by Kate
8. February 2010 09:42
With the Super Bowl currently going on in the States, I thought I’d give you a little bit of history about the ‘Amarillo Slim Super Bowl of Poker (SBOP).
During the 1980s this was the second most prestigious poker tournament in the world. It drew a lot more ‘pros and hard-core amateurs’ than the WSOP which was drawing quite a large and general crow.
Prior to 1979, the only high stakes tournament that people could enter was the WSOP. Poker ambassador and legend Amarillo Slim saw this as an open opportunity to get something new and exciting started. In his words, “The World Series of Poker was so successful that everybody wanted more than one tournament,” so Slim called upon his friendships with the poker worlds and starting a new tournament in the February of 1979. He modeled his Super Bowl of Poker on the WSOP with several different events and a $10,000 Hold’ Em main event.
After 2 years, the event became extremely popular especially amongst the world’s poker elite. Six of the participants at the first event are now part of the Poker Hall of Fame (Johnny Moss, Bobby Baldwin, Chip Reese, Amarillo Slim, Sailor Roberts and Doyle Brunson).
Initially held at the Hilton Hotel in Vegas, it was moved to the Sahara in Reno due to the closure of the Hilton. After a further 2 years at Sahara, the casino was acquired by the Hilton Corporation and again it had to change its location. In 1982, the SBOP was held in Lake Tahoe at the Sahara. Seeming like a wandering gypsy, after a few years Slim moved the event to Caesars in Lake Tahoe where it was played again for just one year. On it quest, the event again moved to Caesars in Las Vegas where it was held until the casino closed its poker room, and Slim once again moved the event to the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, Nevada.
Only 12 people showed up for the 1991 SBOP Main Event. The lack of stability in the tournaments location has been cited as one of the reasons why the tournament ultimately failed. “You had to fly to Vegas and rent a car and drive 125 miles, and that didn’t go over real big.” Slim said of the dwindling numbers of players coming through the event.
One trademark of the SBOP was the prizes. The winner received a personalized gift from Slim. The first year the prize was a $3,000 pair of customized cowboy boots, however as the tournament grew so did the gift value. The 1980 event culminated in a trophy which ‘was so enormous it made the gaudy gold bracelets given to the winners at the World Series of Poker look understated.”