Poker legend and 1979 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Bobby Hoff passed away Sunday at the age of 73. Known in the poker community as “The Wizard,” Hoff was regarded as one of the best No-Limit Hold’em cash game players in the world.
Despite his status as a truly intimidating cash game player, Hoff is arguably best known for getting agonizingly close to a WSOP Main Event bracelet in 1979 and falling short against amateur Hal Fowler. Hoff was heavily favored going into heads-up play Fowler, but was sucked out on multiple times, never able to put Fowler away. On the final hand, Hoff made a healthy raise pre-flop with pocket Aces and Fowler called with 6-7. The flop came down J-5-3 rainbow, so naturally Hoff bet hard once more. Fowler called again, perhaps looking to bluff later, perhaps searching for that gut-shot. Well, it was the gut-shot he got, as he found a 4 on the turn and won the tournament when Hoff moved all-in.
As Moonlight Graham said in Field of Dreams, “It was like coming this close to your dreams… and then watch them brush past you like strangers in a crowd.”
Hoff had nightmares for weeks after that and even accused Fowler of taking drugs to calm his nerves during the tournament. Hoff himself turned to drugs to cope and was mess for several years.
He eventually came out the other side, returning to a great career in cash games. And while he much preferred live games, he embraced the online game for its convenience. Hoff went by the screen name “DaWiz” on UltimateBet and had the same reputation on the internet as he did in person, even by those who had no idea who he was.
On Two Plus Two, one of the best stories about Hoff came from poker pro Jason “strassa2” Strasser:
February 2007. I stroll into the commerce for the first time, and sat down in a no limit game.
Across the table was a quiet older gentleman. He brought his healthy lunch with him and he didnt play too many hands for the first few orbits. I assumed he was a standard older guy, and I put him on my “AC old nit” gameplan of trying to run him over but immediately folding to any aggression. Works like a charm in the Borgata (still does).
Bobby Hoff checkraised me on the river in three hands over the next 90 minutes. I folded each time, twice I was going for value and once I was bluffing. For the first time in my entire career, I remember walking outside just to get some air. It was pretty obvious my plan was crap versus this player. I walked back in and he was smiling at me. He stuck his hand out and introduced himself as “dawiz” and it all came together for me.
We played a few times during that trip and I learned a ton from him. I loved the way he played and also the way he carried himself at the table. I used to make the joke to my friends who tell me about hands with older gentleman that the first thing they need to do is try to run them over, unless their name is Bobby Hoff.
As for who Hoff himself considered the best at the tables, in Dan Harrington and Bill Robertie’s book Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II: How to Play No-Limit Hold ’em Cash Games, Hoff said Doyle Brunson, TJ Cloutier, Gabe Thaler, Barry Greenstein, Carl McKelvie, Steve Lott, Ben Roberts, Bobby Baldwin, Eric Seidel, Scott Lungren, Prahlad Friedman, and Kenny Tran were “guys I’d hate to see sit down in my game,” adding that Baldwin was “the best player I ever played with in my life, by far.”
