1972 World Series of Poker

The 1972 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held during early May 1972 at the Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the 3rd annual installment of the World Series of Poker, and also the 2nd one to feature the freezeout structure. In comparison with the previous year’s series, the number of events was cut back and the buy-ins were raised, resulting in 1 preliminary event and the Main Event both having the same buy-in of $10K (equals about $54K in 2011 U.S. dollars). The preliminary event featured 5-card stud poker and was won by Bill Boyd, the same man who won the 1971 5-card stud preliminary event. The previous years’ double champion Johnny Moss was defeated early in the main event and Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston went on to win the tournament after a series of deals.

Preliminary event

Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
$10K Limit 5-Card Stud	Bill Boyd	$20K	Unknown

 

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston	$80K
2nd	Walter “Puggy” Pearson	None
3rd	Doyle Brunson	None
4th	Crandall Addington	None
5th	Jack Straus	None
6th	Johnny Moss	None
7th	Roger Van Ausdall	None
8th	Jimmy Casella	None