Bobby "The Wizard"
Hoff (born in Victoria
, Texas
) is an
American
professional
poker player, based in Long
Beach
, California
.
Early years
In 1958,
Hoff studied at the University of Texas
on an athletics scholarship, where he frequently played golf from a scratch handicap.
Hoff
learned poker in Las Vegas
three years after graduating. He worked as a
poker dealer and played regularly
during his off time. He took up
blackjack
after reading the book
Beat the Dealer by
Edward O. Thorp and became a skilled player; however,
he often got drunk and lost his winnings. He joined a blackjack
team and played regularly for five years. Eventually he was banned
from the majority of blackjack tables in Las Vegas, forcing him to
return to poker.
Hoff became friends with
Sailor
Roberts, who staked much of his poker action. Together, they
drank large amounts of
alcohol
and took
cocaine. Hoff regularly took two
lines of cocaine before a big game and chased it with
Cognac.
1979 World Series of Poker
In the
1979 World Series of
Poker (WSOP) $10,000
no limit
hold'em main event, Hoff came back from a
chip count of $1,730 early on the first day to $225,700 early in
the final table's action. He eliminated
Johnny Moss in 5th place when his
A T outdrew
A Q
when the
T came on the
river. Hoff reached the heads-up stage of the
tournament, facing amateur
Hal Fowler,
whom he had eliminated from the same event in
1978. In the final hand, Hoff's
A A were outdrawn by Fowler's 7
6 on a board of J
5 3 4
T .
The heads-up match lasted over 10 hours, and was considered the
original
David and Goliath match of the
WSOP, as Hoff was the big favorite to win. This led to increased
attendance in future WSOP main events, as people realised that
anyone could win.
Hoff went on to have
nightmares about the
heads-up match for several weeks afterwards. During this time, Hoff
accused Fowler of consuming either
Valium or
Methaqualone throughout the heads-up
match. Hoff's cocaine habit grew, as he began to inject it rather
than snort it.
Further poker career
He also finished in the money of the $10,000 WSOP main event in
1990,
1993,
1996 and
1998. He also finished 2nd in a
WSOP preliminary event in
1984.
Hoff also appeared in
Poker Superstars
II, finishing second in two heats (both times to
Ted Forrest).
As of 2008, his total live tournament winnings exceed
$460,000.
His alias on
UltimateBet is
"DaWiz".
Trivia
- According to Hoff, his nickname refers to his ability to make
mountains of chips disappear.
- Hoff describes Bobby Baldwin as
the best poker player he ever saw.
- 2006 WSOP main event
winner Jamie Gold described Hoff as
"maybe the best player in the world." [213820]
References
- All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of The World
Series of Poker, Jonathan Grotenstein & Storms Reback,
ISBN 0-312-34835-5
External links
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