Brian “Sailor” Roberts: 1975 WSOP Main Event Champion and Poker Hall of Famer
POKER HALL OF FAME
Inducted 2012
Brian “Sailor” Roberts was one of the important figures from poker’s Texas road-gambling era and a champion from the formative years of the World Series of Poker. Roberts won two WSOP titles, including the 1975 WSOP Main Event, and later received one of poker’s highest honors when he was inducted posthumously into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012.
Roberts belonged to the generation of traveling gamblers that included Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim. Long before televised tournaments and large modern poker tours became standard, the three traveled in search of profitable games and developed reputations as formidable all-around gamblers.
Roberts died on June 23, 1995. His tournament record is complete, but his place in poker history remains closely connected to the early WSOP, the Texas rounder tradition and the development of professional poker as a serious competitive pursuit.
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Who Was Brian “Sailor” Roberts?
Brian Roberts was an American poker player born March 7, 1931, in San Angelo, Texas. According to PokerNews, Roberts served in the United States Navy during the Korean War, a background that produced the nickname “Sailor” that followed him throughout his gambling career.
After leaving the Navy, Roberts became part of the Texas gambling circuit. He traveled with Brunson and Amarillo Slim through Texas and other parts of the United States at a time when serious poker players often had to locate private games rather than rely on established casino poker rooms.
The World Series of Poker has described Roberts, Brunson and Slim as part of the group of Texas road gamblers who competed in high-stakes games and spent considerable time discussing poker strategy. Their careers belonged to an era in which professional poker required not only technical skill but the ability to find games, evaluate opponents and survive the financial swings of life on the road.
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Brian Roberts and the Texas Rounders
Roberts’ association with Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim is central to understanding his place in poker history. The three traveled together for years, sometimes sharing a bankroll while searching for games where they believed they held an advantage.
That environment helped shape Roberts into more than a tournament specialist. Contemporary accounts and later recollections portray him as an accomplished all-around gambler capable of competing in different poker variants and against experienced high-stakes opposition.
The Poker Hall of Fame emphasized that background when Roberts was selected for induction. Rather than judging him only by tournament statistics, voters also considered his standing among the elite players of his era and the respect he earned from other prominent professionals.
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Brian “Sailor” Roberts’ WSOP Bracelets
Roberts is officially recognized as a two-time World Series of Poker champion.
His first WSOP victory came at the 1974 World Series of Poker in the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball event. Roberts won $35,850 for the victory. Deuce-to-seven lowball was particularly associated with elite high-stakes players of that period, and Roberts’ championship demonstrated the mixed-game ability for which many of the early Texas professionals were known.
One year later, Roberts won poker’s world championship.
His two WSOP victories were:
1974 $5,000 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball — $35,850
1975 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em WSOP Main Event — $210,000
Although the physical bracelet tradition evolved during the WSOP’s early years, modern WSOP records credit Roberts with two bracelets for those championships.
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1975 WSOP Main Event Championship
Roberts’ defining tournament achievement came at the 1975 World Series of Poker at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas.
The $10,000 Main Event attracted 21 players. Roberts ultimately defeated Bob Hooks heads-up to win the championship and the $210,000 winner-take-all prize.
The official WSOP record for the 1975 series lists Roberts as the Main Event champion. Historical WSOP records also identify pocket nines as his winning hand against Hooks’ ace-king in the final confrontation.
The victory gave Roberts his second WSOP title in consecutive years and placed him permanently on the list of World Series of Poker Main Event champions.
His championship came during a particularly important period in poker history. The Main Event was still a small gathering of established gamblers compared with the thousands of players who would eventually enter the tournament, but winning it carried enormous prestige among the strongest professionals of the era.
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Roberts’ Other WSOP Main Event Success
The 1975 championship was not Roberts’ only strong performance in poker’s world championship.
Historical records place him deep in several early Main Events, including a third-place finish in 1974 before he won the title the following year.
Roberts later returned to the money in the 1982 WSOP Main Event. The official World Series of Poker’s historical account identifies him as the eighth-place finisher for $20,800 in the tournament won by Jack “Treetop” Straus.
That 1982 result is particularly notable because the Main Event had grown to 104 entries, becoming the first edition to exceed 100 players. Roberts was still competing successfully against leading tournament players more than a decade after the WSOP began.
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Brian Roberts’ Live Tournament Earnings
Tournament databases provide only a partial picture of Roberts’ gambling career because much of his professional life took place before modern tournament reporting and computerized results databases.
