WSOP Classic Moments – Puggy Pearson Wins 1973 Main Event
The 1973 World Series of Poker Main Event kicked off with 13 entrants that put up $10,000 to make a winner takes all prize of $130,000. With so few players in the event, the final six was naturally a stacked field.
Sailor Roberts was the first out in sixth place. Bob Hooks and Bobby Brazil were next to follow in 5th and 4th respectively. Jack “Treetop” Straus finished the event in 3rd to leave Walter “Puggy” Pearson and Johnny Moss heads-up for the title. Moss was voted as the World Champion in 1970 and won the first Main Event tournament in 1971. Puggy finished in 2nd in 1972 behind Amarillo Slim Preston.
Pearson grinded his way to a 5 to 1 chip lead heads-up against Moss. The final hand of the Main Event saw Moss move all-in on a flop of Qs-10c-2c. Pearson made the call and turned over As-7s for ace-high. Moss turned over Kh-Jd for an open-ended straight draw. The turn 6d missed both players and the river 5h gave Pearson the win with ace-high. Pearson was the 1973 Main Event Champion.
Puggy Pearson won four bracelets in total over his career. He took the 1971 Seven Card Stud Bracelet and then took three bracelets in 1973, including his Main Event title. While Pearson is a Main Event champion, he is actually known as the father of the modern poker tournament. In 1949, Pearson pitched the idea of a poker tournament to Nick “the Greek” Dandalos who later pitched the idea to Benny Binion, owner of Binion’s Horseshoe. Binion ran with the idea and the poker tournament was born.
Pearson was one of the famed road gamblers that would travel around the country playing high stakes poker. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1987. Pearson spent his later years traveling around the country in a customized RV and was an annual participant in the World Series of Poker. Pearson passed away in 2006 at the age of 77.
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