Poker has been around because the 1800s when the game first gained traction among gamblers who enjoyed the services of Mississippi river boats and New Orleans saloons. From a 20-card deck to the 52-card pack we’re all acquainted with, the king of card games had come quite a distance before it earned the status it holds.
1969 was a decisive year in the real history of poker. It was when the initial edition of the World Number of Poker, the be-all and end-all event in the poker world, took place. WSOP has quickly garnered immense popularity, and because the prize pot grew, the winners also took home bigger chunks; it’s also where four of the very best five biggest poker wins occurred.
Fast forward 50-odd years, and we now regularly witness players taking home millions of dollars. To offer you a taste of the size of poker tournaments สมัคร ยูฟ่าเบท we compiled a set of the largest poker wins in history.
Now let’s dive into those million-dollar-filled pools, shall we?
A Set of the Top 5 Biggest Poker Prize Money Wins
Whilst the title suggested, today we’re presenting some of the biggest poker wins, the very best five, to be precise. We’ll begin with the “smallest” and work our way to the win that also holds the record as the largest single win in poker.
#5 Sam Trickett – $10,112,001
We kick off the very best 5 biggest poker wins with Sam Trickett. The English professional poker player started his career in 2005 each time a knee injury stopped his professional football career in tracks. Trickett had a knack for the game, and it took him only seven years before he notched up what might later become his most tremendous success.
On 3 July 2012, Trickett’s performance in the WSOP’s biggest event, Big One for One Drop, saw him rake in $10,112,001 after he finished second, losing the game heads-up to Antonio Esfandiari (more about this guy a little later).
He instantly became a star back home in the UK and the country’s most successful poker player in history. Currently, Trickett has earned over $21 million from live games, putting him in the 32nd put on Hendon Mob’s all-time money list.
#4 Jamie Gold – $12,000,000
TV producer and talent agent Jamie Gold appears to play poker primarily for fun. And while enjoying himself, he also manages to take several million dollars just for the kicks.
Gold’s most notable performance was in 2006, when he won the WSOP’s Main Event, defeating Paul Wasicka heads-up and earning $12,000,000. It’s no surprise he went home with this particular hefty sum: according to WSOP, Gold had more poker tournament final table finishes than all opponents he faced during final rounds combined. Seems that practice does make perfect, especially as it pertains to winning big in poker.
Gold happens to be the president of production at an amusement company but nevertheless regularly enjoys poker competitions, primarily participating in major tournaments.
#3 Elton Tsang – $12,248,912
Chinese Canadian poker player, Elton Tsang Ka-wai, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Asian players and has achieved iconic status in international poker thanks, among other things, to his $12,248,912 win in 2016.
14 October 2016 was a lucky day for Tsang as he arrived on the scene because the winner in the No Limit Hold ’em Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, an exclusive event involving another 25 players. The Hong Kong resident’s $12+ million win remains the third-largest payout in poker history.
#2 Daniel Colman – $15,306,668
Daniel “Dan” Alan Colman is really a professional poker player from Holden (not Hold’em!), Massachusetts. He’s another disciple of the WSOP, the event that brought him his most critical achievement up to now and earned him an area among the largest poker wins.
Called “mrGR33N13” and “riyyc225” on the internet, Colman is primarily oriented towards online poker, but that hasn’t stopped him from swooping $15,306,668 in the 2014 WSOP.
During the time when he defeated the poker legend Daniel Negreanu heads-up through the WSOP’s Big One for One Drop in 2014, Colman was only 24 years old. Currently, Colman has pocketed $28,925,058 in live earnings.
#1 Antonio Esfandiari – $18,346,67
Reigning supreme on the largest poker wins list is Antonio Esfandiari, an Iranian-born poker player and a proud holder of three WSOP bracelets, with the next bracelet accumulating $18,346,67 to his account.
To get at the throne and the amount of money, Esfandiari had to beat another 47 players in the 2012 Big One for One Drop No-Limit Hold ’em event, earning $18,346,673. Even though the whopping figure remains the largest cash prize in poker history, Esfandiari continued to notch up successes: exactly the same year, he won his third bracelet at the 2012 World Number of Poker Europe.
How Can I Learn Poker and Enter a Tournament?
They say that money won is doubly sweet as money earned, but the trail to winning big bucks in poker is bumpy. Building poker skills takes years, and even although you invest significant effort inside, it is no guarantee you will start earning a lot more than you put in.
But we could allow you to by pointing you in the right direction: as a novice poker player, we suggest you spend a call to your how to play poker piece, where we detail every step of the game, in order to learn the fundamentals and grab some lingo.