1978 World Series of Poker

The 1978 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held in May 1978 at Binion's Horseshoe. ^[1] and was the first WSOP that was not a winner-take-all prize. Instead the tournament had a progressive prize structure, as follows 50 percent for the Winner then 20 for second, 15 for third, 10 for fourth and 5 percent for fifth place.^[2]

Preliminary events

Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
$10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw	Billy Baxter	$90,000	Unknown
$1,000 Seven Card Razz	Gary Berland	$19,200	Unknown
$500 Seven Card Stud	Gary Berland	$17,100	Unknown
$5,000 Seven Card Stud	Doyle Brunson	$68,000	Unknown
$1,000 No Limit Hold'em	Aubrey Day	$42,600	Unknown
$200 Ladies' Seven Card Stud	Terry King	$10,080	Unknown
$5,000 Draw High	Lakewood Louie	$21,000	Unknown
$1,500 No Limit Hold'em	Hans "Tuna" Lund	$46,800	Unknown
$1,000 Seven Card Stud Split	David "Chip" Reese	$22,200	Unknown
$1,000 Ace to Five Draw	Henry Young	$19,200	Gary Berland

Main Event

There were 42 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. This was the first time that the main event paid a prize to any players other than the winner.

Final table

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Bobby Baldwin	$210,000
2nd	Crandell Addington	$84,000
3rd	Louis Hunsucker	$63,000
4th	Buck Buchanan	$42,000
5th	Jesse Alto	$21,000
6th	Ken Smith	None

Performance of past champions

• Day one: Johnny Moss, Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Brian "Sailor" Roberts, Doyle Brunson ^[2]

Other notable players

• Gabe Kaplan and Barbara Freer (the first woman player).^[2]

Notes

1. thehendonmob.com 9th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 1978
2. gaming.unlv.edu - Summary of 1978 Tournament