1989 World Series of Poker

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 3 Main Event wins. This year also marked the first year in which Moss did not finish any WSOP tournaments inside the payout positions.

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Preliminary events

Event	Winner	Prize	Runner-up
$1,000 Limit Hold’em	George Allen Shaw	$179,600	Lee Southard
$1,500 Seven Card Razz	John Laudon	$95,400	Said Barjesteh
$1,500 Seven Card Stud Split	Mike Sexton	$104,400	Sid Herald
$500 Ladies’ Seven Card Stud	Alma McClelland	$18,600	Adrienne Zoia
$1,500 Ace to Five Draw	Harry Madoff	$119,400	Billy Baxter
$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha	Barry Blackburn	$108,000	T. J. Cloutier
$1,500 Seven Card Stud	Mel Judah	$130,800	Jerry Buhr
$5,000 Deuce to Seven Draw	Bob Stupak	$139,500	Billy Baxter
$5,000 Seven Card Stud	Don Holt	$154,000	David Sklansky
$1,500 Limit Omaha	Lyle Berman	$108,600	MacDonald Kempe
$2,500 Pot Limit Omaha	Frank Henderson	$184,000	Kevin Redican
$2,000 No Limit Hold’em	Norman Keyser	$244,000	Tommy Grimes
$2,000 Limit Hold’em	Thomas Chung	$212,000	Carl McKelvey

Final table

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Phil Hellmuth Jr	$755,000
2nd	Johnny Chan	$302,000
3rd	Don Zewin	$151,000
4th	Steve Lott	$83,050
5th	Lyle Berman	$67,950
6th	Noel Furlong	$52,850

Other High Finishes

 

Place	Name	Prize
11th	John Esposito	$12,500
14th	Jay Heimowitz	$12,500
16th	John Bonetti	$12,500
22nd	Mickey Appleman	$10,000
23rd	Chip Reese	$10,000
24th	An Tran	$10,000
25th	Hilbert Shirey	$10,000
28th	Yoshio Nakano	$7,500
29th	Berry Johnston	$7,500