WSOP By The Numbers
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
It's still uncertain if the 51st installment of the event will take place. And we have never had a cancellation. We can look back and have some fun with the numbers, whether or not the 2020 event goes off without a hitch, is postponed and/or canceled.World Series of Poker
Inside the Numbers
1,000,000 - The WSOP was the first-ever poker tournament to award the winner $1,000,000 USD. Brad Daugherty (no, not the former NBA player!) picked up a cool million, beating out 214 other competitions for the purse in 1991. A million dollars was awarded for nine straight years until being bumped up to $1.5 million in 2000, when Chris Ferguson won it all. It has since risen to $10M, which is what Hossein Ensan brought home in 2019 thanks to pocket cowboys.85 - American gambling legend Benny Binion created the World Series of Poker back in 1970. He lived for 85 entertaining years, passing away on Christmas Day of 1989 due to heart failure.
22 - Peter Eastgate was the youngest champion in the main event, picking up $9,152,416 with a win in 2008.
21 - Eastgate's record of being the youngest main event champ lasted just one year, as 21-year-old Joe Cada won the bracelet and $8,574,649 in the 2009 event, and he hauled off over $10M in total winnings from the event.
18 - Annette Obrestad is the youngest player to ever win a bracelet, taking the championship in the World Series Main Event in Europe back in 2007. She was 18 years, 364 days old.
17 - This denotes the total amount of main event champions who have been enshrined in the Poker Hall of Fame.
15 - Hall of Famer Phil Hellmuth won the main event title in 1989, then the youngest player ever. He has since picked up 15 WSOP bracelets, with his last a $5,000 NL Hold'em tournament in 2018.
14 - Jonathan Duhamel took home $8,944,138 for his main event victory in 2010, and he ended up posting winnings of $14,612,213 with three total bracelets in the 2010 WSOP.
10 - Martin Jacobson won the 2014 main event with pocket 10s, and he hauled away the first-ever prize of $10 million, edging out 6,682 other participants. Hall of Famer Jack Keller also won with pocket tens to seize $660,000 and claim the bracelet in 1984.
9 - Unfortunately, nine past main event champions have passed away. Johnny Moss, a three-time winner (1970-71, 1974), Thomas Preston (1972), Walter Pearson (1973), Brian Roberts (1975), Hal Fowler (1979), Stu Ungar (1980-81, 1997), Jack Straus (1982), Jack Keller (1984) and Bill Smith (1985) have all passed on.
8 - Colorful champion Greg Raymer won the 2004 main event with pocket eights, a feat which was duplicated in 2007 by champ Jerry Yang in the main event.
7 - Seven is widely believed to be a lucky number by many, and pocket sevens are considered a Top 10 hand in Texas Hold 'em. However, pockets sevens have never been the winning hole cards in the main event.
6 - Moss won the 1971 WSOP with pocket sixes. Mansour Matloubi also won the main event in 1990 with pocket sixes.
5 - Noel Furlong played pocket fives into a $1,000,000 payday in the 1999 main event, beating out 392 fellow competitiors for the bracelet.
4 - On four occasions we have had a winner of the WSOP main event in consecutive years. Moss won back-to-back events in 1970 and 1971. Doyle Brunson won the event in 1976 and 1977, with Ungar picking up bracelets in the main event in 1980 and 1981. Johnny Chan is the last player to win the main event in two straight years back in 1997 and 1998.
3 - Both Moss and Ungar won the main event on three occasions, as Moss also won in 1974, in addition to his consecutive wins in 1970-71. Ungar won in 1997 after claiming bracelets in 1980-81.
2 - A WSOP champion has had a deuce as one of their hole cards on just three occasions. The Hall of Famer Brunson won the event in back-to-back years from 1976-77 while using a 10-2 combination. A two hadn't appeared as one of the hole cards for a champ until Scott Blumstein flipped over an ace of hearts and a two of diamonds in 2017 to grab a bracelet and $8,150,000.
1 - Moss won the very first WSOP event back in 1970. He edged out Crandell Addington, Brunson, Carl Cannon, Puggy Pearson, Amarillo Slim Pearson and Sailor Roberts, winning by player vote.
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