1971 World Series of Poker


The 1971 World Series of Poker was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe during May 6-10, 1971. This was the second installment of the World Series of Poker, but unlike at the 1970 event, freezeout tournaments were played to decide the winner of the main title. The freezeout structure replaced the cash games, and it was kept in use ever since. Five freezeouts were played in total—four preliminary events and the Main Event—each featuring a different poker variant. The preliminary events required player to put up a buy-in of $1,000, while the Main Event buy-in was $5,000.

Events

The 1971 WSOP featured four preliminary events. Event #4 saw Johnny Moss become the first player in WSOP history to win multiple career bracelets.
#DateEventEntriesWinnerPrizeResults
1May 6, 1971$1,000 Limit Seven-card studUnknownPuggy Pearson $10,000
2May 7, 1971$1,000 Limit RazzUnknownJimmy Casella $10,000
3May 8, 1971$1,000 No Limit Five-card studUnknownBill Boyd $10,000
4May 9, 1971$1,000 Limit Ace-to-five Draw LowballUnknownJohnny Moss $10,000
5May 10, 1971$5,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event6Johnny Moss $30,000

Main Event

The 1971 WSOP Main Event was held on May 10, 1971. There were six entrants to the Main Event, each paying $5,000 to enter the tournament. The game played was no limit Texas hold 'em. Johnny Moss won the tournament and took the whole prize pool. Moss's victory that year was the first time a player had been awarded the Main Event Championship two years in a row, a feat that would later be also accomplished by Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, and Johnny Chan. Moss became the first player in WSOP history win three bracelets with the win. Following the 1971 Main Event, the buy-in would be upped to $10,000, a figure that remains to this day. Five future Main Event winners all took part in the six-man tournament.

Final table

PlaceNamePrize
1stJohnny Moss$30,000
2ndJack Straus-
3rdDoyle Brunson-
4thJimmy Casella-
5thPuggy Pearson-
6thSailor Roberts-