Poker is an exciting game. The adrenaline rush of pulling a big bluff, dragging in a huge pot, or winning a major title can be compared to a few things in things in this life. Over the years, we've witnessed numerous such moments and it's hard to pick out the most important ones. Every big hand has its own magic.
When there are so many moments to choose from, making any sort of top list-type of an article is difficult. This article will focus on top 10 biggest poker wins. But, it won't focus on the sheer cash amount. There are other things that make a poker win big even if the amount won doesn't seem as significant in the overall scheme of things.
1. Chris Moneymaker Wins 2003 WSOP Main Event
Poker is a member of the card game family, which involves serious betting, and is widely played in clubs and casinos. The origin of poker is a top of many a debate as English actor Joseph Cowell stated in his memoirs that the game was first played with a deck of 20 cards in Louisiana in 1829, whereas, R. Foster is his 1937 edition of Foster's Complete recorded that, 'the game of poker, as. So video poker is a very special exception to the casino rule and proper video poker strategy can really set you apart from your fellow casino patrons throwing their money away on low-odds games. And it's not far-fetched to believe you can learn how to win almost every session.
Chris Moneymaker, the 2004 World Series of Poker champion, competes on the fourth day of the first round of the WSOP no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event at the Rio Hotel & Casino July 31, 2006 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wie gewinnt man am besten im online casino. When an unknown accountant from Tennessee qualified for the 2003 WSOP Main Even via a satellite tournament on PokerStars, nobody could imagine how big of an effect this would have on the game of poker. The man with a catchy surname and not much else going for him in poker terms came to Las Vegas filled with dreams and hopes. His story wasn't unlike one of the so many others coming to Sin City, looking for their share of luck.
However, Moneymaker stood out from the rest. He managed to outlast every single player in the Main Event, seizing the title and the $2.5 million prize to go with it. In an epic ending, he squared off against famous Sammy Farha and prevailed.
Thanks to television, Moneymaker's story gave wings to hundreds of thousands around the globe. If a Tennessee accountant could do it, anyone could. In the years to come, the popularity of poker, online and offline, would keep growing, reaching unthinkable proportions. That 2003 Main Event changed the game of poker forever.
2. Antonio Esfandiari Takes Home Big One for One Drop
Back in 2012, a professional player Antonio ‘The Magician' Esfandiari took home the biggest prize in tournament poker. Playing in the first $1,000,000 buy-in event, Esfandiari managed to be the last man standing in the 48-strong field consisting of top professionals and wealthy businessmen.
In the end, ‘The Magician' took home a prize of $18.3 million, for a cool profit in excess of $17 million. To this day, this is the biggest single prize won in a poker tournament, and it is a record that won't be easily surpassed.
3. Jamie Gold and a $12,000,000 Victory
rofessional poker player Jamie Gold competes in the Raising the Stakes for Cerebral Palsy Celebrity Poker Tournament at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino hosted by the One Step Closer Foundation to raise funds and awareness for people with cerebral palsy on June 19, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Following Moneymaker's 2003 victory, fields in the annual WSOP Main Event kept growing. The 2006 Main Event saw the largest-ever WSOP ME field, gathering a total of 8,773 players and creating a massive prize pool of $82.5 million. Of this amount, $12,000,000 was reserved for the winner.
The man who took home that amount was Jamie Gold. Gold, who's a TV producer and a talent agent, has been a regular fixture in poker tournaments over the years. However, he wasn't a professional player. That didn't stop him from outlasting the huge field to seize the prestigious title and the $12 million win.
Jamie's victory will be remembered for a long time for reasons other than money, though. For the entire duration of the tournament, Gold kept talking, trying to extract information from his opponents. Without going into the merits of this strategy, one thing is certain. Watching Jamie Gold doing his thing at the tables was loads of fun.
