Can you imagine dozens of players bagging million dollar jackpots in one day? Well, this is what you may just see at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) or any other major tournament. This year, WSOP is celebrating its 50th anniversary from May 28 to July 16, 2019. There are 89 bracelets to be awarded this year, and a staggering $200 million will be given in prizes. So this is the real money to compete for!
Starting from the 1970s, live events have been gathering the top brass poker players, giving them a chance to cash out thousands of dollars. It all started with nearly 13 high rollers in the 1970s and ended with the hundreds of them visiting the event nowadays. The WSOP bracelet is not the only thing to hunt for in the tournament, however. Of course, the champion title is something everyone would like to gloat about: but taking home a tonne of cash is also a pretty nice feeling!
The Canadian poker player with Romanian roots is considered to be the best poker pro of all times! His title of All-time money winner is backed up by his $39 million of prize money winnings. He is also believed to be one of the most watched punters all over the world. Daniel has crushed a slew of major events, while simultaneously managing to snag many millions of dollars.
This outstanding member of the Poker Stars team has been participating in numerous shows and programs representing different poker brands. As the youngest WSOP bracelet winner, he once gained the nickname of “KidPoker,” and he has been using it ever since. He also plays poker online under this alias.
His biggest cashout at the WSOP tournament was in 2014, when he banked $8.2 million, making this one of the biggest ever earnings in a poker tournament. This stake at the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop at WSOP impressed players all over the world. On that day, he even had the chance to win another bracelet as well; but our old friend Lady Luck decided to help Dan Colman instead.
Nowadays, Daniel Negreanu still crashes poker tables of the major tournaments each time leaving his fans pleased with the game. He frequently appears at various TV shows like Late Night Poker or High Stakes Poker. Daniel is also an author of several guidebooks for novice players. He was introduced into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2014. Actually, that could easily have happened even done earlier, except that according to the rules, he had to be at least 40 years old to win this achievement.
The man who beat up KidPoker in 2014 and scooped a whopping $15.3 prize at the WSOP tournament was Daniel Colman. This 28-year-old legend has a prize pool of $29 million, and he ain’t gonna stop any time soon! His historic win in 2014 is considered to be the second largest payout in tournament history. Also, that year he got his first WSOP bracelet as well. And as an online player, he is known under the nicknames of “mrGR33N13” or “riyyc225.”
The cornerstone of Colman’s success is that he’s a really dedicated gambler. According to him, he used to practice sports betting, and he used to lose very often. But one day he decided to gather all of his leftovers and switch to online poker instead. Soon enough, he started enjoying poker and then decided to visit some live tournaments. Despite the fact that he got pretty lucky, he was really dreadful at managing his bankroll. He was the kind of guy who could easily begin with low buy-in matches of $5,000 and then finish the day at $50,000.
Colman can’t recall the exact number of times he got broke. On the other hand, his unfortunate losing streak did help him reconsider his tactics. Especially when he got banned from PokerStars for multi-accounting in 2013 and breaking the site’s terms and conditions! So all this definitely led Colman to change his behavior.
Now, what do you think Jimmy Fallon’s erstwhile agent is gonna do? Well duh! He’s obviously going to be having some great fun with poker games. The president of the Buzznation is a big name at the poker table. Jamie has been in the game ever since his early years, when his mother first introduced him to the game. Then since 2005, Jamie has been participating in live tournaments. In April 2005 his first major victory took place at the Bicycle Casino. He won a no-limit hold’em event, finally managing to bag $54,225.
His legendary win happened in 2006 at the WSOP tournament, when he managed to fend off 7 of his 8 opponents at the final table and beat Paul Wasicka, winning a prize of $12 million. His outstanding winning streak can be best explained by the advice he got from the legendary high roller and 10 WSOP bracelets owner, Johnny Chan.
Ever since his famous win in 2006, he has been trying to repeat his success; indeed, in the following year, he tried his best, but he dropped out on the first day of the WSOP tournament. What’s more, Jamie appeared in several shows like Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker. After that, he disappeared from poker news live reporting until 2016, when he finally got his biggest cashout at the WSOP major event.
“The Magician” or Antonio Esfandiari, as we also know him, is both a professional magician and card player. And there is indeed something magical about this punter, who has got the largest payout in tournament poker history: reaching as much as $18, 346, 637 in the 2012 WSOP event. This is one of the biggest WSOP prizes ever taken home.
He started his career in 2004, when he nearly won $1.4 million at the World Poker Tour. He won his first bracelet a few months later in pot-limit Texas Hold’em. Antonio became a famous face in the media today, appearing in the series High Stakes Poker, as well as Poker After Dark. And before his outstanding performance in 2012, he managed to scoop $870,000 at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World.
His style of playing is pleasant to watch, and he never holds his chips. You may enjoy his game in tournaments exclusive video podcasts or find him in such movies like “The Grand,” “Lucky You” or “All In: The Poker Movie.”
This former participant of Magic the Gathering has 3 WSOP bracelets and $42,900,000 in prize money. In the world of online poker, he is known as ZeeJustin. He began his star path at the age of 16 and by the time he was 21, he was already known to the publicity as a professional high roller. Justin was one of the first pioneers to get high recognition on the Internet. His wins at Sit & Go, as well as at PartyPoker and Pokerstars Sunday Millions have made him famous all across the globe.
Nevertheless, he had the same problem as Daniel Colman. In 2006, he was banned from the PlayPoker for multi-accounting. So this is the reason he had to drop out of the game for a while. Still, after making a fulsome apology to the gambling community, he managed to restore his reputation and came back to playing.
At the 2018 WSOP, Justin hit a winning streak at the Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em, cashing out $185, 965l and then at the One Drop event, he ended up bagging $10,000,000. This helped him to overtake the first place on the all-time money list, dropping out Daniel Negreanu. His live tournament achievements made one of the gambling top brass. However, later on, the living legend confessed that Fedor Holz had made a deal with him, so his real money prize was $2 million lower.
In addition to his real-life progress, Justin has also signed a contract with Bodog back in 2008, becoming the website’s number one player. What is more, he donated $250,000 in 2007 for scientific research called SENS. This generous guy is worth watching and supporting; and if you ever visit Las Vegas, go to Panorama Towers, where he and 70 more professional poker players reside.
So as you can see, not all of the punters who hold gold bracelets come from the sphere of professional punters. Live tournaments have opened their doors to both laymen and living legends, giving a chance to show their skills. So if you love the game and you’ve already had enough practice up to now, you can have a go yourself one of these tournaments. Lately, there are many online poker stars entering live shows to try out their tactics. Frequently, these people tend to take the venue by the storm and cash out big.
The Internet allows watching most of the WSOP games online. You can really have a nail-biting experience when watching one of such streams. Join the WSOP and witness the poker history being made!
Read the most exciting questions about WSOP and get more information about the world’s most important events.
The biggest live cash was won by Antonio Esfandiari. He managed to scoop $18.3 million pot in $1 million buy-in tournament.
The biggest number of wins at the main WSOP events belongs to several players. They are Johnny Chan, Stu Ungar, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey.
Phil Hellmuth has won 15 WSOP bracelets. Since 2007 he has been included into the Poker Hall of Fame. His live time cash includes $14 million, making him one of the top players in the world.
Sam Farha is known to be one of the richest poker players. His net worth is $100 million. However, poker legend Phil Ivey is known to be more than $125 million worth.
Daniel Negreanu is one of the most recognizable poker players, who has won six WSOP bracelets. His live tournaments cash is about $39 million. On the other hand, his success during the 2019 WSOP events wasn’t that good.
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