For the last seven years, the largest tournament in the world has been the World Series of Poker Main Event. With the exception of 1992, the US$10,000 buy-in tournament has increased in prize pool year-over-year from its start in 1970 until 2007 (the latter a result of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which reduced the number of players winning their seats via online play).
The first tournament to reach a million dollar prize pool was the 1983 WSOP Main Event. The WSOP Main Event of 2004 had the first prize pool of above $10,000,000.
The largest non Hold'em Tournament has been the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE with a prize pool of $7,104,000 and the first prize of $1,989,120 going to Scotty Nguyen.
Below are the 30 largest poker tournaments with respect to the prize pool in United States dollars and not number of entrants. This list includes live and online poker.
Currently, the eight largest prize pools in history have been WSOP Main Events. The largest prize pool outside of the Main Event is the 2012 WSOP event known as The Big One for One Drop, held from July 1–3. It featured a buy-in of US$1 million, the largest in poker history. Of the buy-in, $111,111 was a charitable donation to the One Drop Foundation, and the WSOP took no rake. All 48 seats available for that event were filled, resulting in a prize pool of $42,666,672. The largest pool for any event outside of the WSOP was the 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge, with a HK$2 million (US$260,000) buy-in plus a rebuy option. The event drew a field of 73, of which 21 made a rebuy, resulting in a prize pool of HK$182,360,000 (slightly over US$23.5 million).
All of the 30 richest tournaments to date were played in No Limit Hold'em.
| Event | Prize Pool (US$) | Winner | 1st Prize | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 WSOP Main Event | $82,512,162 | Gold, JamieJamie Gold | $12,000,000 | |
| 2010 WSOP Main Event | $68,799,059 | Duhamel, JonathanJonathan Duhamel | $8,944,310 | |
| 2011 WSOP Main Event | $64,531,000 | Heinz, PiusPius Heinz | $8,711,956 | |
| 2008 WSOP Main Event | $64,333,600 | Eastgate, PeterPeter Eastgate | $9,152,416 | |
| 2012 WSOP Main Event | $62,021,200 | Merson, GregGreg Merson | $8,527,982 | |
| 2009 WSOP Main Event | $61,043,600 | Cada, JoeJoe Cada | $8,547,042 | |
| 2007 WSOP Main Event | $59,784,954 | Yang, JerryJerry Yang | $8,250,000 | |
| 2005 WSOP Main Event | $52,818,610 | Hachem, JoeJoe Hachem | $7,500,000 | |
| 2012 WSOP Event 55 – The Big One for One Drop | $42,666,672 | Esfandiari, AntonioAntonio Esfandiari | $18,346,673 | |
| 2004 WSOP Main Event | $24,224,400 | Raymer, GregGreg Raymer | $5,000,000 | |
| 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge Super High Roller | $23,511,128 | Stanley Choi | $6,465,560 | |
| 2013 WSOP Event 47 – One Drop High Roller | $17,891,148 | Anthony Gregg | $4,830,619 | |
| 2007 WPT Championship | $15,495,750 | Mortensen, CarlosCarlos Mortensen | $3,970,415 | |
| 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions Main Event | $15,376,897 | Heinecker, NiklasNiklas Heinecker | $4,456,885 | |
| 2011 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | $15,132,000 | Hall, GalenGalen Hall | $2,300,000 | |
| 2010 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | $14,831,300 | Gimbel, HarrisonHarrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 | |
| 2006 WPT Championship | $14,671,250 | Bartholdi, Jr., JoeJoe Bartholdi, Jr. | $3,760,165 | |
| 2008 EPT Grand Final | $13,323,417 | Chorny, GlenGlen Chorny | $3,196,354 | |
| 2008 WPT Championship | $13,216,250 | Chiu, DavidDavid Chiu | $3,389,140 | |
| 2009 EPT Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | $12,674,000 | Nazari, PooryaPoorya Nazari | $3,000,000 | |
| 2011 PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebration - Sunday Million | $12,423,200 | Weir, KyleKyle Weir ('First-Eagle') | $1,146,574.65 | online |
| 2009 EPT Grand Final | $12,293,896 | Korver, Pieter DePieter De Korver | $3,024,167 | |
| 2010 World Championship of Online Poker | $12,215,000 | Marks, TysonTyson Marks ('POTTERPOKER') | $2,278,097.50 | online |
| 2011 PokerStars 5th Anniversary Sunday Million | $11,825,600 | Vrabel, LukeLuke Vrabel ('Bdbeatslayer') | $671,093.81 | online, added Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 for first place |
| 2010 EPT Grand Final | $11,289,206 | Chouity, NicolasNicolas Chouity | $2,263,166 | |
| 2008 World Championship of Online Poker | $10,925,000 | King, CarterCarter King ('ckingusc') | $1,265,432 | online |
| 2009 World Championship of Online Poker | $10,720,000 | Timoshenko, YevgeniyYevgeniy Timoshenko ('Jovial Gent') | $1,715,200 | online |
| 2012 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | $10,398,400 | Dibella, JohnJohn Dibella | $1,775,000 | |
| 2011 EPT Grand Final | $10,181,818 | Freitez-Rosales, IvánIván Freitez-Rosales | $2,226,345 | |
| 2013 PokerStars Sunday Million 7th Anniversary | $9,857,400 | 'benislovas' | $848,589.33 | online |
Famous quotes containing the words list, largest, poker, history and/or prize:
“I made a list of things I have
to remember and a list
of things I want to forget,
but I see they are the same list.”
—Linda Pastan (b. 1932)
“He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul.... He needed not the spectacles of books to read Nature; he looked inwards, and found her there.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“The poker player learns that sometimes both science and common sense are wrong; that the bumblebee can fly; that, perhaps, one should never trust an expert; that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of by those with an academic bent.”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“The true runner comes to the finish and receives the prize and is crowned.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)