Doyle Brunson was undoubtedly the best Hold’em player in the world after his two victories in 1976 and 1977. When it came time to write the limit Hold’em section of his poker bible Super System, he asked 28-year old Bobby Baldwin to do the honors. It was the ultimate compliment to pay a young man in what was then considered an old man’s game.
Baldwin was smart, scientific, diligent and charismatic. He came 8th in the 1976 series, then won two bracelets in 1977, filling the time between with a remarkably successful career on the road. Understanding the math of the game better than the old pros and making massive strides in the psychology and reads, to say that Baldwin then was what Phil Ivey is now would be a fair statement.
The 1978 Series was the first to see the prize money split. With 42 entrants, half would go to the winner, with the rest split amongst second through fifth. Having already taken his fifth bracelet, it seemed like Doyle’s tournament to win. He surprisingly exited on the first day, along with Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim, Pug Pearson and Sailor Roberts; every world champion to that point. That left Baldwin the odds on favorite.
Standing in Baldwin’s way at the end was one more old-school road gambler, ‘Dandy’ Crandall Addington. The sharpest-dressed man in Texas or Vegas, Crandall was touted as an amateur to the TV audience in order to create some pro v. amateur excitement, an attempt to help sell the show. In the end, even the eventual Hall of Famer couldn’t stop Baldwin.
Bobby was the more aggressive of the two and over a marathon session he asserted control. By what would be the final hand, he held all but T55,000 of the T420,000 in play. Addington, looking to double up, raised the T2,000 blind to $T6,000 and Baldwin almost immediately put it to $20,000.
Crandall paused for a moment, but it had been a long and frustrating day. He declared himself all-in, remarking that he’d need a chip to protect his cards. With a smile hidden by a big cigar, he leaned across Bobby to the masses of chips that had collected and liberated one, dropping it on his cards. It didn’t bring him the luck he was hoping for; Baldwin had pocket queens.
The flop was a monster: Qs-9h-Ks. They’d both hit their sets, leaving Addington needing the forth nine or running jack-ten. The turn As was no help; neither was 10d on the river. Baldwin became the youngest champion in Series history by over a decade. It would be the closest Crandall would ever come to the win he valued more than all of the money in the world.
Gary Wise
gary@wisehandpoker.com
