The biggest win in poker. The most incredible poker winnings

Probably, any poker player, both beginner and more experienced, dreams of learning how to play so well that he can support himself in life with his game. And, probably, each of us has heard many times about multimillion-dollar winnings at major tournaments in the USA, where players literally turned from an ordinary fan of this card game into a millionaire literally overnight!

So what are the biggest wins in poker? Who won them, and what was the money then spent on? What is the fate of these champions after their triumph at the poker tournament? Interesting? Especially for you, we have selected the top ten biggest poker winnings that exist at the moment. Note that this list includes only official results that are published at legal tournaments. We can only guess what amounts are played out at the “closed” poker tournaments for millionaires ...

10th place. Ryan Reess (USA) - $8,361,560

Our rating is opened by a young poker player from the USA named Ryan Riess. In 2013, he managed not only to get to the WSOP Main Event, but also to win this tournament, earning a total of $8,361,560! This poker win was so big that Ryan couldn't even wrap his hands around this mountain of dollars that lay in front of him!

It is noteworthy that even despite his rather young age - Ryan was only 23 years old at the time of that victory - this player did not squander his winnings. On the contrary, he tried to further invest them in the business, and today he is a fairly large shareholder of companies  , Apple and Disney, as well as a co-owner of one of the American railway companies.

9th place. Greg Merson (USA) - $8,531,853

Greg Merson is one of those people whose big win in poker is remembered for a long time. The thing is that when Greg won the Main Event 2012, he could not recover for a long time and just cried for five minutes, looking at a huge pile of money in front of him. It took him a good ten minutes to finally pull himself together and give an interview to journalists.

In his interview, Greg said: “I used to think that I was completely ready to go through the entire marathon of the WSOP Main Event, but it turns out that it is simply impossible to prepare for this!” .

After his victory, Greg Merson completely changed his lifestyle: he got rid of alcohol and drug addiction, bought his family a large mansion and took poker lessons from past winners of this tournament. Greg spent the rest of the money he won on closed cash games, which he previously could not get into for financial reasons.

8th place. Joe Cada (USA) - $8,547,042

Joe Cada is one of those guys who is said to have achieved his "American Dream". Coming from an ordinary working-class family, where his mother worked as a croupier in a casino, and his father worked part-time at a construction site, Joe from childhood sought to understand poker. From almost the age of 16, he began to play online, earning quite a considerable amount of money with his game - by the age of 21, his bankroll amounted to half a million dollars!

However, as soon as he celebrated his 21st birthday, Joe decided to move to live tournaments and try his hand there. And, I must say, at first things didn’t work for him. In just a year, he lost all his savings, which he previously won online. He was so unlucky that in the end he didn't even have the money to pay for the entry fee to the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

As a result, part of the buy-in for it was paid by sponsors, who ended up in the black. Each of them received 2 million of the 8 he won! True, another million dollars was paid to Joe by a well-known poker room for the fact that he played the entire tournament in their equipment.

Now Kada lives in his own house in Las Vegas and plans to open his own business.

7th place. Pius Heinz (Germany) – $8,715,638

Young German player (only 22 years old at the time of victory) Pius Heinz made the whole world talk about himself after he was able to win WSOP Main Event 2011 and earn a fabulous poker winnings of $8,715,638!

Interestingly, after his victory, Pius said that he, by and large, did not like Las Vegas, with its tinsel and deliberate brilliance. The player said that he feels much more comfortable at home, with tea in his hands and in front of his own monitor screen, than at such large tournaments. After this victory, almost nothing was heard about Heinz.

6th place. Jonathal Duhamel (Canada) - $8,944,310

Jonathan Duhamel is also one of the young WSOP Main Event winners who won the tournament in 2010 at the age of 23. However, Duhamel is remembered not so much for his game in the final, but for what happened after him.

It is known that Jonathan has always been an ardent hockey fan, and after his victory, he even financially supported the children's team of his favorite club - Montreal Canadiens. Moreover, he often even refused to participate in major poker tournaments in favor of going to the next match of his favorite team.

