1983 World Series of Poker

Part I:


Part II:


Part III:


Part IV:


Part V:



108 players entered this year, twice as many as in 1979. The winner still took home exactly half the prize pool, in this case $540,000.
Gabe Kaplan is back again and he busts out defending champ Jack Strauss. Strauss won in 1982 when he was down to his final chip, and coined the expression "a chip and a chair." They showed the last hand from last year, when Strauss had A-10 vs. Dewey Tomko's A-4. A four came on the flop, but Strauss won on the river with a 10 to take the title.
They talked about female players and how one of them brings a fan because she doesn't like the cigarette smoke. Then Curt Gowdy and Bobby Baldwin discussed the possibility that someday smoking will be banned at WSOP events, which of course now it is.
Doyle Brunson makes the top 3. He is much heavier here than he is now, his fingers don't look like shriveled little sausages. Doyle gets eliminated in third place going all in with his flush draw against three nines.
When it got down to heads up between Tom McEvoy and Rod Peate, the players' wives/girlfriends were actually seated at the table, right next to them.
This heads up match lasted 7 hours, the longest in history until the 2006 HORSE matchup between Andy Bloch and Chip Reese.
McEvoy won with pockets Queens vs King-Jack suited. After he won he stood on his chair and screamed, "all right, all right."