The 1982 World Series of Poker was monumental in terms of growing popularity. In years past the event would grow year in and year out, but it looked like it had started to slow down. For example, in 1981 the event grew by just two participants. 1982 brought a huge change as the field grew from 75 players to 104 players in the tournament. This huge tournament provided some of the best competition that had ever been seen. It was clear now that the World Series of Poker had caught the attention of the entire world.

Even with all of the attention surrounding the huge group of players, the talk was all about Stu Ungar. Ungar was an unknown that went from rags to riches in 1980 with his first World Series of Poker victory. Many people saw it as pure luck, but the young stud was able to gather another World Series of Poker victory in 1981, making him the first back to back winner in history. Of course everyone would be watching him in 1982, wondering if he had what it would take to be the winner an incredible three years running.



Unfortunately for Ungar this would not be his year. He did survive past day one, but he was eliminated in day 2. Although his endeavors to win three in a row were thwarted, he was already secured as a poker legend.

The first day two days cut the field tremendously, Lạc Sơn Đại Phật leaving only 26 of the original 104 players to compete for the championships. There was a huge prize available of nearly 1 million dollars and a lot of good players left to fight for it. By the end of the third day there were only 9 players left on the board, including some poker legends like Brian Roberts, Doyle Brunson and Dewey Tomko. This field was hot and Lạc Sơn Đại Phật ready to roll going into the final day.

On day four there was a falling out of players one at a time. Quickly the players were eliminated in succession and within a short time there were only two players left. These two players, Dewey Tomko and Jack Straus, would fight for the largest prize in the history of the World Series of Poker.

With just the final two players remaining, both of them were dealt pocket Aces to start a hand. With each player possessing Aces there was a lot of confidence on the table. As the cards started to flop, it looked as though Tomko would take the advantage over Straus on this hand. Unfortunately for Tomko the last card was a 10, matching one of the cards in the hand of Straus. This gave Straus the advantage in the end and helped him to become the 1982 Champion of the World Series of Poker.

This made up one of the most exciting World Series of Poker events in history with all of the stories surrounding the huge playing field and Ungar going for his 3rd. In the end it was Jack Straus that was celebrating with his huge prize.












Braeden Tomlinson writes reviews on various sporting events including the websites. In this piece of write up, the author highlights on various betting odds i.e. online poker, online gambling etc.