As of September 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Roberts with $266,650 in recorded live tournament earnings and a largest recorded cash of $210,000 from his 1975 WSOP Main Event victory.
Those numbers should not be interpreted as a complete measurement of his poker winnings. Roberts spent much of his career playing cash games and gambling during an era in which those results were not publicly tracked.
For historical players such as Roberts, tournament databases document only the results that survived in published records.
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What Was Sailor Roberts’ Playing Style?
Modern labels such as tight-aggressive or loose-aggressive are difficult to apply reliably to Roberts because detailed hand databases and extensive televised footage from his prime do not exist.
What is better documented is his versatility.
Roberts competed in no-limit hold’em, deuce-to-seven lowball and high-stakes cash games, and his contemporaries regarded him as an accomplished player across multiple forms of poker. His first WSOP championship coming in deuce-to-seven lowball reinforces that reputation.
Accounts surrounding his Poker Hall of Fame induction also emphasized an ability to play opponents rather than simply rely on his own cards. That opponent-focused approach was considered sophisticated for the period and reflected the experience accumulated by Roberts and other Texas road gamblers through years of difficult private games.
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Poker Hall of Fame Induction
Roberts was elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012 alongside longtime poker executive and tournament innovator Eric Drache.
The World Series of Poker announcement of the 2012 Poker Hall of Fame class highlighted Roberts’ career as a Texas rounder, his two WSOP championships and his eighth-place finish in the 1982 Main Event.
Because Roberts died in 1995, the honor was awarded posthumously.
The induction recognized more than his 1975 Main Event title. It reflected the respect Roberts commanded among prominent players who competed against him and his place within the generation that helped establish professional poker before the game entered the television and internet eras.
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Brian Roberts’ Place in Poker History
Roberts’ tournament résumé is much smaller than those of modern professionals who can play hundreds of recorded events during a career. That difference reflects the era in which he competed rather than the importance of his accomplishments.
His legacy rests on several distinct achievements:
Two World Series of Poker championships
Victory in the 1975 WSOP Main Event
A championship in elite deuce-to-seven lowball competition
Multiple deep finishes in the early WSOP Main Event
Membership in the influential generation of Texas road gamblers
Posthumous induction into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012
Roberts also provides an important link between two eras of poker. His career began when professional players traveled long distances looking for private games, yet he survived long enough competitively to reach the money in a WSOP Main Event that had grown beyond 100 entrants.
The game changed dramatically around him, but Roberts’ accomplishments remained part of its championship record.
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Brian “Sailor” Roberts’ Death and Legacy
Roberts died on June 23, 1995, at age 64.
His death came years before the poker boom brought the World Series of Poker and many of its early champions to a worldwide television audience. His 2012 Poker Hall of Fame induction helped renew recognition of his career for later generations of players.
Today, Roberts is remembered primarily as the 1975 world champion, but that title represents only part of his historical significance. He was an accomplished lowball player, a high-stakes road gambler and a respected contemporary of several figures who became central to poker history.
More than five decades after his Main Event victory, his name remains permanently attached to one of the game’s most important championship records.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many WSOP bracelets did Brian “Sailor” Roberts win?
Brian “Sailor” Roberts is credited with two WSOP bracelets. He won the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball event in 1974 and the $10,000 WSOP Main Event in 1975.
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When did Sailor Roberts win the WSOP Main Event?
Roberts won the WSOP Main Event in 1975 at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas.
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How much did Brian Roberts win in the 1975 WSOP Main Event?
Roberts won $210,000 for defeating a 21-player field in the winner-take-all 1975 WSOP Main Event.
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Who did Sailor Roberts beat heads-up in the 1975 WSOP Main Event?
Roberts defeated Bob Hooks heads-up to win the 1975 WSOP Main Event.
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Why was Brian Roberts called “Sailor”?
Roberts received the nickname “Sailor” after serving in the United States Navy during the Korean War.
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Was Sailor Roberts inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame?
Yes. Roberts was inducted posthumously into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2012 alongside Eric Drache.
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How much did Sailor Roberts earn in live poker tournaments?
As of September 2026, The Hendon Mob lists Roberts with $266,650 in recorded live tournament earnings. That figure does not include untracked cash-game winnings and should not be interpreted as his complete lifetime poker profit.
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When did Brian “Sailor” Roberts die?
Roberts died on June 23, 1995, at age 64.