The Story of the 1995 WSOP Main Event
In 1994, Russ Hamilton walked away with a million dollars and his hefty weight in silver as the WSOP awarded the most unique prize in its quarter-century history. The 26th year of the World Series of Poker was going to be bigger and better than ever. A new champion would bring the ‘Action,’ and with 24 events on the schedule, including the $10,000-entry No Limit Hold’em World Championship, drama was found at every turn.
Early Events Give Cloutier Unique Record
As was often the case at the WSOP in Las Vegas in the first half of its history, the opening event was the best attended. A new record was set when 560 players took on Event #1: $1,500 Limit Hold’em event, won by Christian Van Hees for a whopping $315,000. Only one former Main Event champion won another bracelet in 1995, as Berry Johnston took home $91,200 when he beat the field of 152 in Event #3: $1,500 Limit Omaha.
For the first time in WSOP history, a bracelet event took place in Chinese poker, which would remain on the schedule until 1998 in its current form. Just 69 players took part in Event #4: $1,500 Chinese Poker, and the first Chinese poker bracelet winner was John Tsagaris, who earned over $41,000 for his victory and became the first Canadian to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. There was also a win for Valter Farina, who became the first Italian player to win a WSOP title when he took down Event #2: $1,500 Seven-Card Stud event for $144,600.
Starla Brodie won the Ladies Event #23 for $35,200, while another female player, Annie Duke, set a record when she became part of the first brother and sister combo to make a WSOP final table alongside Howard Lederer, nicknamed ‘The Professor’. While neither Duke (6th) nor Lederer (9th) won Event #10: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em, they both rose in prominence on their way to dubious notoriety over a decade later.
Double Winners and Cloutier’s Unique Record
There were two players who won two WSOP bracelets in 1995. Hilbert Shirey took down both Event #18: $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha and Event #19: Pot Limit Hold’em events for exactly $300,000 in combined winnings. Meanwhile, Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen won Event #11: $2,500 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo and Event #16: $2,500 Limit Hold’em tournaments for over $282,000, better than second place in the Main Event!
Finishing as runner-up behind Anthony DeAngelo in Event #20: $5,000 Seven-Card Stud event for $88,550, T.J. Cloutier became the first player to win over one million dollars in combined WSOP earnings without winning the Main Event. Whether he was happy to have that record is unknown, but the seven figures of poker payouts were very welcome for a man who would become a legend of the game.
Shirey’s victories were in consecutive bracelet events; however, there was hardly time to celebrate that astonishing feat before it was repeated almost immediately by the winner of the $10,000-entry WSOP Main Event.
Other winners from the 1995 edition of the World Series of Poker were Rod Peate (Event #5: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Mickey Sisskind (Event #6: $1,500 Limit Razz), Max Stern (Event #7: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Richard Klamian (Event #8: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), Phil Earle (Event #9: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha), Pete Vilandos (Event #10: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Jon Bonetti (Event #12: No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball), Martin Santos (Event #13: $2,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Clifford Roof (Event #14: $1,500 Limit A-5 Draw Lowball), Steve Zolotow (Event #15: $5,000 Chinese Poker Rebuy), Dan Robison (Event #17: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), Mickey Appleman (Event #22: $5,000 Limit Hold’em), and ‘Action’ Dan Harrington, who won his first bracelet in Event #21: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em but would not have to wait long for bracelet number 2.
Barbara Enright Becomes a WSOP Legend
With 273 players entering the 1995 Main Event, which again set a record, presenter Dick Van Patten asked tournament director Jim Albrecht what he thought of the action and who might win. “They’ve been playing a little bit cautious. People have been very careful on the second day. If I had to pick a few for you, Dan Harrington has a good chip position, Hamid Dastmalchi, the 1992 world champion and maybe a lady – Barbara Enright is doing very well.”
If Albrecht wanted to pitch himself as a pundit, he could hardly have come up with a better audition. Two days later, all three of his picks made the six-handed final table while other stars from the felt, including Mike Sexton (23rd for $17,300), Berry Johnston (21st for $17,300), John Esposito (12th for $27,680) and ‘Captain’ Tom Franklin (7th for $69,200) busted out.
