Poker payouts are drooled over, fantasized about, and even revered. In 2003, an industry was born when an accountant named Chris Moneymaker parlayed $86 into a $2.5 million win — sparking a belief in players and spectators alike that they too might someday hit such a lofty jackpot.
To help inspire poker enthusiasts, Clubs Casino compiled a ranking of the 10 biggest tournament cash prizes recorded in poker history using data from The Hendon Mob. Cash prizes were adjusted for inflation based on the year each tournament took place.
Poker is about more than just the players and their prizes. The game is famously accessible, and since the jolt of Moneymaker’s win, “nobodies” have played more regularly alongside stars, whether by earning seats at World Series of Poker main events or buying into charity tournaments. The latter has become super popular, as small events abound and even celebrities like Ben Affleck and Kevin Hart have participated in charity events.
While supporting the cause at hand is paramount, and the competition is mostly good-natured, charity events separate the best from the rest just as well as their more cutthroat equivalents.
World Series of Poker main events are still synonymous with huge prize pool purses. But these special events have taken center stage when it comes to enormous payouts for the winners. The top four biggest cash prizes on this list are from charity events. Only when we get to the #5 entry do we see Jamie Gold, who won $12 million at the No Limit Texas Hold’em World Championship event in 2006 ($18.1 million in today’s money).
The Big One for One Drop, created by the WSOP and One Drop Foundation in 2012, has produced some of poker’s biggest wins, paying out four of the largest awards in poker history in just the event’s first handful of years.
However, as far as top prizes go, Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity is on another level. The 2019 event raised $4 million (adjusted for inflation) for One Drop, Raising for Effective Giving, and other organizations.
Read on to see what other events have netted hopeful players the biggest wins in recorded poker history.
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#10. World Championship – No Limit Hold’em
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $12,498,391
– Event start date: July 5, 2010
– Winner: Jonathan Duhamel
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#9. World Championship – No Limit Hold’em (Event #65)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $12,870,962
– Event start date: July 5, 2014
– Winner: Martin Jacobson
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#8. World Championship No Limit Hold’em
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $12,952,720
– Event start date: July 3, 2008
– Winner: Peter Eastgate
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#7. The Big One for One Drop (Event #55)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $13,419,980
– Event start date: July 1, 2012
– Winner: Sam Trickett
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#6. No Limit Hold’em Big One For One Drop
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $15,550,663
– Event start date: Oct. 14, 2016
– Winner: Elton Tsang
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#5. No Limit Texas Hold’em – World Championship Event
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $18,137,024
– Event start date: July 28, 2006
– Winner: Jamie Gold
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#4. No Limit Hold’em – The Big One for One Drop (Event #57)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $19,701,154
– Event start date: June 29, 2014
– Winner: Daniel Colman
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#3. No Limit Hold’em – Triton Million for Charity (Event #2)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $19,994,078
– Event start date: Aug. 1, 2019
– Winner: Aaron Shu Nu Zang
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#2. The Big One for One Drop (Event #55)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $24,348,493
– Event start date: July 1, 2012
– Winner: Antonio Esfandiari
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#1. No Limit Hold’em – Triton Million for Charity (Event #2)
– Cash prize (adjusted for inflation): $24,508,173
– Event start date: Aug. 1, 2019
– Winner: Bryn Kenney
Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Meg Shields. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.
This story originally appeared on Clubs Casino and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