And somehow, upon arrival from one of these matches, Jonathan discovered that everything his money, kept in the house, as well as his WSOP bracelet and watch with his name engraved, are gone! The player immediately reported the theft to the police, and three days later the robbers were still caught. It is noteworthy that Jonathan's girlfriend acted as a gunner, who believed that her boyfriend was giving her too cheap gifts ...

5th place. Peter Eastgate (Denmark) - $9,152,416

Peter Eastgate, a young Dane who, at the time of his victory in WSOP Main Event 2008 was only 22 years old. By the way, it was 2008 that became a turning point in his poker career. First of all, he managed to win several small online tournaments, and his winnings there amounted to just over 46 thousand dollars. And it was from this money that Peter made his buy-in to the WSOP Main Event 2008, which he subsequently won. Interestingly, on the final table he was able to beat our Ivan Demidov, who took second place in that tournament.

At the moment, Eastgate practically does not play poker, preferring to travel the world more in search of new experiences and acquaintances.

4th place. Martin Jacobson (Sweden) - $10,000,000

Martin Jakoobson, the 2014 WSOP Main Event winner, stands alone on our list of poker's biggest wins. And the point here is not even the tidy sum that Martin received for his victory. The fact is that this Swedish player has been earning money professionally by playing poker since the age of 18, and for him poker is not an attempt to “catch luck by the tail”, but a real job.

And this victory is far from the only one in the list of achievements of this Swedish player. Throughout his life, Martin has won many tournaments, and its total prize money for 2017 is already more than 15 million dollars! And this despite the fact that as a child, Martin dreamed of becoming not a poker player, but a cook in one of the local restaurants…

3rd place. Jamie Gold (USA) - $12,000,000

Jamie Gold, who won the 2006 WSOP Main Event, is a rather controversial character. On the one hand, this is a rather smiling and talkative guy who entertained himself and the viewers as much as he could during the entire tournament. But on the other hand, so much negativity has not yet fallen on a single winner of the WSOP tournaments.

The thing is that while playing at the final table, Jamie kept provoking his opponents, bringing them out of balance. Actually, this is not prohibited by the rules of poker, although it is considered by some to be “bad form”. However, in the case of Jamie, the situation was further complicated by the fact that every time he “reached” the right card on the river when he was all-in.

After the victory, Jamie was sued by his former friends, whom he allegedly promised to give a part of his winnings after winning for their services. However, Gold himself did not remember such words and was clearly not going to give anything away ...

2nd place. Daniel Colman (USA) - $15,306,668

Daniel Colman rose to fame after winning The Big One for One Drop tournament, winning it and earning over $15 million! This tournament is interesting in that the entry fee for it is $1 million, and there are usually not so many participants - no more than 50 people. At the same time, either very large businessmen play here, or ordinary players for whom the sponsors paid the buy-in.

Daniel Colman just belongs to the second category of people, since part of the entrance fee for him was made by his friends. It is noteworthy that after his victory in this tournament, after he beat Daniel Negrianu himself in the final, he did not give any interview, simply running away from the awards ceremony.

And two days later, on his Twitter, Daniel wrote words that even more amazed the poker community. He wrote: “Poker is a very dark and violent game. This is a game where more people lose than win. Because of this game, so many young guys lose their jobs, get in debt, spend money they can't afford to spend. I left the awards show because I don't want to get involved in poker promotion.” .

It remains only to guess how it was possible to write such a thing when you have 15 million dollars won in front of you, even if some of them will have to be given to sponsors ...

1 place. Antonio Esfandiari (USA) - $18,346,873

Tournament win by Italian-American Antonio Esfandiari The Big One for One Drop in 2012 and to this day remains one of the most significant events in the world of poker over the past 10 years. Still, because this is the biggest win in poker, which only received a person in the tournament! More than 4 years have passed since that tournament, but no one has yet been able to surpass the achievement of this player!

It is noteworthy that after his victory, Antonio compared the impressions of her ... with sex! According to him, such a big win in poker is similar to sex, only several times stronger than it in terms of the strength of emotions.

It's rare that a player enters a poker tournament with no hope of winning it and claiming the first place prize. We've taken a look at the five biggest wins in live tournament poker history and followed the fortunes of those who have made $9 million or more in one go.

