, and achieved success. Unfortunately, this talented player died at the age of 37 from a rare disease. By that time, he had won 5 WSOP bracelets.

The next tournament, Event #4: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud, was won by Doyle Brunson. This success brought him his fifth bracelet, and now Doyle was only one bracelet behind the best player of the decade, Johnny Moss.

It is worth noting that in the heads-up of the tournament, Doyle defeated a young player, Bobby Baldwin, who was only 28 years old. Bobby was one of the leaders of the younger generation of players who came to the WSOP to challenge the dominance of Texas players.

Event #5: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em took place on May 11 and attracted 71 players. The official chronicle did not even leave the names of the players who took second and third places, although they received prizes. But we do know for sure that the tournament winner was Aubrey Day from Alabama. This was his second and last WSOP bracelet, although Aubrey Day would play in the series’ tournaments multiple times.

Event #6: $200 Ladies Limit Seven Card Stud – another special women’s tournament of the series. With a small buy-in, the tournament attracted 84 players. A year earlier, the first women’s tournament for $100 was held, with 93 players (a WSOP record for the number of participants). In 1978, the winner was Terry King from California.

In subsequent years, she would reach the prize zone in women’s tournaments 4 more times, and also play at the final table of the 1982 partners’ tournament.

Event #7: $5,000 Limit Draw High attracted only 7 players. The winner was Lakewood Louie, notable for having only 4 WSOP cash finishes, but winning a bracelet in each of these cases. That is, with each cash finish, Lakewood has a 100% win rate in WSOP tournaments. Moreover, each victory was in a different poker discipline. It should be noted that this was the first Limit Draw High tournament in WSOP history.

The next tournament was also special. This was Event #8: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Non-Pro. The victory in this “amateur” tournament went to Hans ‘Tuna’ Lund from Nevada. By that time, Hans had been playing poker for one year and quickly won his first (but not the only) bracelet. Hans would become a successful player and reach the final table of the Main Event twice.

In his career, he would win two bracelets and a Hall of Fame watch. Lund retired from poker in 1997, winning over $2.9 million in prize money.

Now we move on to an interesting tournament on May 15 — Event #9: $1,000 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo. This event attracted 32 participants, and the winner was David ‘Chip’ Reese. The holder of 3 WSOP bracelets, whom Doyle Brunson would call one of the best young players of the generation. At that time, Reese was 27 years old.

The last tournament before the start of the Main Event series was — Event #10: $1,000 Limit A-5 Draw Lowball. This tournament had 32 participants and Gary Berland, who took second place, similar to the ME WSOP 1977, was noted in the decisive heads-up. In the case of a victory, Berland would have become the first player in WSOP history to win 3 bracelets in one series.

There are only 6 such players (Puggy Pearson, Phil Hellmuth, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey, Jeff Lisandro, and Scott Seiver), but George Danzer can also be added, who won two WSOP bracelets and one WSOP Asia Pacific bracelet. Gary was stopped on his way to this magnificent list by Henry Young, who won the heads-up, and this was his only success in WSOP history.

WSOP 1978 Results

Date	Event	Entries	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
07 May	Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball	15	Billy Baxter	$90,000	Byron Wolford
08 May	Event #2: $1,000 Limit Razz	32	Gary Berland	$19,200	David Singer
09 May	Event #3: $500 Limit Seven Card Stud	57	Gary Berland	$17,100	Neil Einfeld
10 May	Event #4: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud	23	Doyle Brunson	$69,000	Bobby Baldwin
11 May	Event #5: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em	71	Aubrey Day	$42,600
12 May	Event #6: $200 Ladies Limit Seven Card Stud	84	Terry King	$10,080	Starla Broodie
13 May	Event #7: $5,000 Limit Draw High	7	Lakewood Louie	$21,000	Rick Greider
14 May	Event #8: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Non-Pro	52	Hans Lund	$46,800	Curtiss Skinner
15 May	Event #9: $1,000 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo	32	David Reese	$19,200	Jerry Pruitt
16 May	Event #10: $1,000 Limit A-5 Draw Lowball	32	Henry Young	$19,200	Gary Berland

WSOP 1978 Main Event

We have reached the Main Event of the series. The change in the prize distribution rule positively affected the number of participants. 42 participants registered for the tournament (34 a year earlier), but the main prize was reduced to $210,000.