4. Victoria Corren Mitchell Becomes the First Two-Time Female EPT Winner
The European Poker Tour (EPT) is one of the biggest, best-known poker tournament series aside from the WSOP. Although it is being discontinued as such, EPT will certainly be remembered for years to come. It created many great champions, produced hundreds of nerve-wracking moments, and gave us a lot of entertainment.
In the sea of champions, Victoria Corren Mitchell stands out as the only female player to win two EPT titles. First, in 2006 Victoria became the first-ever female EPT winner by triumphing in London. Then, in 2014, she repeated her success by going all the way in San Remo. These two wins combined brought her in excess of $1.5 million and, more importantly, added her name to the pages of poker history.
5. Martin Jacobson and an Even $10,000,000 Win
After Gold's victory in 2006, WSOP Main Event never really saw such a huge field of players descend on Las Vegas. Prize pools were still quite significant, but they didn't reach that magic $10 million mark. That's why WSOP organizers decided to up the ante by offering $10,000,000 for the 2014 Main Event winner.
That amount eventually went to the Swede Martin Jacobson who outlasted the field of 6,683 players and took home the huge amount. One peculiarity about this year was that tournament organizers had to water-down the prize pool somewhat to meet the first place guarantee. Thus, runner-up Felix Stephenson won 'only' $5.1 million for his second place finish.
6. $15,000,000 for Dan Colman
The WSOP 2014 saw another huge winner. That year was the second time the $1,000,000 buy-in Big One for One Drop was staged, once again attracting some of the game's best to the tables. The field was slightly smaller, as 42 players showed up to play this time around, but it was still a prize pool of $37,000,000 to be distributed only among the few of the highest finishers.
The top prize of $15.3 million went to Daniel Colman, a player who built his reputation primarily at a virtual (online felt). Finishing runner-up that year was one of the best-known faces in poker, Daniel ‘KidPoker' Negreanu, who banked just shy of $8.3 million.
7. Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey & Largest Pot in Televised History
Poker Pro Phil Ivey plays poker at Ante Up for Africa 2010 on July 3, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We all love seeing high stakes televised cash games. Many believe that's poker at its best, with high-pressure moments, huge bluffs, and missteps that can cost players high six figures. Over the years, we've seen a number of big pots take place, but one of them remains remembered as the largest one in televised history.
The hand was played between two of the game's greats, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. Both well-known high stakes professionals, Ivey is certainly better known to the poker fandom. However, this particular pot didn't go quite as planned.
The pot in question took place on Season 4 of the Million Dollar Cash Game show. The action was three-handed, but Patrik Antonius decided to sit this one out. Ivey and Dwan kept at it, and after they both had made straights on the turn, all the money went in, creating a $1.1 million pot. Dwan held the absolute nuts and Ivey was drawing dead with his smaller straight, making Dwan the man who took down the biggest pot in poker televised history.
8. Johnny Lodden aka ‘bad_ip' High Stakes Adventure
We can't discuss biggest poker wins without at least mentioning online poker, as this is a very big and significant segment of the game. Back in a day when online poker was still rather young, Johnny ‘bad_ip' Lodden wracked havoc on the Prima network. He's been known to play in the highest games available, and for a while, he was considered the biggest winner to hit the felt on the network. Although no one knows exact numbers, Lodden's wins were measured in millions.
However, it all came to a crashing end for Johnny as he admittedly lost his entire bankroll on Prima. According to Lodden, the amount was in a vicinity of $10,000,000. Norwegian pro thus went from being one of the most feared online players around to being broke in a span of a couple of years. Lodden did manage to rebuild his bankroll later on thanks to a stake from a friend.
9. Largest Online Poker Pot ($1.3 million+)
High stakes action has been going strong at online tables for over a decade now, and many big pots have exchanged hands. There is no doubt that significant amounts of money went back and forth between the players on lesser-known rooms, away from prying eyes of curious railbirds.
