Chip and a Chair

Jack Straus
In 1982, Jack Strause won the World Series of Poker Main Event after discovering he had one $500 chip left when he thought he was busted out of the tournament. This resulted in coining the popular phrase “Chip and a Chair.”

On day two of the Main Event, after he’d lost a big hand, Jack seemed to have been knocked out. But as he was standing up from the table he noticed a single 500 chip hidden under a napkin. It had not been included in Straus’s shove, and he hadn’t announced “all-in,” so he was allowed to sit back down and play.

The Comeback of All Comebacks
The next hand was folded round to his big blind. He then doubled up his stack. Before long, he had the most chips at the table.

By the end of day two, Jack Straus had 90,000 chips. By the end of day three, he was chip leader with 341,500. Before long, Straus had single-handedly eliminated most of the final table until only he and Dewey Tomko were left.

Their heads-up contest lasted just ten minutes. Straus got it in good with A-10 against Tomko’s A-4. Tomko hit the 4 on the flop, but Straus triumphed when the 10 hit on the river, winning a then record payout of $520,000. And all from a single chip and a chair.