WSOP 1988: Johnny Chan’s Back-to-Back

Start of the Series

The organizers kicked off with the first tournament, the mass Event #1: $1,500 Limit Hold’em—a low-cost tournament for the popular poker variant. On the very first day of the series, a new record was set as the event attracted 400 players. At the final table were Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen (9th place) and Howard Lederer (7th place), while in the decisive heads-up, former WSOP champion Jack Keller was defeated by newcomer Val Carpenter from Alabama. This prize position remains Val’s only in history, while Keller went on to win another bracelet in subsequent years.

The next day featured a tournament with a similar buy-in but for No-Limit Hold’em, Event #2: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. This tournament registered 330 players, indicating greater popularity for the Limit format over No-Limit during those years. At the final table were Thor Hansen from Norway (7th place) and former WSOP champion Berry Johnston (4th place), with Russel Gibe from Wisconsin taking the victory and $181,800 in prizes.

Event #3: $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha (Rebuy) took place on May 7th and gathered 111 participants. This is a large number for such an expensive tournament with rebuys. Players made 70 additional rebuys, and the main prize of $181,000 went to Gilbert Gross from France. According to official statistics, in the heads-up, French Gross played against Hugh Todd from South Africa, determining who would become the first foreigner to receive a WSOP bracelet. Gross emerged as the winner.

It should be noted that some sources claim Thor Hansen was the first foreigner to win a WSOP bracelet. However, according to WSOP’s official statistics, his victory occurred the next day, making Gilbert Gross the first.

Prize winners in this tournament included Steve Zolotow (5th place), Jay Heimowitz (7th place), Perry Green (8th place) and Berry Johnston (9th place).

The following day, May 8th, Thor Hansen from Norway won Event #4: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud. According to official statistics, he became the second foreigner with a WSOP bracelet, though tournament dates may have inaccuracies. At this final table was Gabe Kaplan, who took third place.

Mid-Series — First ITM for Phil Hellmuth

Event #5: $1,000 Limit Omaha was held on May 9th, attracting 228 players. The prize zone included 18 places, featuring Norwegian Thor Hansen (15th place), WSOP champion Puggy Pearson (13th place), Mel Judah (11th place) from UK, Berry Johnston (9th place) and Howard Lederer (7th place). The championship bracelet went to David Helms from Texas. Seven years later, he would play in a similar tournament and take 10th place—these two WSOP prize zones would remain his only ones.

Event #6: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo attracted interesting players. At the final table were Phil Hellmuth (5th place) and Berry Johnston once again (4th place), while Lance Hilt from Oregon became the champion—his only success at WSOP.

Women’s Tournament

The regular women’s tournament, Event #7: $500 Ladies Limit Seven Card Stud, in 1988 attracted 85 participants—the third-highest number ever. In a 3-max game, three participants from Nevada competed: Loretta Huber, Esther Rossi, and Jan Fisher. Loretta Huber emerged as the winner, taking a $17,000 prize.

Esther Rossi took second place, receiving $10,625. This tournament marked her first entry into the WSOP prize zone. Later, she would finish in the money nine more times in Stud or Stud 8 tournaments, and also several times in H.O.R.S.E. and Razz tournaments. Overall, Esther played in the WSOP final tables seven times but never won a bracelet.

Final Part of the Series — 9th Bracelet for Johnny Moss

Event #8: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud featured Johnny Moss. This was one of Moss’s last appearances in the prize zones. At 81 years old, Johnny still demonstrated “old school” play. In this tournament, Moss took second place and received $71,610 in prizes. By this time, he had eight bracelets and had won the Main Event three times, but the second-place prize in 1988 became the third-largest of his career. The number of WSOP players had grown, and prize payouts increased accordingly.

The winner was Merrill Hunt—his only success at WSOP and an immediate victory over the great Johnny Moss.

On May 13th, the expensive Event #9: $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball (Rebuy) took place, with Seymour Leibowitz emerging as the winner. Prize winners included all WSOP regulars—David ‘Chip’ Reese (2nd place), Dick Carson (3rd place), David Baxter (4th place), Perry Green (5th place).

As promised a few paragraphs earlier, on May 14th, 1988, during Event #10: $1,500 Limit A-5 Draw Lowball, Johnny Moss won a historic ninth WSOP bracelet! In a tournament with 194 participants, Moss secured victory and $116,400—a second-largest prize in his career (only surpassed by $160,000 for winning the WSOP Main Event in 1974). This was Moss’s final bracelet, by which time he was already a member of the Poker Hall of Fame (inducted in 1979). Johnny Moss became the oldest WSOP tournament winner at 81 years old.

But this was not the end of his story. He would reach the WSOP final tables four more times in subsequent years, with his last prize finish at age 85.

The final pre-final tournament, Event #11: $1,000 Limit Razz, was won by Don Williams from Ohio. This was his third and final bracelet, having previously won in 1982 and 1985 in Seven Card Stud tournaments. Throughout his career, Williams played in the WSOP final tables 16 times and would also make a mark in the Main Event.

WSOP 1988 Results

In the Money

In the tournament’s prize zone was a 23-year-old player from Madison, Wisconsin, named Phil Hellmuth. Unfortunately for him, Phil played at the same table as the reigning champion Johnny Chan and was eliminated in 33rd place, taking home $7,500. But believe us when we say, these two will meet again in WSOP history!

Following Hellmuth, the tournament saw the exit of David ‘Chip’ Reese and former champion Jack Keller—32nd and 31st places, respectively.

In 30th place was Hugh Todd from Cape Town, South Africa. He became the second foreigner in the WSOP Main Event 1988 prize zone.

At 27th place was one of poker history’s main authors—David Sklansky. By this time, he had three WSOP bracelets, marking his best result in the Main Event.