However, one pot officially stands out among the biggest poker wins in online history. It was played between two high stakes regulars, Patrik Antonius and Viktor ‘Isildur1' Blom. The two squared off at a heads up pot limit Omaha table and, sitting with more than $600,000 in front of them (each), they managed to put it all in the middle. The end result? A pot worth $1,356,946!
10. Largest Online Tournament Win ($2,278,097)
Rounding up this list of top 10 biggest poker wins in history, we must mention the biggest ever online tournament win. That honor went to Tyson ‘POTTERPOKER' Marks. He triumphed in the 2010 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, taking home just shy of $2.3 million.
Marks had to battle his way through the field of nearly 2,500 players. It was an uphill battle but the one well worth the effort as he came out of it a couple of million richer!
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7. Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey & Largest Pot in Televised History
Poker Pro Phil Ivey plays poker at Ante Up for Africa 2010 on July 3, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
We all love seeing high stakes televised cash games. Many believe that's poker at its best, with high-pressure moments, huge bluffs, and missteps that can cost players high six figures. Over the years, we've seen a number of big pots take place, but one of them remains remembered as the largest one in televised history.
The hand was played between two of the game's greats, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. Both well-known high stakes professionals, Ivey is certainly better known to the poker fandom. However, this particular pot didn't go quite as planned.
The pot in question took place on Season 4 of the Million Dollar Cash Game show. The action was three-handed, but Patrik Antonius decided to sit this one out. Ivey and Dwan kept at it, and after they both had made straights on the turn, all the money went in, creating a $1.1 million pot. Dwan held the absolute nuts and Ivey was drawing dead with his smaller straight, making Dwan the man who took down the biggest pot in poker televised history.
8. Johnny Lodden aka ‘bad_ip' High Stakes Adventure
We can't discuss biggest poker wins without at least mentioning online poker, as this is a very big and significant segment of the game. Back in a day when online poker was still rather young, Johnny ‘bad_ip' Lodden wracked havoc on the Prima network. He's been known to play in the highest games available, and for a while, he was considered the biggest winner to hit the felt on the network. Although no one knows exact numbers, Lodden's wins were measured in millions.
However, it all came to a crashing end for Johnny as he admittedly lost his entire bankroll on Prima. According to Lodden, the amount was in a vicinity of $10,000,000. Norwegian pro thus went from being one of the most feared online players around to being broke in a span of a couple of years. Lodden did manage to rebuild his bankroll later on thanks to a stake from a friend.
9. Largest Online Poker Pot ($1.3 million+)
High stakes action has been going strong at online tables for over a decade now, and many big pots have exchanged hands. There is no doubt that significant amounts of money went back and forth between the players on lesser-known rooms, away from prying eyes of curious railbirds.
However, one pot officially stands out among the biggest poker wins in online history. It was played between two high stakes regulars, Patrik Antonius and Viktor ‘Isildur1' Blom. The two squared off at a heads up pot limit Omaha table and, sitting with more than $600,000 in front of them (each), they managed to put it all in the middle. The end result? A pot worth $1,356,946!
10. Largest Online Tournament Win ($2,278,097)
Rounding up this list of top 10 biggest poker wins in history, we must mention the biggest ever online tournament win. That honor went to Tyson ‘POTTERPOKER' Marks. He triumphed in the 2010 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event, taking home just shy of $2.3 million.
Marks had to battle his way through the field of nearly 2,500 players. It was an uphill battle but the one well worth the effort as he came out of it a couple of million richer!
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read more +Invariably everyone would agree on the fact that poker is the most interesting game in the world. It has achieved this fame only because of the currency exchanged by gamblers of all kinds while playing the game. With the appropriate level of skills on probability research, player psychology and mathematics, one can analyse the flow of the game and be able to predict even the unpredictable outcomes of the game.
Top 10 Poker Money Winners Winning
But in the end, it all comes down to mere luck. Because of the huge amounts money involved in the game, many gamblers and players are now making a living out of it and most of them are really successful. Here is a list of the top 10 richest poker players in 2019 who have earned truck-loads of money with their very specific skillset.
