Earlier this year on an ordinary Monday afternoon, a bespectacled man walked into the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on Las Vegas Blvd. Tucked under his arm was an uninteresting box that only he knew contained something rather interesting – a pair of gold watches dating back more than 40 years.
These were not your run-of-the-mill wristwear, but rather evidence of a unique and often overlooked time of poker history, a year when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet, now the game’s highest accolade, was replaced in favor of watches.
1982 WSOP watches
The man holding the box was David Sklansky, who in 1978 forever changed poker by advocating a mathematical approach to the game in his groundbreaking book The Theory of Poker. Nicknamed “The Mathematician,” he proved his prowess just four years later when he won two WSOP tournaments in five days.
First, he won the 1982 WSOP Event #7: $800 Mixed Doubles Limit Seven Card Stud, a tournament that paired one man with one woman, alongside Dani Kelly, and followed that up by taking down Event #12: $1,000 Limit 5-Card Draw High. A year later, the Binions reverted back to the beloved bracelets players know today, and Sklansky captured his third piece of WSOP hardware by winning Event #11: $1,000 Limit Omaha.
It was a remarkable accomplishment, and for more than four decades he’s kept safe the evidence of his victories, both of which still worked. So, why was Sklansky carrying his 1982 WSOP gold watches, two of only 15 ever awarded, into a pawn shop? Well, he was looking to sell them of course, but not to just any of the dozens of pawn shops spread across Las Vegas. Oh no, he was walking into arguably the most famous pawn shop in the world, the home to the wildly popular television show Pawn Stars, and he was there to do it with cameras rolling.
Paolo Boi opened to 1,600,000 in the cutoff and Justin Belforti defended the big blind.
Both players checked to the K♣10♠7♠9♠ turn, where Belforti led for 1,100,000. Boi made the call.
When the 4♥ landed on the river, Belforti tanked for about 40 seconds before announcing all-in for about 9,300,000 and Boi beat him in the pot as he announced a call and stood up rolling the A♠3♠, already celebrating. Belforti's Q♦8♠ quickly flashed before the dealer tossed them into the muck and Belforti headed to the payout desk in fifth place.
Juan Vecino opened to 1,600,000 from the button, and then Noel Rodriguez, in the small blind, moved all-in. Vecino called, being the player at risk for 8,700,000.
Juan Vecino: J♥J♦
Noel Rodriguez: 7♠7♣
The dealer fanned a board of K♠Q♣4♦6♣Q♦, and Vecino doubled up.
Brandon Mitchell on the button shoved for 9,800,000, and he was called by Paolo Boi in the small blind.
Brandon Mitchell: A♦6♦
Paolo Boi: A♠10♦
"Flush draw!" Mitchell cheered when he saw the flop of J♦3♦7♦. But the 10♣9♣ runout didn't change anything, and Mitchell was eliminated in fourth place for $239,451.
Paolo Boi moved all in from the small blind, and Juan Vecino wasted no time calling off his stack of about 15,000,000 in the big blind.
Juan Vecino: A♦Q♣
Paolo Boi: K♦10♦
Boi smashed the K♠J♦4♦ flop, making a pair of kings and a flush draw, and Vecino couldn't pull ahead as the dealer ran out the 8♥ turn and the 3♥ river.
