A Poker Life -- Brad DaughertyThe Story of the First Million Dollar Man |
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A Poker Life is a new series for CardPlayer.com that looks beyond the felt and into the untold stories of poker’s biggest names.
On May 13, 1991, it was another hot, sunny day in Las Vegas, and despite the dry heat, Brad Daugherty, a local poker pro, was wearing a jacket as he strolled into the Binion’s Casino. Nevermind the short discomfort he may have endured during the walk from his car to the casino, for his long-term destiny for the day was much more important. As he opened the door, a wall of cool air-conditioned air hit his face. Daugherty was prepared for a long day at the poker table, and he was about to compete in the most prestigious tournament of all — the World Series of Poker main event.
He walked to the tournament area, saying hello and greeting the many players that had become friends in the small poker community. There weren’t many faces he didn’t recognize. Daugherty decided to try to win his seat for cheaper by playing in a single-table satellite. He got heads up and lost. Frustrated, but confident in his play, he entered one more. He got heads up and lost again, both times all in with the best of it preflop. With no more time left to play another satellite, Daugherty bit the bullet and put up the $10,000 buy-in.
Shuffle Up and Deal
Once he found his seat, he sat down to play another tournament, just as he had many times before, but today was different. Today was the start of the first poker tournament in history that would make the winner a millionaire.
The year before, Binion’s announced at the of the 1990 main event that the next WSOP champion would win $1 million, guaranteed.
“You know, before the ’91 main event, it did go through my mind that it would be cool to be the first one to ever win a million dollars,” said Daugherty.
Prior to this event, Daugherty had been playing in tournaments for two years and had made several small cashes. He played cash games to make a living for years before playing tournaments, but briefly held a job as a cardroom manager in Reno. After realizing his career as a player was much more profitable, he went back to playing.
The 1991 WSOP main event was only Daugherty’s second go at the big one. The field of 215 players was the largest in WSOP history up to that point. One room held all of the competitors, which is far from the scene of today’s main event, which requires four flights of players in a field that sprawls the length of the Amazon Room at the Rio. When it was time to begin, the players took their seats with 10,000 in chips.
“It was different back then, because usually there would only be a couple players I didn’t recognize.”
Chipping Up
Daugherty chipped up to about 20,000 in chips by the end of day 1. “I had a decent stack. Players could finish with 10,000 or 12,000, no problem,” he said. One of the biggest differences Daugherty noted was that 15 or 20 years ago, players in the main event weren’t accumulating like they do now. “Years ago, I could run over the bad players, but these days, there are still bad players, but they are so aggressive. You just have to adjust your play.”
On day two, Daugherty did begin to run over his table, and within two hours, he took the lead in the tournament. He remained chip leader throughout the day and into day three. Unfortunately for him, the cards turned cold.
“I totally got tortured. Every hand I had got beat,” he said. “With two tables left, I got down to 30,000. But then I stole some spots and doubled up and made the final table. I was just so relieved, and I thought, tomorrow has got to be much better.”
Final Table
At the beginning of the final table, Daugherty quietly accumulated chips as players were eliminated. Then, in one key hand, Daugherty was in a three-way all-in pot with his A-K racing against Perry Green with pocket eights and Robert Veltri with pocket jacks. Daugherty hit is hand, and the other two failed to improve.
“When I won this pot, I knew I was going to come in first or second,” Daugherty said.
Eventually, Daugherty got heads up with Don Holt as a slight underdog. He got down to a 10-1 dog after a hand where Holt moved all in over the top of one of Daugherty’s steal attempts. Before mucking, he “Hollywooded” for a bit, seemingly thinking of calling, but in reality, he was devising a plan to get back into the match. He knew he’d have to gamble a little, but was prepared to fight for the win. He doubled up and continued to chip away at Holt’s stack, eventually taking away the lead. Perhaps frustrated by the swinging of the tides, Holt bluffed all in with 7
3 into Daugherty on the flop of J
9 8
when Daugherty held K
J.
The turn was a 5, giving Holt another set of outs, but the last card was a blank, the 8. Daugherty became the first $1 million poker winner.
Life After Making History
Daugherty has gone on to cash in several more major tournaments, but none as big as his WSOP championship. He continues to play poker for a living, but focuses more on smaller tournaments. Daugherty often travels to Asia for bigger buy-in events, and when he’s not playing, he enjoys teaching and promoting poker. Although he doesn’t travel the poker circuit regularly, he never misses the WSOP.
Since 1991, every single WSOP main event champion has also become a millionaire. At the 2006 main event, the biggest prize pool ever created for a poker tournament made its top twelve finishers instant millionaires, including Jamie Gold 12 times over. Eight of remaining nine players at the final table of the 2008 WSOP main event will also receive top prizes over the $1-million mark. These days, it seems that $1 million is a common top prize in many major tournaments, and it’s oftentimes just another day at work for a poker pro when they take down a seven-digit prize. Today, more than 120 players have become millionaires at the WSOP, but it all started with the first Million Dollar Man.
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