5. $9,152,416

The largest prizes for the first place are traditionally played within the framework of the World Series of Poker. The winners of the main tournament, and, of course, the Big One For One Drop, the largest super high roller tournament, received the most in history.

But we start with the victory in 2008, which became a landmark not only for Denmark, the homeland of the champion, but also for all Russian-speaking players. Peter Eastgate took first place in the WSOP Main Event. He began to play actively in 2007, in order to become at that time the youngest world poker champion in a year (at 22 years old). The Dane got $9,152,416. But for us in this story, the second prize is important - $ 5,809,595 - because it was received by none other than Ivan Demidov, producing the "Rublemaker" effect (that's what the commentators of the final table called him). This second place gave an incredible impetus to the development of Russian poker. Nobody disputes that the strongest players of the final table went into that heads-up, but for many, it is Ivan Demidov who remains the winner of this confrontation.

After the victory, Eastgate moved to England. For a while he continued to play and travel the world. A couple of years later, Peter was done with poker as quickly as he broke into it.

4. $10,000,000

The WSOP Main Event is often won by amateurs, which is always good for the poker ecology and often the economy. But in 2014, a round sum of exactly $10,000,000 (plus, with pocket tens in the last hand) was absolutely deservedly won by Swedish professional Martin Jacobson. The final table of that year turned out to be interesting and difficult for all participants, it was a rare case when the level of play of almost all the finalists was incredibly high. Jakobson, the top reg of live and online multi-table tournaments, started in the top 9 penultimate stack, but showed amazing versatility and played equally well both at the full table and in the denouement. He admitted that he put the greatest pressure on himself, but at the same time he was concentrated and absolutely calm, because he felt that victory would be his.

Like Eastgate, Martin moved to London after the victory. Swedish tax laws prevented him from playing poker seriously. One of the most famous facts of his biography: before starting his poker career, he studied to be a chef and dreamed of working in a restaurant in Barcelona. Despite the fact that Martin still earns money from poker, he does not forget about his dream and continues to improve in cooking. At the same time, by the beginning of 2018, the amount of Jacobson's tournament prize money exceeded $16.5 million.

Formally, the next place should go to the winner of the third in the history of the Big One For One Drop in Monte Carlo. However, this tournament, as well as side events, was closed to professionals, which means that we cannot equate it with the WSOP open tournaments. As a result of an experiment called "tournament for amateurs", only 26 players entered the fight. All participants had the right to seek help from well-known professionals, but although they could give advice to their wards, they did not have the right to appear at the table. Tournament winner Elton Tsang received €11,111,111. The second place was taken by our player Anatoly Gurtovoy this time too, he got €5,427,781.

Since then, Elton Tsang hasn't won anything else, or maybe he didn't even try.

3. $12,000,000

It's still the biggest prize in WSOP history, as the 2006 tournament remains the biggest WSOP Main Event in its history. Thanks to the victory of Chris Moneymaker around the poker has risen incredible excitement, and in the tournament in 2006 played 8,773 people. The result was a legendary prize pool of $82,512,162. The first prize of $12,000,000 went to amateur television producer Jamie Gold.

Until now, he is considered almost the most famous recreational player. To make Jamie more attractive to the audience, he was provided with a mentor by Johnny Chen, with whom they barely knew before the tournament, and on the air they talked about the serious health problems of Gold's father. It was true, he suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease and soon passed away. However, even these two television moves were not enough to make Gold the favorite of the public. Of all the main event winners, Jamie received the most criticism. He was phenomenally lucky, and at the table he behaved very loudly, infuriating opponents, and such behavior is not very liked by professionals.

With all this, after the victory, he remained on the crest of the wave of success for a long time, but it was not without problems - the champion was repeatedly sued, trying to take part of the prize money for some near-poker services. As a result, half of the winnings had to be given to a friend, with whom Gold had entered into an unfavorable verbal agreement before the tournament, and Jamie lost the other half in an expensive cash game.

Despite being an amateur, Jamie won nearly $500,000 more in other tournaments, including the WSOP, after the biggest cash in main event history.

2. $15,306,668

Second place in the ranking of the largest winnings is Daniel Colman. In 2014, when he received $15,306,668 in cash, he was 24 years old. He went down in history not only because he won such money, but also because of the extremely controversial position that Colman took after the tournament.

