WSOP 1991: Brad Daugherty Takes the First $1 Million Prize

Start of the Series

Event #1: $1,500 Limit Razz was a one-day tournament that took place on Friday, April 26, 1991. This tournament had 154 registered players, and the winner was Charles Wight from Houston, Texas. This tournament was the debut for one of Sweden’s most notable players – Chris Bjorin. The future WSOP ME and WSOP Europe ME finalist finished in 13th place. The legendary David Sklansky, who had already won 3 WSOP bracelets and authored “The Theory of Poker” (1978), finished in ninth place.

In Event #2: $5,000 Limit Hold’em, we note an interesting heads-up. Erik Seidel took second place, which was only his second WSOP cash. He had first cashed by finishing second in the 1988 WSOP ME, losing to Johnny Chan. The winner of the tournament, Byron ‘Cowboy’ Wolford, was a former cowboy and the future author of the book “Cowboys, Gamblers and Hustlers: The True Adventures of a Rodeo Champion and Poker Legend.” You may remember him from the epic 3-max at the 1984 WSOP Main Event, where he finished second, losing to Jack Keller. Byron cashed 10 times at the WSOP, making 9 final tables, but won only one bracelet – precisely in this tournament!

Event #3: $500 Ladies Limit Seven Card Stud – the 1991 ladies’ tournament set a new record with 141 participants. The tournament was won by Donna Ward, and Barbara Freer finished in tenth place.

Event #4: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha was won on April 29 by An Tran, with the runner-up being the aforementioned Chris Bjorin from Stockholm. Future Poker Hall of Fame member Mike Sexton finished seventh in this event.

Event #5: $2,500 Limit Hold’em attracted 202 participants, who split $506,485 in prizes across 18 places. The prize pool was filled with familiar names: Steve Zolotow took 14th place, Mike Sexton took 12th, Donnacha O’Dea from Ireland took 9th, and Byron Wolford finished third. The tournament winner was Ron “The Carolina Express” Stanley, which was his only bracelet.

Note Donnacha O’Dea, who had not yet made his last stand at the 1991 WSOP. The former WSOP ME finalist repeated his success in this series and later made history together with his son, who also played at the final table of a WSOP Main Event.

Mid-Series

Event #6: $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball was an expensive tournament that attracted only 26 players, with 5 paid places. Among the cashers was the owner of The Stratosphere Casino, Bob Stupak (4th place), and the runner-up was Dewey Tomko – a former kindergarten teacher, a future Poker Hall of Fame member, a casino owner in Costa Rica, and twice the WSOP ME runner-up. The winner was John Spadavecchia from Florida.

According to Wikipedia and dignitymemorial, John Spadavecchia died on June 10, 2023, at the age of 84. Nevertheless, according to WSOP data, he finished 262nd in the 2024 WSOP Event #46: $1,000 SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em Championship, which took place on June 18, 2024.

Event #7: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud was won by Rod Pardey Sr., a former bowler from Washington. In the 3-max, he defeated Don Williams (who had 3 WSOP bracelets by then) and Jerry Buss – the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. This was the best result Jerry Buss achieved in his poker career.

Also in the money were Stu Ungar (9th place) and Brad Daugherty (13th place). For Brad Daugherty, this was his fourth WSOP cash – all 4 in Seven Card Stud tournaments.

Event #8: $1,500 Limit Hold’em was the largest-field tournament of 1991. It attracted 427 players, which was less than the 1989 record of 449. The winner in this large field was Max Linder from Iowa, who received $256,200 for first place.

Event #9: $1,500 Limit Omaha took place on May 4 and drew 154 players. Among them was Hoyt Corkins, for whom this was his fourth WSOP cash (out of 55). The money included familiar names – Berry Johnston from Oklahoma, the 1986 WSOP ME champion, and Mel Judah from the United Kingdom, one of the most successful British players of that era.

Final part

The expensive Event #10: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha was won by Jay Heimowitz from New York. This was his third bracelet out of six, which can be considered a noteworthy achievement given that Heimowitz debuted at the WSOP back in 1975. Also in the money were previous champions Jack Keller (8th place) and Berry Johnston (9th place).

On May 6, Event #11: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo took place, where the legendary Johnny Moss reached the final table. In this tournament, Moss finished in 5th place, which was his penultimate WSOP cash and his final career final table appearance. Moss played at least 21 WSOP final tables, cashing from 1970 to 1992. By that point, he had already won all 9 of his bracelets, outpacing his closest WSOP ranking competitor, Doyle Brunson, by 3 bracelets (Brunson had 6 at that time).