The opinions of professional players were divided. The new scheme offered 50% of the total fund to the winner, and the remaining finalists received 20%, 15%, 10%, and 5%, respectively. The “old school” players, who could afford the $10,000 risk for an attractive prize for one winner, opposed such a distribution. Nevertheless, most of them were eliminated on the first day of play.

Among those eliminated on the first day (Johnny Moss, Thomas ‘Amarillo Slim’ Preston, Walter ‘Puggy’ Pearson, Brian ‘Sailor’ Roberts) was Doyle Brunson, which meant the appearance of a new champion. It is also worth noting another player who tried his hand at the Main Event for the first time — young actor Gabe Kaplan, possibly known to you as the host of “High Stakes Poker.”

CBS Sports was once again filming a report from the WSOP series, and the channel’s host asked Amarillo Slim about his views on the future of poker. Here’s what he said:

“I think we’re slowing up. The young players… there are a lot of them. They’re aggressive and they’ve had a better education than the older fellas.”

Johnny Moss, the most titled WSOP participant, agreed with him. Moreover, Moss noted that he did not plan to play the main tournament in 1979:

“I got three hands beat in a row and I’m getting so old I can’t stand it no more. I had an ace-high flush beat, a five-high straight beat, and two kings beat.”

Final Table

The final table was formed when there were 6 players left in the tournament. But only five could receive prizes. The sixth place was taken by Ken Smith, known as the founder of Chess Digest. He was eliminated from the final table, and all the remaining participants were guaranteed prizes.

The players remaining in the game were: Jesse Alto, Buck Buchanan, Louis Hunsucker, Crandell Addington, and Bobby Baldwin.

The most experienced player at the table was Crandell Addington — a regular at WSOP final tables, who already had a successful career both at the poker table and in business.

Fifth place in the tournament was taken by Jesse Alto, losing with A-Q against Q-T of Louis Hunsucker, who made a straight on the river.

Next to leave the table was Buck Buchanan, who went all-in with A-4 against dominating A-Q.

Third place went to Louis Hunsucker, who lost with A-9 after an all-in on the flop K-9-3 but hitting K-9 of Bobby Baldwin. Already on the turn, the dealer revealed another K, and Louis went to collect $63,000 in prize money.

Heads-Up

The decisive heads-up was played by young Bobby Baldwin from Oklahoma and Crandell Addington from Texas. It was a duel of different states and different generations.

Baldwin could become the youngest ME WSOP winner. By this time, he already had two WSOP bracelets and a lost heads-up in 1978. Crandell Addington could not boast a single WSOP bracelet, but his experience playing at the final table was even greater. In total, during the first decade of the series, Crandell played at the Main Event final table 7 times — his record is hard to beat!

And if the decade record is hard to beat, winning one particular tournament is quite possible. Bobby Baldwin, later nicknamed “The Owl,” played heads-up aggressively and confidently led. In the decisive hand, Crandell made a pre-flop raise with pocket nines 9 9 . Bobby re-raised him all-in with pocket queens Q Q . Addington called the bet but quickly realized his chances when Baldwin revealed the higher pair. According to some sources, Bobby held Q Q .

According to Pokerlisting’s Poker Odds Calculator, Bobby Baldwin was an 80% favorite against 19% for Crandell Addington.

On the flop, the dealer revealed Q 9 K — both players hit sets. This only meant that Crandell Addington’s chances dropped to 4%.

The turn — A didn’t change anything. 10 on the river made Bobby Baldwin the new WSOP Champion!

WSOP 1978 Main Event Results

Place	Player	Prize
1st	Bobby Baldwin	$210,000
2nd	Crandell Addington	$84,000
3rd	Louis Hunsaker	$63,000
4th	Buck Buchanan	$42,000
5th	Jesse Alto	$21,000
6th	Ken Smith	$0

WSOP History

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