Around the world, poker is incredibly popular and thanks to the growth of online poker, it’s now played across far reaching corners of the globe. In fact, today, more than 100 million people play poker online. The flexibility of online poker has meant that people can play from anywhere and at any time and have an abundance of learning resources available to them.
As poker has grown in popularity, so have the tournaments, in which the jackpots seem to have been increasing alongside this growth every year. One of the great things about poker today is that anyone has a chance of winning the big jackpot prize. While there are seasoned poker professionals; even considered celebrities in their world, today anyone can join in.
While it takes a lot of dedication, practice, and painstaking lessons if you want to play among the best of the best at poker, the sky's the limit if only players put their mind to it. Below are some of the biggest poker wins in history.
1. 2014 WSOP Main Event
The 2014 World Series of Poker Tournament was the 45th annual event, held at the Rio-All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Nevada, Las Vegas. The main event was held on the 5th of July and ran until the 14th. During this time, there was a pool of $62.8 million to be won and some of the top events included $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold'em, $25,000 Mixed Max No Limit Hold'em and $1,000 Pot Limit Omaha.
The final event where players competed for the grand prize took place in November, where top performers went head-to-head in an attempt to win an eye watering $10 million and a poker bracelet. The final tournament saw players Martin Jacobson and Felix Stephensen go head-to-head in a close game.
The winner was Swedish poker player, Mark Jacobson, who entered November 9 in 8th chip position. The prize was the fifth largest single payout from a tournament in poker history, putting Jacobson on the map of fame in the poker world.
2. 2016 Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza
The 2016 Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza saw a total of 26 players go head-to-head as they competed for the third largest single payout in the history of poker. Throughout the tournament, Hong Kong player Elton Tsang was ahead of the rest in what was one of the most aggressive playing styles to be presented.
At the time, Tsang didn’t have a high profile on the world poker stage, yet his high roller disposition and distinct tactic to keep increasing the bet in order to put his opponents under a high amount of pressure, was a winning combo. Tsang won the tournament, walking away with a mega total of $12,248,912. To this day, he is considered to be one of the most talented Asian poker players of his time.
However, it wasn’t until Tsang founded the first live poker tournament of Macau that he became really well known in the poker world. What's more, when he’s not trading chips at the Poker table, Tsang is a well-established and highly successful businessman.
3. 2012 WSOP One for One Drop
The 2012 World Series of Poker was the 43rd annual event, held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Nevada, Las Vegas between May 27, and July 16, however the first table at the main event was delayed until later in October due to the US Presidential Election.
The tournament consisted of 61 poker bracelet events, with some of the main ones being $10,000 No Limit Hold'em, $3,000 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha and $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8 or Better.
The grand winner of the final event was Antonio Esfandiari, who walked away with $18.3 million. Esfandiari is an Iranian professional poker player and former professional magician, which is where his poker nickname ‘the Magician’ comes from. Esfandiari is known for his elite poker chip tricks that are notorious for throwing his opponents off track. To date he’s won 3 poker bracelets and was ranked number one for his all-time poker winnings; that is until Daniel Negreanu took his title in 2014.
4. 2018 Big One for One Drop
The 2018 Big One for One Drop is second on the list for the greatest poker wins of all time. The final event saw a staggering $10 million and a poker bracelet up for grabs, in which Fedor Holz was very close to winning but was beaten to the grand prize by Justin Bonomo. After this win, Justin Bonomo was sent to the top of the official All-Time Money list.
This win not only knocked the world known Daniel Negreanu off the top of the All-Time Money list, but it also took his total live winnings to a staggering $43 million.
5. 2006 WSOP Main Event
The 2006 World Series of Poker is considered as the largest liver poker ever witnessed. It had a total of 8,773 entrants in which this was considered so many people that there had to be four different starting days.
The championship event was won by Jamie Gold on the 10th of August. Gold walked away with a grand $12 million dollars prize money and a reputation as chip leader. In second place, Paul Wasicka walked away with $6.1 million.
Jamie Gold was put on the poker map of fame after winning the 2006 World Series of Poker, however he is also well known for being an American television producer and talent agent. Gold has often been criticized by other pro poker players, although fellow American pro player, Chris Ferguson, is known to have encouraged Gold to stick with his style of playing.
