1989 World Series of Poker explained

Competition:1989 World Series of Poker
Location:Binion's Horseshoe, Las Vegas, Nevada
Dates:May 1 – May 19
Champion: Phil Hellmuth
Prev:1988
Next:1990

The 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe. The 1989 Main Event was won by 24-year-old Phil Hellmuth, defeating defending champion Johnny Chan, and also breaking the record for being the youngest player to win the WSOP Main Event (a record previously set by Stu Ungar in 1980). Had Chan won, he would have tied Johnny Moss's record of three Main Event wins. This year also marked the first year in which Moss did not finish any WSOP tournaments inside the payout positions.

Preliminary events

EventWinnerPrizeRunner-up
$1,000 Limit Hold'emGeorge Allen Shaw$179,600Lee Southard
$1,500 Seven Card RazzJohn Laudon$95,400Said Barjesteh
$1,500 Seven Card Stud SplitMike Sexton$104,400Sid Herald
$500 Ladies' Seven Card StudAlma McClelland$18,600Adrienne Zoia
$1,500 Ace to Five DrawHarry Madoff$119,400Billy Baxter
$1,500 Pot Limit OmahaBarry Blackburn$108,000T. J. Cloutier
$1,500 Seven Card StudMel Judah$130,800Jerry Buhr
$5,000 Deuce to Seven DrawBob Stupak$139,500Billy Baxter
$5,000 Seven Card StudDon Holt$154,000David Sklansky
$1,500 Limit OmahaLyle Berman$108,600MacDonald Kempe
$2,500 Pot Limit OmahaFrank Henderson$184,000Kevin Redican
$2,000 No Limit Hold'emNorman Keyser$244,000Tommy Grimes
$2,000 Limit Hold'emThomas Chung$212,000Carl McKelvey

Main Event

There were 178 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament, with the top 36 players finishing in the money.

Final table

PlaceNamePrize
1stPhil Hellmuth$755,000
2ndJohnny Chan$302,000
3rdDon Zewin$151,000
4thSteve Lott$83,050
5thLyle Berman$67,950
6thNoel Furlong$52,850

In The Money Finishes

NB: This list is restricted to In The Money finishers with an existing Wikipedia entry.

PlaceNamePrize
11thJohn Esposito$12,500
14thJay Heimowitz$12,500
16thJohn Bonetti$12,500
22ndMickey Appleman$10,000
23rdChip Reese$10,000
24thAn Tran$10,000
25thHilbert Shirey$10,000
28thYoshio Nakano$7,500
29thBerry Johnston$7,500
31stJim Bechtel$7,500
35thPuggy Pearson$7,500
36thCrandell Addington$7,500