The World Series of Poker originated in the 1970s and is of course the most popular event on any poker player or poker TV viewer’s calendar.

It’s an incredible event that thanks to Chris Moneymaker, created an online poker “boom” that is still in place today.

Chris Moneymaker of course won the WSOP main event back in 2003, making him a $2.5 million first prize. Yet he hasn’t really had any success at the WSOP since then. If you check out the all-time WSOP money list, he’s hanging out around 177th place.

In this article, I’ll be highlighting the top players – the players who have made the most money playing at the World Series of Poker. There’s a lot of names you’ll no doubt recognize due to their celebrity status over the years.

Then there are a few random players who you won’t recognize; they’ve made one or two random big scores and have never been heard of again. There are a lot of rags-to-riches stories like that; players who learned strategy over at a site like Beastsofpoker.com, hopped onto the satellite tables and ended up in the WSOP main event!

Let’s go through the Top 10:

#1: Antonio Esfandiari.

Antonio has won almost $22 million in prize money at the WSOP tables, however, this one feels slightly artificial. His big win was the $1 million entry event in 2012 where he won $18.3 million dollars. His next highest cash was for $1.4 million in 2013 again for a big buy-in of $111,111.

Antonio still wons quite a few more bracelets, such as when he won the Pot Limit Hold’Em event in 2004.

#2: Daniel Negreanu

Second place with $20 million. He also gets a boost thanks to the same event as Antonio but in 2014, as he finished in 2nd place for $8.2 million. He also came 2nd in the $100,000 high roller event in 2019 for $1.7 million. Daniel also has a lot of cashes from other WSOP related events such as the World Series of Poker Europe, and the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific.

#3: Daniel Colman

A bit of a drop-off now as Colman comes in next with “just” $17.4 million. The majority of his comes from winning The Big One for One Drop event in 2014, which was for $15.3 million. He does have a third place from the WSOP 2015 $111,111 High Roller event though for $1.5 million, to add to his winnings.

#4: Phil Hellmuth

At $16 million, it’s great to see “The Poker Brat” on the list. He has been around for years and unlike the others, there are no huge 8 figure wins for him. His biggest was 4th place in the 2012 “Big One for the Drop” for $2.6 million but Phil earned the rest of his money the old-fashioned way – by grinding and picking up bracelets.

Hellmuth also has the most bracelets at 16. 2nd place is tied between the likes of Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, and Doyle Brunson with 10.

#5: Jonathan Duhamel

The Canadian is next on the list thanks to winning the 2010 WSOP main event. He took in $8.9 million for that cash, and also 5 years later won the high roller event for an additional $4 million. Two excellent cashes see him in 5th place with $14.6 million, and the first main event winner on the list.

#6: Justin Bonomo

At $14.6 million as well, Bonomo is just $20k behind Duhamel. His is primarily due to the $1 million big drop event from 2018 which he won, and took him $10 million. The rest of his is made up of a few strong six-figure cashes such as the 2nd place in the 2016 Poker Players Championship.

#7: Joseph Cada

WIth $13.6 million to his name in winnings, primarily thanks to a 1st place win in the main event in 2009. That netted him more than half of his total winnings, at $8.5 million. He’s also won a few other WSOP tournaments and has a handful of bracelets.

#8: Elton Tsang

Elton hails from Hong Kong, and is on this list due almost exclusively to his win in the Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza. This was in 2016, and he netted $12,248,912 with his win.

#9: Jamie Gold

Who can ever forget Jamie Gold, and his “brain food” blueberries which helped win him the 2006 WSOP Main Event. He won $12 million dollars from that and has just a couple of hundred thousand in other WSOP wins.

#10: Martin Jacobson

Last but certainly not least – the Swede followed up his 6th place the previous year at the One Drop High Roller event, to take down the main event in 2014 for a cash prize of $10 million. He is currently at $12.2 million on the WSOP Money List.

(Information courtesy of The Hendon Mob)

Additional WSOP All Time Money Questions:

Which Canadian has won the most money at the World Series of Poker?

That would be Jonathan Duhamel, who is currently 5th on the all-time money list. His $8.9 million in winnings from the 2010 WSOP main event helped push him into the top 5.

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