Table of Page Contents
10. Joe Hachem
He was initially a chiropractor, before his life as a poker player and because of certain health reasons he was forced to quit his job and became a poker player to earn a living. He grew out to be a very successful player within a very short time and had also won the world poker series in 2005 which had a total of 5619 participants from across the world. The prize amount was $7.5 million which he took home and taught the world about how to become a millionaire within a short while. Apart from this, he has won several other series and amassed a wealth of $12 million.
9. John Juanda
This man is the richest poker player in his country, Indonesia. He has had his feet in several other fields like athletics and business and was a very successful one before he stepped into the poker playing arena. He is known for his composed nature even at crucial times of the game and it is because of this quality he was able to win 3 world titles. This 45 years old Indonesian has amassed a wealth amounting to $13.2 million.
8. Phil Ivey
He is one of the youngest and a successful player who has won 3 world poker bracelets by the age of 23. He became a millionaire when most of the people of his age will still be in their graduation. He has gained a wealth of over $15 million during his peak times and is still one of the richest poker players in the world.
7. Daniel Negreanu
Top 10 Poker Money Winners 2020
He is the ideal role model for most of the young poker players who is known for his composure and confident decision-making skills displayed during the game. He started playing the game at a very young age and is admired for the daring move he made by dropping out of college for playing the game. Most of his efforts were fruitful ever since then and his $16 million net worth is enough testimony for his successful run.
6. Antonio Esfandiari
This man is the richest poker player in the world with a net worth of $23 million. He is especially popular for his bold decisions and a unique skillset which enabled him to win the world poker tour championship. He is most admired young professional poker player who is nicknamed as the 'Magician' because of his miraculous gameplays.
5. Jamie Gold
Jamie Gold has one of the very interesting qualities, his balance between an aggressive play and calm mind makes him one of the very popular players in the poker world. He was crowned as the winner of the world poker tournament in 2006 and bagged a cash prize of $12 million. He is currently evaluated at $13 million as his net worth making him of the richest poker players on the planet.
4. Michael Mizrachi
Going by the nickname 'Grinder', Michael is one of the players with a consistent performance in the game. Though he has not won any world tournaments, he wins almost every major tournament he plays in and bags a truckload of money as his prize amount. He is currently evaluated at $14 million as his net worth which makes him a very rich person.
3. Phil Hellmuth
This man needs no introduction as he is one of the most popular players in the poker world who is admired for his extraordinary poker skills. He is popularly referred to as the 'Poker Brat' and is usually compared with other legends like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods because of his accomplishments and the extraordinary charm he possesses. He is considered to be one of the richest poker players in the world with a net worth of about $16 million which marks him as a very successful player in the world. He has also won the world poker series in 2003.
2. Sam Trickett
He started his poker career during the year 2005 and has made several historic achievements since then. He earned his fortune mainly after winning 8 major world tournaments and became one of most recognised figures in the poker world. He began his career after being forced to quit pursuing a career in football due to some injury. Every decision he made turned out to be fruitful ever since and is one of the richest poker players in the world with a total net worth of over $17 million.
1. Erik Seidel
He is the most admired figure in the poker world who is said to have won 8 poker bracelets. He is a veteran of the game who gained his poker skills through experience by playing backgammon league tournaments for almost 8 years and gained enough experience. He even has a world title under his collar and is evaluated at $40 million as his net worth which makes him the richest poker player on the whole planet. He earned his enormous fortune through both stock market investments and his poker titles and his extreme money making skills have inspired many players and youngsters.
Poker is a very famous game in the world which is one of its unpredictability. If played with the right mind and skillset, one will be able to change his fortune overnight. These players chose this game as their full-time career and have been tested to be successful at it. One bad move is enough to make you hit the ground and hence it requires a complex set of skills and extreme conditions of luck in order to be successful.