The tournament winner was Mike Harthcock from California. It was his third and final career bracelet.

Event #12: $1,500 Limit A-5 Draw Lowball was won by Patrick Flanagan, with Berry Johnston once again appearing at the final table – one of the most successful players of that decade. Also in the money was Hans “Tuna” Lund, who had lost heads-up in the previous year’s 1990 WSOP ME.

Event #13: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud attracted 245 players and brought Artie Cobb his third of four bracelets. In the money was Men “The Master” Nguyen, who had not yet won any of his (eventual 7) bracelets. Men Nguyen is one of the best players in WSOP history, boasting 7 bracelets, 4 WSOP Circuit rings, and 134 WSOP cashes. By 1991, he had 3 WSOP cashes, all final tables. From 1988 to 2003, almost all of Men Nguyen’s cashes were in limit poker variants (49 out of 54 in limit events).

The next day saw the more expensive Event #14: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud, which attracted only 71 players, and was won by Thomas Chung. In the decisive heads-up, Thomas defeated Mim Penney, who received $88,750 in prize money. Thanks to this tournament, Mim became the first woman to exceed $100,000 in WSOP winnings. For Mim, it was her second final table appearance in Seven Card Stud events in 1991. She also played at the final tables of the ladies’ Seven Card Stud events in 1989 and 1992.

Event #15: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em would certainly have been the largest-field tournament if we were talking about the 2024 WSOP. However, in 1991, the no-limit variant of poker was less popular, so this event drew 271 participants. The winner was Brent Carter from Illinois. In the money were Chris Bjorin (15th place) and Mike Harthcock (4th place).

Bracelet for Doyle Brunson

Event #16: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em became part of poker history thanks to Doyle Brunson’s victory, for which he received $208,000 in prize money and his 7th of 10 bracelets. Unlike Johnny Moss, Brunson had not won a bracelet since 1979, meaning 12 years had passed since his previous victory. The $208,000 prize was the third-largest of his entire career, trailing only the prizes for his Main Event victories in 1976 and 1977.

In the money for this tournament were Vasili Lazarou from Greece (4th place), Thor Hansen from Norway (12th place), Stu Ungar (13th place), and T.J. Cloutier (15th place).

The last tournament before the Main Event took place on May 12, Event #17: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, which drew 198 players. The winner was Joseph Becker, who defeated Mel Judah from the UK. Another representative of the UK, Frank Thompson, finished 10th. Also in the money was a rare Canadian player of that time – Rich Korbin (14th place).

WSOP 1991 Results

In the Money

Hamid Dastmalchi, playing under the Iranian flag, was eliminated in 34th place. It was the third Main Event cash for Hamid. Previously, he had finished 5th in 1985 and 12th in 1987. As you might have guessed, this is not the last mention of the Iranian player in this historical series of articles for PokerListings. We take note of his presence in the money.

Bobby Baldwin – the 1978 champion and a Poker Hall of Fame member since 2003 – was knocked out in 29th place. Baldwin was the last of the former champions who could have won a second Main Event bracelet, and among the remaining players, there were many bracelet holders and familiar names.

Mike Sexton was eliminated in 24th place. The next year Mike would improve by one position – 23rd place. The year after that he would again finish in 24th place, and finally, in 1995, he would take 23rd place…

Speaking of improving by one position, we cannot ignore Hans “Tuna” Lund, who had lost the heads-up of the 1990 WSOP ME. When a reporter asked Hans about his plan to move up one position and become the champion, Lund replied:

“I’ll play a little bit better.”

Unfortunately for him, in 1991 he finished only in 19th place.

Higher up in the standings was a regular WSOP participant and already well-known actor, Gabe Kaplan. In 1991, he finished 13th, which remains his best Main Event result of all time.