Daniel, who is not going to help popularize poker in any way (unlike the professional of this discipline, his namesake and heads-up rival, Daniel Negreanu). 5 minutes after the end of the tournament, the winner fled the hall, "like a robber from a crime scene," in the words of the Las Vegas Sun, without giving a single interview about his brilliant victory. He even had to be persuaded to take a photo portrait with a bracelet, which almost every player on the planet dreams of. After some time, Colman wrote a post on the 2+2 forum, which was discussed for a long time in the poker community:

It annoys me that people care so much about the state of the poker industry. Given that poker has such a negative effect on those who play it. Both financially and morally.

As for me personally, in my opinion, celebrating individual achievements is most often useless. I am not going to take part in the glorification of others, and I do not want this for myself. If you're wondering why our society is so obsessed with individuals and their successes and their big lives, it's no coincidence. All this happens because someone needs it. When people create idols for themselves and dream of a life of their own, they forget about social obligations, and this is very good for those who are in power. In addition, it allows you to distract people from the really important things.

This is just my point of view. And yes, I understand that I myself am full of contradictions. I make money playing games that attack human weaknesses. I like it, especially its strategic part, but in general the game seems to me very gloomy.

As conflicting as Daniel Colman's feelings about poker are, he's certainly managed to draw attention to both his win and his game.

1. $18,346,873

In 2012, it turned out that a million-dollar buy-in tournament could attract a considerable number of players. The first ever tournament with a $1,000,000 buy-in, with part of the prize fund traditionally donated to charity, brought together 48 participants. Among them were professionals, and amateur businessmen, and guests from Macau, and unknown players, who, however, sold shares per million. It was the number of participants that became one of the reasons that the “Magician” Antonio Esfandiari became interested in the tournament.

I am shocked by how many people this tournament gathered, - Antonio shared his impressions before the start of the game. - I'm so surprised that I even decided to play! It's just that when I heard how many great players were going to be in this tournament, I thought I wouldn't forgive myself if I missed the greatest tournament of all time.

In particular, they described the decisive distribution, which gave the champion more than 18 million.

The final took place at the level of 400,000/800,000/100,000. Antonio raised to 1,800,000. Sam Trickett called. The flop came Jd 5d 5c. Trickett check-raised to 5,400,000, Esfandiari 3-bet 10,000,000, got 4-bet 15,000,000 and shoved his trips – 7d 5s. Trickett had a flush draw Qd6d. With the same cards, Ilya Bulychev took off on the bubble, and the Briton also did not escape defeat. Turn 3h, river 2h, and Antonio Esfandiari wins $18,346,673. His father then walked for a long time with a check for this amount through the corridors of Rio and took pictures with everyone.

After such a resounding victory, Antonio had a lot of fun and lit up at parties, but he did not forget about poker either. He won his next bracelet in the €1,100 WSOP Europe tournament just three months later. Since then, The Magician has won 45 more times in live tournaments.

He has earned $27,614,381 throughout his career and continues to be one of the top five most successful tournament players in history. Indeed, a wizard.

It's no secret that people earn not just huge, but downright mind-boggling amounts by playing poker. In just one evening, you can turn from an average gamer into a star, a legend and a millionaire. Cards - this is the world in which stunning money is spinning and anyone who shows attention, patience, ingenuity and strict mathematical calculation can earn it.

The people who manage to get the biggest winnings in poker become role models for many gamers. They are envied, they are put on a pedestal, the tactics and strategies of their game are studied by heart. These are real professionals who seem to have managed to do the impossible. So who are these winners and are their rewards really as big as they say?

Winners and their fees

Antonio Esfandiari managed to get the biggest win in poker. Once he managed to win 18 346 873 American dollars. An ordinary earthly person cannot dream of such an amount even in a “terrible” dream. The money is truly huge, however, Esfandiari managed to get it just by playing cards. In 2012, at The Big One for One Drope, he won the biggest payout in the history of poker. Until today, none of the gamers managed to earn more.

Magician and his profit

Prior to becoming a professional Texas Hold'em player, Antonio went by the pseudonym Magician and made his living pulling rabbits out of a hat. Perhaps the fact that Esfandiari was fluent in the art of card tricks and helped him masterfully read the hands of opponents. In any case, not a single poker player on the planet has yet managed to get a bigger prize than the one that this guy got.