Special mention in the prizes go to Jay Haimowitz (15th place) and Jesse Alto (9th place)—WSOP regulars who have been playing the Main Event since the seventies. Haimowitz often exited in the penultimate stage, while Alto was a record holder for the number of Main Event final tables (1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988).

By the 9-max stage of the game, the reigning champion Johnny Chan had become the chip leader of the tournament.

However, the official (televised) final table included only six players.

Final Table

The final table in 1988 featured:

1. Jim Bechtel – an American cotton farmer from Arizona. He was a poker enthusiast who began playing at the WSOP in the seventies. In 1979, he was close to winning a bracelet but lost to Perry Green. In 1986, he was eliminated at the penultimate stage of the Main Event (11th place). Now, he updates his best result—reaching the final table.
2. T.J. Cloutier – an experienced player who had already played at the WSOP final table. Cloutier was born in Albany, California, and attended Berkeley, where he played football and baseball. Due to family financial problems, he had to drop out of university and join the United States Army. After the army, he continued playing football and competed in the Canadian Football League but had to quit sports due to an injury. He started his company and got married, but after both ventures failed, T.J. moved to Texas, worked in the oil industry, and was introduced to poker.
3. Humberto Brenes – a professional poker player from Costa Rica. His two brothers (Alex and Eric) also played poker and achieved success. The entire family learned to play poker thanks to their father, who loved playing Seven Card Stud and Baccarat at home. Humberto knew the rules of poker and dealt cards during family games by the age of seven. In 1987, Humberto first made the WSOP prize zone, immediately taking 14th place in the Main Event.
4. Ronald Graham – a player from Tacoma, Washington. He first made the WSOP prize zone in 1982, immediately following the final table of the No-Limit A-5 Draw tournament. In 1984, he took fifth place in the NLH tournament, and in 1985, he rose to second place in the NL A-5 Draw tournament. His first WSOP victory came in 1986, where he won $142,000 and a bracelet in the NL 2-7 Draw tournament. Concurrently, Graham successfully played in the Grand Prix of Poker series, where he had already won three tournaments by that time.
5. Erik Seidel – the youngest player at the 1988 final table, then 28 years old. Seidel was born in New York and played backgammon professionally before becoming a successful stock trader. Erik (signed as Eric in 1988) was part of a small but elite group of players from the Mayfair Club, which included Stu Ungar, Jay Heimowitz, Mickey Appleman, Howard Lederer, Steve Zolotow and Dan Harrington.
6. Johnny Chan – the reigning tournament champion, who played aggressively in the penultimate stage and was vying to join the elite club of back-to-back champions.

The first 6-max player to leave was Jim Bechtel, who took $49,000 in prizes from Las Vegas.

Soon, a significant hand occurred where Humberto Brenes went all-in and was called by T.J. Cloutier with A Q . Brenes opened with 9-6 and, according to the Poker Odds Calculator, was behind with 33% against 66%. On the flop, Brenes received two pairs, and on the river, he strengthened them to a full house, doubling his stack. With a short stack remaining, Cloutier aggressively started the next hand with A 10 , raising to 50,000 chips. Seidel re-raised all-in against his opponent with a pocket pair of fives and was called by Brenes. On the flop, the dealer revealed another five, and Erik Seidel’s set held. T.J. Cloutier was eliminated in fifth place.

Humberto Brenes finished in fourth place. His push all-in with a pocket pair of twos was called by Erik Seidel’s pocket aces, and the higher pair held.

Next, Seidel eliminated Ron Graham, who went all-in with unsuited T-4 and was immediately called by the young opponent with A-J.

The game moved to the heads-up stage.

Historical Heads-Up

Later, Erik Seidel recalled this moment as follows:

“I remember looking at the whole scene, and thinking, ‘What in the world am I doing here playing heads up for the world championship?’ It was pretty awful to be in such a great spot and to be so unprepared for it.”

Thanks to aggressive play and chips gained from Humberto Brenes and Ron Graham, Seidel began the game as the chip leader, but the more experienced Johnny Chan quickly took the initiative.

Chan gained the chip lead, but in a major hand, Seidel managed to recover. His pocket pair of nines was higher than Chan’s eights, and Erik became the chip leader with a threefold chip advantage.

Once again, Johnny Chan had to claw back by taking small pots. Ultimately, he managed to regain the chip lead in this heads-up.

The decisive hand of this duel was seen in the movie:

Johnny Chan receives pocket J 9 and limps into a hand against Q 7 Eric Seidel. The dealer opens the flop Q 8 10 —Seidel gets top pair and a possible draw, while Chan already has an open-ended straight, aiming not to scare the opponent off such a strong hand.

Chan bets 40,000 chips, receives a raise of 50,000 from Seidel. Instead of going all-in, Chan calls the bet, luring his opponent into a trap.

On the turn, a 2 appears, and both players check.

The river brings 6 , and Erik Seidel goes all-in.

Johnny Chan lured his opponent into the trap and carried it through to the end. He quickly calls the bet and shows an nuts straight.

Chan becomes the fourth player to win the WSOP Main Event back-to-back!

The Winner – Johnny Chan

To learn more about this year’s champion, you can read our article on WSOP 1987 or visit Johnny Chan’s profile on our website. In addition to the previous story, we’d like to talk about Johnny Chan’s participation in the movie “Rounders,” which we deliberately did not cover in the last article. You might have already seen Johnny’s cameo in the film and learned that he also appeared in other movies, including “Lucky You” (2007) and “Pou hak wong” (2009). But now we offer you to watch the scene from “Rounders” (1998), where Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) watches the heads-up between Johnny Chan and Erik Seidel that took place at WSOP 1988.

Here’s how it looked in the movie:

WSOP 1988 Main Event Results