Final Table

The best foreign player was Donnacha O’Dea from Ireland, who reached his second WSOP ME final table, as we mentioned earlier. Let’s see who else made it into the top nine players of 1991:

• Danny Hunsucker – an American player who had cashed at the WSOP as early as 1982. The year 1991 was the best of his career; he finished 4th in the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event and made the Main Event final table.
• Hilbert Shirey – a player from Florida who had already won his first bracelet in 1987. He preferred Hold’em and performed well in both Pot-Limit and No-Limit formats. Overall, he won 3 WSOP bracelets in his career. He was also longtime golf partners with Dewey Tomko, who also lived in Florida.
• Ali Farsai – an American player with Iranian roots, who played on PokerStars under the nickname “aldavid31” and returned to Iran after his poker career in the US. He had been playing poker since the eighties and had success at Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker, but he only cashed 6 times at the WSOP, three of them in the Main Event, including 10th place in 1989.
• Perry Green – the leading player from Alaska at that time. Over his career, he won 3 WSOP bracelets and twice made the Main Event final table. The first time he reached the final table was in 1981, finishing second to Stu Ungar. It’s worth noting that Green, a retired fur buyer from Alaska with 5 children, 13 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren, continues to play poker. In 2023, he cashed in an open WSOP Omaha Hi-Lo event for $1,500.
• Don Williams – a player from Ohio who had already won 3 WSOP bracelets by this point. Williams began playing at the WSOP in 1982 and had already won all his bracelets by this point. He regularly came close to the Main Event final table, but 1991 was the only time he fought for the Main Event bracelet in the tournament’s top 9.
• Robert Veltri – a former roofing contractor from California. In an interview six years later, he said of the WSOP: “What’s so good about the World Series is that you get the chance to play against big-league players from all around the world.”
• Don Holt – an American player who began playing at the WSOP in the eighties. In 1989, he won his only bracelet, defeating none other than David Sklansky in heads-up. Sklansky is the man who wrote the Seven Card Stud chapter for Doyle Brunson’s “Super/System.” That same year, Holt won events at Amarillo Slim’s Super Bowl of Poker.
• Brad Daugherty – a 39-year-old Seven Card Stud specialist who had worked as a dealer and poker room manager. He had already cashed at this series, but did not have enough funds for the Main Event buy-in, so he was backed by Huck Seed. Now Brad was playing at the final table of a No-Limit Hold’em tournament, a format that was far from his main specialization.

You can see the gameplay, interviews with Mansour Matloubi, David “Chip” Reese, as well as other well-known players, along with additional commentary by Remko Rinkema.

Jack Binion opened the game by announcing the $1 million first prize. Play began!

We will start from 6-max. It was official final table in 1991.

The first player to leave this stage was Ali Farsai, who started with a short stack. He went all-in with K J but ran into Don Holt’s A 9 . The board came 8 3 5 10 6 , and the Ace held up. Farsai was eliminated in sixth place for $34,500.

Answering Chris Marlowe’s question about what he would do with the winnings, Ali replied that he would continue playing poker. But we know that this was his biggest career success.

Play continued.

Robert Veltri placed a bet with J J , got an all-in from Perry Green with a short stack and 8 8 , and then Brad Daugherty shoved all-in with pocket A K . Veltri called, and in the middle of the table was a pot that would make one of the players the chip leader. If Veltri won, he could knock out two opponents at once and reduce the game to 3-max.
We rarely see three-way all-ins at a WSOP Main Event final table, so let’s open the Poker Odds Calculator.

Preflop, Robert Veltri’s pocket Jacks hold a 45% chance to win:

The dealer revealed the flop A Q 7 . The situation changed, as Brad Daugherty caught his outs and moved up to an 81% chance to win the hand. In that scenario, Perry Green would be eliminated, and Robert Veltri would be left with a short stack:

The turn 3 increased the odds to 90%. The river 3 .

Perry Green left the tournament in fifth place for $69,000. With this prize, Green moved into the top two Alaskan players of all time. Moreover, he continued to play poker, cashing in the 2023 WSOP and later in local Las Vegas tournaments in 2024!

When Perry was asked about the hand, he admitted he had hoped Veltri held a small pocket pair, giving him a chance to double up. Daugherty’s all-in he described as “crap from the rear.”

Brad Daugherty became the chip leader with four players remaining.

Don Williams, another short stack, went all-in with A 9 and was called by Don Holt with A 10 . The board ran out 5 K 10 J 5 , and Williams took home $115,000 for fourth place.

Answering a question, Williams said he did not expect Holt to have an Ace from the button, and having a short stack, he felt he had to shove with any Ace.

