The Story of the 1994 WSOP Main Event
In 1994, the World Series of Poker celebrated a quarter of a century as the ultimate poker tournament series in the most unique way. For the 25th year of the world’s biggest poker festival, the winner of the Main Event, otherwise known as the Poker World Championship, would not only win the top prize of a million dollars but would also be awarded their weight in silver to celebrate the silver anniversary of the World Series of Poker. As it turned out, that player would be remembered for taking their pieces of silver but not from the WSOP.
Seidel and Seed Among Early Winners
Not counting the press invitational event, 21 events were held at the 1994 World Series of Poker, all culminating in the biggest-ever field in the World Championship. Before that, however, plenty of big names grabbed gold by way of winning WSOP bracelets in a variety of events. The first event was the busiest of them all, with the $1,500 Limit Hold’em becoming the first WSOP event to feature over 500 players. Steven Sim outlasted 505 others to win the top prize of $289,200, the only bracelet of his career.
Winning Event #2: $5,000 Limit Hold’em event for $210,000 was Erik Seidel, who added another title on his way to his 10 WSOP bracelets. Huck Seed also won, capturing Event #3: $2,500 PLO, and came close to a second in Event #20: $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw, which was won by Lyle Berman.
There were bracelet wins for some legends of the game, including Johnny Chan (Event #17: $2,500 Limit Seven-Card Stud), Mike Hart (Event #12: $1,500 Limit Razz), and Jay Heimowitz (Event #10: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em) as 1994 got busy and made already well-known faces household names to many.
Enright Seals Second Ladies Event Win
There were also a couple of important achievements for female players at the 1994 WSOP, with Barbara Samuelson becoming the first woman to finish in the top ten of the WSOP Main Event, cashing for $26,880, and Barbara Enright winning her second Ladies Championship (Event #13). Before Enright’s victory, no one had won two Ladies Championships. Her victory in the event with 96 players gave her a top prize of $38,400. In turn, this result would contribute to Enright one day becoming the only player to be a member of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, Senior Poker Hall of Fame, and the WSOP Hall of Fame.
Two WSOP bracelet wins for T.J. Cloutier – in Omaha 8 or Better (Event #14) and Pot Limit Hold’em (Event #15) – followed before the stage was set for the 1994 Main Event. Other winners included George Rodis (Event #4: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), J.C. Pearson (Event #5: $2,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Rod Pardey Sr.(Event #6: Limit Seven Card Stud), Roger Moore (Event #7: Limit Seven Card Stud), O’Neil Longson (Event #8: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha), Mike Laing (Event #9: $2,500 Limit Hold’em), John Heaney (Event #11: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em), J.J. Chun (Event #16: $1,500 A-5 Draw Lowball), Brent Carter (Event #18: $1,500 Limit Omaha), Vince Burgio (Event #19: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo
Building off the 220 entries in 1993, there was a large increase in 1994 to 268 hopefuls, each putting down $10,000 or qualifying via the now numerous live satellite events to the big one. The World Championship – and one million dollars – was on the line.
Turner and Krux Fall to Hamilton
Even with such a mammoth field, players were wrong to expect any change to the payout structure. Having paid 36 places some years ago, the reduction to just 27 payouts stood firm, and that meant that almost 90% of the field didn’t cash for a cent. Irishman Donnacha O’Dea won $16,800 in 27th place, and he was joined in the money places by former champions Bobby Baldwin (24th for $16,800) and Mansour Matloubi (16th for $20,160).
Down to the final six, and Robert Turner had barely gotten through the on-screen introductions before he was out on the rail for $50,400 in sixth place. All-in with ace-seven, he lost to Hugh Vincent’s ace-queen. A queen on the flop did nothing for Turner’s hopes, as the sixth-place finisher was drawing dead on the turn.
Russ Hamilton got his first major uptick in a massive hand where a flushed board of clubs landed queen-high. With a flush on board, Hamilton three-bet shoved and was called by Vince Burgio. Hamilton turned over king-jack of clubs for a rivered straight flush and doubled up in full.
Soon, Al Krux lost with pocket sevens to Hamilton’s ace-queen when an ace on the flop and queen on the turn sent the eventual winner to the top of the leaderboard. Krux, who cashed in 5th for $100,800, said: “I was hoping he didn’t call me. Would have been a nice little pick-up.” Presenter Dick Van Patten commiserated him with the legend, “Well, you’ve had a nice four days.”
“I made one mistake and it cost me.”
Down to four players, every decision had potentially life-changing ramifications. On a board showing A-J-9-3, the short stack of Vince Burgio was shoved with ace-king and was called by Hugh Vincent with ace-three. No help came for Burgio, who exited with $168,000 – a fine example of laddering but no help to his quest to win gold.
“I thought I might have a little momentum going,” Burgio said with his wife and daughters watching on from the stand. “The last hand I picked up ace-king. When the ace came, I thought I had the best hand. The Horseshoe has put on another fabulous tournament, especially on the 25th anniversary. I think everybody’s had fun and I can’t wait to come back.”
Falling in third was John Spadavecchia, who won $294,000 when his open-ended flopped straight draw lost to Hugh Vincent’s pair of sevens when turn and river blanked.
“I wanted to win it, I made mistake and that’s cost me. That was the only mistake I made in this tournament. I figured the worst he could have is the same hand or a seven. He outdrew me; he’s lucky.”
Drama at the Death as Silver Lining Loses its Luster
Going into the heads-up battle, that pot gave Vincent the chip lead with 1.61 million chips to Hamilton’s 1.07 million. A crucial pot came when Hamilton held pocket queens on a board of Q-6-5-8, with Vincent holding nine-ten for the double belly buster. If he hit a seven or a jack, the title would be Vincent’s, but another eight landed on the river, giving Hamilton the full house and a big lead.
“The tables have definitely turned.” proclaimed Dick Van Patten as the biggest pot in the WSOP Main Event’s glorious history played out. As it happened, Van Patten was right on the money. Hugh Vincent tucked into a hamburger at the poker felt, a la Phil Hellmuth, but it brought him no luck. On a flop of 8-6-2, Vincent got his chips in the middle with eight-five, but Hamilton committed with a king-eight. A ten on the turn and a jack on the river proclaimed Russ Hamilton.
“He deserves it – everybody here likes him,” the commentary team declared of Hamilton. “He’s got a big following, he played great!”
While Vincent smiled in defeat, Russ Hamilton celebrated with $1 million and his weight in silver, approximately $30,000. Much to the dismay of the organizers, Hamilton was the heaviest of the players at the Main Event final table.
“You were a pleasure to watch, a real gentleman about it.” Van Patten eulogized as Hamilton was congratulated by all at the final table, the Las Vegas resident supported three deep into the crowd.
Just a few years later, Hamilton’s ‘thirty pieces of silver’ would send him down, as he was personally indicted in the Ultimate Bet ‘superuser’ scandal, where he admitted to having cheated $22.1 million of funds from the online poker community. Russ Hamilton didn’t win another WSOP event or cash in a ranking event after 2006, fading away in disgrace as the poker world shunned the 1994 world champion.
Since 1994, the World Series of Poker has never again awarded the world champion their weight in silver. It’s not hard to see why.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brad Daugherty | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 2nd | Don Holt | United States | $402,500 |
| 3rd | Bob Veltri | United States | $201,250 |
| 4th | Don WIlliams | United States | $115,000 |
| 5th | Perry Green | United States | $69,000 |
| 6th | Ali Farsai | United States | $34,500 |
1993 WSOP Main Event 1995 WSOP Main Event
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.