When the final six players sat down, there was a record breaker amongst them. By reaching the final six, Barbara Enright had become the first woman to reach the final table of the WSOP Main Event. Incredibly, almost three decades later, with millions more women playing the game and the final table expanding to 9, Enright remains the only female player to have ever made the main event final table.
After Chuck Thompson busted in sixth place for $86,500, Enright was forced to the rails, unluckily losing with pocket eights to Brent Carter’s six-three after his low holdings flopped two pair. Enright cashed for $114,180, overtaking Marsha Waggoner as the biggest female winner in WSOP history.
“I’m proud for what I did.” Said Enright of her momentous achievement.
Former World Champ Dastmalchi Dusts Down Opponent
With four players left, the field was entirely North American, with one Canadian, Howard Goldfarb, joining three Americans. The Canadian was leading the way with 1.3 million chips. Behind him sat Dan ‘Action’ Harrington on 900,000, with Brent Carter (400,000) and Hamid Dastmalchi (130,000) big outsiders. The 1992 world champion Dastmalchi was next to go and had choice words for Goldfarb upon his exit.
“Howard looks inexperienced. He raises with too many bad hands. Danny is going to pick him up one of these hands and outplay him after the flop.”
Despite Dastmalchi’s condemnation of Goldfarb, the short-stacked Carter busted next. Carter initially doubled up with pocket sixes and survived against Goldfarb’s call with ace-ten. Carter was still short, but that hand had taken the lead off Goldfarb, leaving Harrington in charge chip-wise. Carter shoved with king-queen of spades on a flop of 8-6-5 with 2 hearts, and Goldfarb calling with ace-four of hearts. Carter stood up and soon walked away, a deuce of hearts on the turn sent him home in third place for $302,250.
“It’s a wonderful hit. I was trapped in the big blind and I made a mistake. He raised that pot a little bit and I needed to hit that flop to continue to play that hand.”
‘Action’ Harrington Calls Cut on World Championship
Heads-up, Toronto-based Goldfarb took on the Californian Harrington. It didn’t take long for the American to end up as the last player to win back-to-back bracelet events, including the Main Event. On a flop of 8-6-2, Goldfarb moved all-in for just over 600,000 chips with ace-seven. Harrington called with eight-nine for top pair. A queen on the turn meant that only one of the three remaining aces would win the pot for the Canadian. Another queen on the river proclaimed Dan ‘Action’ Harrington as the new world champion.
Missing out on the title, Howard Goldfarb, who started playing poker in 1993, finished 22nd in 1994 and won $519,000 as the World Championship runner-up in 1995. Incredibly, the Canadian has never cashed since in any ranking event and disappeared from the poker world results-wise two years after playing for the first time.
Dan Harrington did quite the opposite, remaining a high-profile poker player for many years. Harrington has released seven notable poker strategy books, won the 2007 Legends of Poker event in Los Angeles for $1.63 million, and has cashed for over $6.6 million in poker tournaments throughout his career. He was inducted into the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame in 2010.
Despite these luminous achievements, Dan Harrington never won another WSOP bracelet in his lengthy career after taking down the World Championship for a million dollars. You can relive all of the action from this final table here.
Johnny Moss passed away in the autumn of 1995. He had played in every WSOP from its inauguration in 1970 to 1995, which took place just months before his death. Fellow professional Doyle Brunson said he would put Moss on his ‘Mount Rushmore’ of poker players, along with Puggy Pearson, Sailor Roberts, and Chip Reese.
Johnny Moss once said, “Never act as if you are better than the people you are doing business with.”
He never acted it, but The Grand Old Man of Poker invariably was better whenever the business of poker took place.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dan Harrington | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 2nd | Howard Goldfarb | Canada | $519,000 |
| 3rd | Brent Carter | United States | $302,750 |
| 4th | Hamid Dastmalchi | United States | $173,000 |
| 5th | Barbara Enright | United States | $114,180 |
| 6th | Charles Thompson | United States | $86,500 |
1994 WSOP Main Event 1996 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.