This gamer regularly participates in the biggest card competitions. Once he was even seen in an episode of a Hollywood movie.

Daniel Colman

Daniel Colman from the United States has also managed to earn one of the biggest winnings in poker. He was lucky to be the owner 15 306 668 conventional units. He received this money in the competition The Big One for One Drope. The peculiarity of this tournament is that no more than fifty players participate in it, and the entry fee is one million US dollars. As a rule, very rich businessmen or ordinary players who buy-in for them were paid by their sponsors play games here.

Daniel belongs to the second group of poker players, since some of the buy-in was paid by his comrades. Colman managed to beat Daniel Negrianu himself in the final of the competition, which ensured his victory and more than $ 15 million. Having become a triumphant, Colman did not give any interview to journalists and simply left the official awards ceremony.

Jamie Gold

One of the biggest winnings in poker also belongs to the American Jamie Gold, who managed to make money on cards 12 million dollars. In 2006, this gamer became the winner of the WSOP Main Event. Almost all the spectators of this battle remembered the victor for the rest of their lives, since he became far from being an easy opponent.

On the outside, he appeared chatty and constantly smiling, and entertained the television audience as best he could. But over the final board, he tried to piss off his opponents. According to the rules of the game of cards, such behavior is acceptable, although many gamers consider it unacceptable.

Opponents disliked him also because he was always unspeakably lucky on the river and in some unthinkable way, when all-in, he regularly got the necessary element.

Gold's victory became a Homeric one. However, after the triumph, the gamer was sued by his comrades. They claimed that the guy promised to give them part of his fee. Jamie denied this information and naturally did not pay any money.

Martin Jacobson

The Swedish gamer also has almost the biggest win in poker. 10 million American dollars earned in 2014 by Martin Jacobson. Then the man became the winner of the WSOP Main Event. True, it is difficult to call this triumph luck or luck, because for Martin cards are not a hobby or entertainment. For him, this is work. This success is not the only one in Jacobson's career.

Throughout his life, the Swede managed to win many tournaments, and in 2017 the amount of his total prize money reached 15 million conventional units. And as a child, the guy dreamed of a career as a cook ...

Peter Eastgate

In Denmark, there is also a player who was lucky enough to get some of the biggest winnings in poker. In 2008, Peter Eastgate won 9 152 416 dollars . Poker has been the guy's main hobby since childhood. At the age of 22, Peter became the winner of the title of the strongest gamer, defeating his rivals at the World Series of Poker.

To become a participant in the competition, Eastgate needed to get money to make a buy-in, but then he did not have the necessary funds. But luck was on the side of this player from the very beginning and on the eve of the competition he managed to win a small card battle and thus earn approximately 46 thousand conventional units.

Over the final board of the World Series of Poker, the guy entered into combat with the Russian Ivan Demidov. After such a triumph, Pitar retired from poker and became interested in traveling.

Jonatal Duhamel

One of the biggest wins in poker went to Jonatal Duhamel. This Canadian got 8 944 310 American dollars. He earned such a huge amount at the age of 23. In 2010 at the WSOP Main Event, the guy showed what success can look like.

However, the victor was remembered by the public not by his victory, but by the way he disposed of it. That is, how you spent the money you earned. Jonathal spent money to support one children's hockey team.

After the overwhelming success, disappointments also came to Duhamel's life. Some time after the competition, he realized that he had become a victim of theft: a certain amount and a gold bracelet were stolen from him. The police later tracked down the loss and all the property was returned to Jonathal. Along with this joy, another disappointment came: the guy found out that his beloved girlfriend brought the robbers to him.

Not just gambling. Everyone finds something for themselves in it: some choose it as a way to escape from the daily routine, others quench their thirst for excitement in this way, and still others improve their poker skills day by day to hit the biggest win in the competition.

Poker, unlike many other gambling hobbies, is an excellent tool for improving personal qualities and developing intelligence, since in this form of entertainment the outcome depends not only on luck.

