The Biggest Online Poker Tournament Wins in History
Welcome to this article discussing the biggest online poker tournament wins in history. If you ever wondered how much money can you possibly make while playing your favourite game of poker, we got you covered.
We personally love watching online poker tournaments, especially the final games that are always so tense and exciting to spectate. There are some games that are forever imprinted in our minds, mostly because of how high the stakes are and how big the payouts are.
We concentrated on online poker tournaments, because many live events have been postponed due to the pandemic, so more and more tournaments are happening online. Previously, the prize pool of online tournaments couldn’t compare to that of live events, but it appears that has changed. Anyway, enjoy reading about the success of these poker stars!
Stoyan Madanzhiev
The 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was supposed to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the live championship was postponed and then cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the organizers decided to take the tournament online and it commenced on 1st July 2020, ending on 8th September 2020.
The tournament immediately garnered a lot of attention after the prize pool was announced. The organizers pledged the staggering amount of $27,559,500. This prize pool won the WSOP a place in the Guinness World Records for largest prize pool for an online poker tournament.
The big champion, Stoyan Madanzhiev, stunned everyone at the tournament. The Bulgarian poker player had not previously attended any WSOP tournaments, so it was surprising when he managed to win the championship on his very debut. Madanzhiev got the grand prize of $3,904,686 at the $5000 No Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event, along with the coveted bracelet.
Apart from making headlines by being a newcomer who won the championship, Madanzhiev also made history by being the winner bagging the biggest amount of money from an online poker tournament.
Wengling Gao
Wengling Gao was the runner-up of the WSOP 2020 won by Madanzhiev. The Chinese player didn’t win the championship, but we can’t pity him when we remember that he made the amazing amount of $2,748,605. Sometimes, the winner doesn’t take it all!
Tyson “POTTERPOKER” Marks
The previous poker player to hold Madanzhiev’s title as the person winning the highest prize in online poker history was Tyson Marks, nicknamed POTTERPOKER. The American player won the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) in 2010.
The series, sponsored by PokerStars, was created in 2002 to rival the prestigious World Poker Series. The only difference is that WCOOP was to only be played online. It is still the biggest annual online poker tournament. It takes place every year in September and it usually contains a different number of events each time.
POTTERPOKER won the main event at the WCOOP in 2010 ($5,200 No Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event), which had 2,443 entries and a prize pool of $12,215,000. Tyson won $2,278,097.50 on 26th September 2010.
Tyler Rueger
On the fourth place in our list is the American-born poker player Tyler Rueger. You wouldn’t expect someone who won the third place in an online poker tournament to be there, but Rueger proves you wrong.
We are talking about the same WSOP event of 2020, which was won by Madanzhiev. Not only did his runner-up Gao ended up bagging millions. Rueger also made a substantial amount of money. $1,928,887, to be precise.
Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko
Yevgeniy Timoshenko, a Ukrainian-born American citizen, won WCOOP in 2009. The poker player with the nickname Jovial Gent was not a newcomer when he won the prestigious online poker tournament. He had previously won the Asian Poker Tour in 2008 and the season 7 World Poker Tour in April 2009.
There were 2,144 entries at the WCOOP 2010 main event ($5,200 No Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event), making up a prize pool of $10,720,000. This allowed Jovial Gent to bring home the fantastic prize of $1,715,200. He held the title of the best earning online poker player until Tyson came along the next year.
Charles “BigBlindBets” Russell
Charles Russel is another big WCOOP winner. The British poker player won the biggest online tournament in 2019, again at the $5,200 No Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event. His nickname is “BigBlindBets”, but we are not sure we believe he invested blindly when we look at his success.
The main event attracted 2,236, creating a pool of $11,180,000.00. Charles Russel brought home exactly $1,665,962.04.
Conclusion
These are the six biggest wins in online poker history. If you want to see your name up there one day, keep practicing and look for available online tournaments!