1979 World Series of Poker - Recap
The 1979 edition of the World Series of Poker saw a field
of 54 players. There was also a trend beginning to grow, eight
of these players were amateurs. One of them was named Hal
Fowler, and he was certainly the last amateur standing at
the final table. Bobby Hoff, Bobby Baldwin, Crandell Addington,
George Huber, Sam Petrillo, Sam Moon and Johnny Moss were
all present at the final table, every one of them a world
class player, along with Fowler. Fowler was the owner of a
public relations firm.
When action got underway Moon was the chip leader with $138,900.
Moon eliminated Baldwin rather quickly when he made a set
of aces over Baldwin’s set of eights. Moon then went
card dead and Hoff jumped into the role of the aggressor.
Hoff used this rush to build a massive stack ($225,700). It
was Hoff who eliminated Moss in fifth place. Fowler then discarded
Moon in fourth place, and Huber in third. It was now down
to the final two players, a professional, and an amateur playing
for WSOP gold.
Fowler moved in his stack of $250,000 early and scored a
large victory over Hoff. Fowler showed his inexperience when
he pushed the incorrect amount of chips into the middle a
number of times. He was a few outs away from dead at one point
of the heads-up match, when he pushed all in pre-flop with
K-J. Hoff made the call with Q-6 and both a queen and a jack
hit the board through the turn. A king on the river rescued
Fowler from doom though; it also gave him the chip lead.
Hoff lost another pot to become a three-to-one dog in chips
but he fought back. At one point Hoff trailed Fowler by only
$70,000. Hoff won the small pots, but fate was always on Fowler’s
side for the large ones. Lady Luck would side with Fowler
once again when Hoff woke up with pocket aces and pushed a
large amount of chips into the middle preflop. Fowler called
with 7s6d. The flop rolled out Js5h3c and Hoff fired again,
this time for $40,000, half his remaining chips. Fowler chose
to chase the inside-straight draw and called. The 4s on the
turn paid him off when Hoff moved all in for his last $43,000.
Fowler called and the inconsequential river card was the 10d.
Hoff won $108,000, but he was dejected by the loss, and the
manner in which it was dealt. Fowler took home the gold bracelet
and $270,000. In what would become a historical trend for
poker, what was good for the amateur, was good for the game.
Fowler’s victory showed benefits a year later for the
WSOP.