Poker has become one of the most popular card games of all time. During its existence, it has gone from a simple Friday entertainment to a full-fledged competitive one, which has become the largest form of gambling worldwide.

This happened largely thanks to the World Series of Poker (World Series of Poker). The main event is held every year. In addition, within the context of the competition, there are several small tournaments that raffle off millions of dollars to potential winners. The WSOP has created several millionaires around the world whose stories of the biggest poker winnings have inspired thousands of players around the world to play poker professionally. Here is some of them.

Antonio Esfandiari: $18.3 million

Country: Iran

Winnings: $18,346,673

Total tournament prize pool: $42.6 million

Event: 2012 WSOP Event #55 - The Big One For One Drop

Interesting:

Antonio is actually a former professional magician, widely known for his unusual tricks with poker chips.

Antonio Esfandiari is one of the most famous in the world, and for good reason. The poker player won the biggest money prize in one poker tournament. This is the $18.3 million generated by the 2012 WSOP The Big One For One, which was held to benefit the One Drop Foundation.

The total prize pool of the competition was $42.6 million. The second-place finisher received $10.1 million, which in itself is not a bad result for a loss.

Photo source: academypoker.ru

Daniel Colman: $15.3 million

Country: USA

Winning amount: $15,306,668

Total prize pool of the tournament: $37.3 million

Event: 2014 WSOP Event #57 - The Big One For One Drop

Dan Colman, 23, beat 41 professional poker players to claim a $15.3 million prize in June 2014. It was the second highest amount ever won by a single player in a poker tournament. He also became popular on social media for showing absolutely no signs of joy after winning.

Known as an online poker pro, Colman trusted his ability and demonstrated his skills brilliantly at the 2014 WSOP Big One For One Drop, a charity event that raised $4.6 million to clean up the water. The total prize fund of the competition was $37.3 million.

It was a life-changing win, as back in 2012 he planned to leave poker for good and go to college. However, he soon took the documents from the educational institution and decided to give poker another chance.

Elton Tsang: $12.2 million

Country: China

Winning amount: $12,248,912

Total tournament prize pool: $27.4 million

Event: 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza

Chinese professional poker player Elton Tsang made the world watch as he took home the third largest cash prize in a single poker tournament and the largest prize awarded in a non-US poker tournament, $12.2 million.

Born in Canada, Tsang currently lives in Hong Kong and invests his acquired wealth in real estate and other areas. He took down 25 others en route to winning the big tournament, which had a total prize pool of $27 million.

Photo source: u.pokernews.com

Jamie Gold: $12 million

Country: USA

Winning amount: $12,000,000

Total tournament prize pool: $82.5 million

Event: 2006 WSOP Main Event #39

The current president of production company Buzznation, Jamie Gold, gained worldwide fame for his brilliant victory at the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

Gold was one of the standouts who arrived at the event. The buy-in for the event was in the order of $10,000, resulting in the largest prize pool in poker history of $82.5 million. It was distributed among the top 873 players (top 10%), with the largest winnings of $12 million and the smallest the prize is $14,597.

Jamie was known for his antics at the table, including showing his opponents his cards and even muttering strange words during the game, which almost got him banned.

For the past nine years, the World Series of Poker Main Event has been the richest poker tournament in the world. The first millionth was the main fight of the distant 1983. And in 2004, the total prize fund of the tournament exceeded $10 million. Traditionally, no-limit Texas Hold'em is played at the Main Event of the WSOP. That is, all the happy millionaires, whose victories we will describe below, mastered this very popular kind of poker.

10th - Ryan Reess (USA) - WSOP Main Event 2013 - $8,361,570

Every poker player's dream is to make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. In 2013, the young American Ryan Riess not only got there, but also emerged as the winner of the tournament. Ryan was paid $8,361,570 to win. It was a big mountain of green wads of dollars that he could barely wrap his arms around.

Despite his young age - 23 years old - Riess did not rush to spend all the money he won on super expensive cars and yachts. The poker player has invested a large part in the stock market, and is now a shareholder in such global brands as   and Disney. Ryan also became a co-owner of the Union Pacific railroad company.