Next, it was Robert Veltri’s turn to go all-in. He moved all-in with K Q against Brad Daugherty’s K J on a 9 10 Q 3 turn. By that point, Veltri’s hand was almost drawing dead. His opponent had a made straight, and the only thing that could save Robert was one of the three remaining Jacks, which would result in a split pot. The river was the 4 , and Robert Veltri earned $201,250 for third place.

Heads-Up

In the decisive heads-up, two Seven Card Stud specialists faced off. For both of them, it was the biggest success of their careers. Moreover, the largest prize in tournament poker history was on the line.

They placed a million dollars on the table in large green bricks.

Holt was the chip leader entering heads-up, but Daugherty won a large pot when Holt showed aggression on the A 7 4 6 2 board, with Daugherty holding K 6 . For Holt, it was a pure bluff. This hand allowed Daugherty to take the chip lead.

Soon Holt regained the lead by shoving an overpair on a 9 10 6 flop. Daugherty folded, losing most of his stack.

Now Daugherty had to move all-in preflop, and Holt folded pocket sixes.

In another hand, Holt made a straight to a Six. His stack grew larger.

Daugherty, short-stacked, was forced to go all-in with A 10 against Don Holt’s K 10 on a 4 5 10 flop. The dealer revealed the J on the turn. The 9 on the river doubled Daugherty’s stack.

Brad Daugherty was once again the chip leader.

The next all-in occurred on the 8 9 J flop. Don Holt bluffed with 7 3 , and Daugherty called with K J for top pair.

According to Daugherty:

“I thought the best he could have was a flush or a straight draw, maybe a ten, but I took the gamble.”

Daugherty had a 77% chance to win.

The turn 5 increased his chances to 81%.

The river 8 made Brad Daugherty the 1991 WSOP champion!

He won the largest tournament prize in poker history – $1,000,000!

The Winner – Brad Daugherty

Brad Daugherty was born in 1951 in Mountain Grove, Missouri. He first encountered poker on a high school field trip. He continued playing poker with his family. Brad did not immediately devote his life to poker. After high school, he began working in the construction industry.

In 1977, Brad Daugherty was inspired by Doyle Brunson’s second consecutive WSOP Main Event victory. It prompted him to move to Reno, Nevada.

Here’s what he had to say about that:

“I respect a lot of old-timers who have played for many, many years. Like Doyle Brunson and Johnny Moss. Actually, I have admiration for all older players. I give them a good respect. These are the pioneers of poker. They have led the game to where it is now. They are the pioneers of poker.”

At first, Daugherty worked as a dealer and built a bankroll for poker, and then he started playing professionally. His first WSOP cash came in 1988, where he finished in 11th place in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud event. Two years later, he made his first final table in a $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo tournament, finishing third.

He did not have enough funds to enter the WSOP Main Event, so he was backed by Huck Seed, who covered part of Daugherty’s buy-in for the tournament.

Together with another WSOP champion, Tom McEvoy, he wrote the book “Championship Satellite Strategy and No-Limit Texas Hold’em for New Players.”

Daugherty is married, has three sons, and moved to the Philippines.

He tried to auction his 1991 WSOP champion’s bracelet for charity in 2010 and 2011, hoping to raise funds for impoverished Filipinos. On both occasions, the bids were too low to finalize a sale.

Daugherty’s quote:

“As anyone that has been here knows, there are lots of homeless kids and people living in poverty. I am always helping kids and families that I see in need. I thought, why not just auction the bracelet off and use (the money) where it could do some good, rather than just let it sit in the US in a safe deposit box?”

Over his poker career, Brad Daugherty has earned $1,830,873. Since Brad continues to play and recorded a WSOP 2024 cash, we can be sure this figure will grow over time.

Daugherty is still in pursuit of his second WSOP bracelet.

You can see Brad Daugherty in a short video recorded by Phil Hellmuth during the WSOP 2024. Brad is 72 years old at this moment, and he continues to play poker:

WSOP 1991 Main Event Results

Interesting Facts

• The series consisted of 18 tournaments, 3 more than in 1990
• A new record for the number of WSOP Ladies Event entries (141)
• A new record for the number of WSOP Main Event players (215)
• A new record for the largest WSOP prize ($1,000,000)
• Brad Daugherty became the first player to win $1 million in poker tournament history
• David ‘Chip‘ Reese was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Chip Reese is the youngest player in the Poker Hall of Fame
• Mim Penney is the first female to surpass $100,000 in WSOP winnings
• Seventh WSOP bracelet for Doyle Brunson (7/10)

WSOP History

1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024