9th - Greg Merson (USA) - WSOP Main Event 2012 - $8,531,853

9th place - Greg Merson (USA)

Surprisingly, before Ryan Riess in 2012, the winner of the same WSOP Main Event was also a young (24 years old) professional poker player from the States - Greg Merson. For a long time he could not believe in his triumph and sobbed out loud, looking at the gold bracelet of the champion encrusted with diamonds and a high pyramid of dollars ($ 8,531,853). Only ten minutes later, the new winner, hugging his mother tightly, gave the first interview to reporters. He said: “I thought I was ready for the Main Event marathon, but it was only at the final table that I realized that it was impossible to prepare for SUCH!”

To get this high title and millions of dollars in prize money, Greg changed a lot in his life: he gave up alcohol, recovered from drug addiction and took poker lessons from the old masters. Merson spent the remaining millions from paying taxes on his family and closed cash games in Baltimore, where the poker player could not get into before due to lack of money. Greg personally bought clothes for 500 bucks!

8th place - Joe Cada (USA) - WSOP Main Event 2009 - $8,547,042

8th place - Joe Cada

Joe Cada is the true embodiment of the American Dream. An ordinary guy from the Midwest becomes a millionaire overnight! Joe went to success for five whole years out of his 21st year. Kada was introduced to the world of gambling early, as his mother worked as a croupier in a casino. As a teenager, Joe began playing cards, and then focused on online hold'em and achieved good results - his bankroll was half a million dollars.

Having received the status of “adult” at the age of 21, Kada self-confidently rushed to conquer live tournaments. Here he rapidly lost his savings, and Joseph simply did not have money for the opening buy-in of the WSOP Main Event. Sponsors invested in it, each of which received 2 million of Kada's $8,547,042 in prize money! It's good that shortly before the final, Joe signed a contract with the PokerStars room, which paid the player an additional $1,000,000 for representation.

Although Joseph is young, everyone notes his amazing prudence regarding money. The guy did not start throwing bucks, but bought a house in Las Vegas and plans to open his own business.

7th place - Pius Heinz (Germany) - WSOP Main Event 2011 - $8,715,638

7th place - Pius Heinz

WSOP Main Event 2011 and its main prize of $8,715,638 was won by a young poker player from Germany - Pius Heinz. At the time of the triumph, he was only 22 years old. Pius was introduced to poker by watching big events on TV. He played with friends at home and at the same time adopted the skills of famous online poker players.

Heinz, after his unexpected victory for many, said that he feels better acting at home at the computer than in major live tournaments. Pius did not like Las Vegas and all its publicity and tinsel.

When asked where he would spend his huge prize money, Heinz said that he did not like to advertise his plans and just wanted to feel comfort and happiness around him. Pius practically faded into the shadows after the triumph, but with that kind of money, he can afford it!

6th place - Jonathan Duhamel (Canada) - WSOP Main Event 2010 - $8,944,310

6th place - Jonathan Duhamel

Jonathan Duhamel is another young poker winner. He won the 2010 WSOP Main Event and claimed $8,944,310. He was 23 years old when he entered the final.

The fate of Duhamel's tournament payouts is incredibly interesting. Jonathan is known to be an avid hockey fan. He often refused to participate in major poker tournaments, as he flew away to the next hockey game. The Montreal Canadiens are Jonathan's favorite team since childhood. After winning the Main Event in 2010, he donated $ 100,000 to the Children's Foundation Montreal Canadiens - a fund to help poor children. And now Duhamel supports the organization, being its largest sponsor!

And in 2011, when Jonathan came home, he discovered that the money left from winning, the WSOP bracelet and the watch presented by the organizers of the tournament with a personalized engraving were stolen. Fortunately, the police quickly got on the trail of the criminals and returned the valuable property to the owner. Then the young poker player found out that the gunner was his girlfriend, who was dissatisfied with the gifts that Duhamel gave her, which she thought were too cheap!

5th place - Peter Eastgate (Denmark) - WSOP Main Event 2008 - $9,152,416

5th place - Peter Eastgate

Peter Eastgate, who quickly broke into the poker elite, was a 22-year-old youth when he won the WSOP Main Event. A young man from the tiny Danish town of Odense became interested in hold'em during his school days. At first, Peter wanted to connect his life with the economy, but fate or Lady Luck intervened, and Eastgate chose a professional poker career.

Absolutely everything in Peter's life changed in 2008, which brought him more than $46.3 thousand won in card tournaments. If it wasn't for that money, Eastgate wouldn't have been able to pay the buy-in to the winning WSOP Main Event! In the final of the tournament, Peter defeated Russian Ivan Demidov and received $9,152,416 in prize money.

After this triumph, which was completely unexpected for him, Eastgate continued to play well and traveled a lot around the world. Now the Dane has taken a break and decided to rethink life again and, perhaps, start it from scratch.

4th place - Martin Jacobson (Sweden) - WSOP Main Event 2014 - $10,000,000

4th place - Martin Jacobson

In 2014, the famous pro wins at the WSOP Main Event, not the young unknown player! Martin Jakobson, a 27-year-old professional from Stockholm, became the first Swedish triumph in the history of the world championship and received a round sum of $10,000,000 for his skills.

“It's incredible! I was focused and remarkably calm. I always had the feeling that my championship was destined to happen, ”Martin said after the victory.

In general, Jacobson dreamed of becoming a sous-chef of a restaurant and could not even imagine that he would make a great poker career! Now Martin lives in London, constantly travels the world following poker tours and does not regret at all that he did not stay at the stove with a ladle in his hand. Since 2008, the Swedish player has earned over $14.8 million in poker. What chef in the world earns so much?!

3rd place - Jamie Gold (USA) - WSOP Main Event 2006 - $12,000,000

3rd place - Jamie Gold

The WSOP Main Event 2006 collected $82,512,162 and the largest number of participants was 8,773. Tournament winner Jamie Gold took home the third highest poker winnings of all time - $12 million!

Of all the WSOP Main Event winners, Jamie has received the most criticism. Opponents were angered by his defiant behavior at the final table. But most of all they were touched by the incredible, simply fantastic luck of Gold, who over and over again received the card that was the only one he needed at that moment! Jamie started participating in the tournament as part of a team of movie industry stars and, frankly, did not feel any respect from other poker players. But Gold was so unstoppable that it seemed that it was he, and not his rivals, who was the true professional here.

After winning, Jamie was repeatedly sued by his friends in an attempt to chop off a hefty chunk of his prize money of $12,000,000 - they say, Gold promised to give half of his winnings for their services.

2nd place - Daniel Colman (USA) - The Big One for One Drop WSOP 2014 - $15,306,668

2nd place - Daniel Colman

Organized by the WSOP, The Big One for One Drop is so big it's worth $1,000,000 to enter! In 2014, its winner, 24-year-old Daniel Colman, received $15,306,668. The total prize fund of the event, including donations to charity, was $37,333,338. It was divided among eight finalists.

The Battle of Big One lasted three days until the moment when Daniel Colman, left face to face with his eminent namesake Daniel Negreanu, knocked him out of the tournament. But immediately after the victory, the young player behaved more than strange - he flatly refused to answer journalists' questions, and then made a sensational statement: "Poker is a dark and cruel game." It is not clear how one could say such a thing when 15 million dollars with kopecks are at the feet!

1st place - Antonio Esfandiari (USA) - The Big One for One Drop WSOP 2012 - $18,346,873

1st place - Antonio Esfandiari

It is impossible to say about this amount “the biggest win in poker”, having seen the number series of $ 18,346,873, one can only remain reverently silent. Entire stacks of tight green packs on a cart brought Antonio Esfandiari for winning The Big One for One Drop tournament in 2012. It was and still is the biggest poker win in the world ever!

Prior to holding 'em, Antonio made a living pulling rabbits out of a hat and was nicknamed the Magician. Perhaps the perfect mastery of the art of card tricks helped Esfandiari to read the hands of opponents?! Be that as it may, so far none of the poker champions has received such a large cash prize.

After the triumphant victory at Big One, Antonio shared his impressions with reporters: “My heart was pounding against the ribs, and it was ready to jump out of my chest. I tried to control my emotions, but the thought that I could here and now become the owner of this pile of money interfered!” Esfandiari could compare his victory in the tournament only with sex - nothing else, according to the poker player, it doesn’t look like it. Well, it remains only to take the word of the champion!

Biggest pot in TV poker history, video: