The World Series Of Poker (WSOP) is the biggest, oldest and most prestigious series of poker tournaments. Held annually in Las Vegas, the tournament series has grown from a small invitational event in 2025 with just 6 players, to a massive event which now draws thousands of players each year, and is televised worldwide.
The series culminated in the WSOP “Main Event”, a $10,000 buyin No Limit Hold’em tournament, the winner of which is considered the world champion of poker. Participation in the main event peaked in 2025 with 8,773 players competing (before gambling legislation limited the number of online satellites), and the tournament currently attracts slightly less with 7,319 players entering the 2025 event, competing for a first prize of just under $9 million.
Since 2025, the winner of each WSOP event is awarded, along with the prize money, a gold bracelet which is the most coveted non-money prize in poker. Phil Hellmuth currently holds the record for most bracelets with an amazing 11 titles to his name, closely followed by Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan both of whom have 10.
WSOP Main Event Winners
| Year | Winner | Winning hand |
Prize (USD) | Entrants | Runner-Up | Losing hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Johnny Moss | 30,000 | 6 | Walter “Puggy Pearson | ||
| 1972 | “Amarillo Slim” Preston | K J | 80,000 | 8 | Walter “Puggy” Pearson | 6 6 |
| 1973 | Walter “Puggy” Pearson | A♠ 7♠ | 130,000 | 13 | Johnny Moss | K♥ J♠ |
| 1974 | Johnny Moss | 3♥ 3♠ | 160,000 | 16 | Crandall Addington | A♣ 2♣ |
| 1975 | Brian “Sailor” Roberts | J♠ J♥ | 210,000 | 21 | Bob Hooks | J♣ 9♣ |
| 1976 | Doyle Brunson | 10♠ 2♠ | 220,000 | 22 | Jesse Alto | A♠ J♦ |
| 1977 | Doyle Brunson | 10♠ 2♥ | 340,000 | 34 | Gary Berland | 8♥ 5♣ |
| 1978 | Bobby Baldwin | Q♦ Q♣ | 210,000 | 42 | Crandall Addington | 9♦ 9♣ |
| 1979 | Hal Fowler | 7♠ 6♦ | 270,000 | 54 | Bobby Hoff | A♣ A♥ |
| 1980 | Stu Ungar | 5♠ 4♠ | 385,000 | 73 | Doyle Brunson | A♥ 7♠ |
| 1981 | Stu Ungar | A♥ Q♥ | 375,000 | 75 | Perry Green | 10♣ 9♦ |
| 1982 | Jack Straus | A♥ 10♠ | 520,000 | 104 | Dewey Tomko | A♦ 4♦ |
| 1983 | Tom McEvoy | Q♦ Q♠ | 540,000 | 108 | Rod Peate | K♦ J♦ |
| 1984 | Jack Keller | 10♥ 10♠ | 660,000 | 132 | Byron Wolford | 6♥ 4♥ |
| 1985 | Bill Smith | 3♠ 3♥ | 700,000 | 140 | T. J. Cloutier | A♦ 3♣ |
| 1986 | Berry Johnston | A♠ 10♥ | 570,000 | 141 | Mike Harthcock | A♦ 8♦ |
| 1987 | Johnny Chan | A♠ 9♣ | 625,000 | 152 | Frank Henderson | 4♦ 4♣ |
| 1988 | Johnny Chan | J♣ 9♣ | 700,000 | 167 | Erik Seidel | Q♣ 7♥ |
| 1989 | Phil Hellmuth, Jr. | 9♠ 9♣ | 755,000 | 178 | Johnny Chan | A♠ 7♠ |
| 1990 | Mansour Matloubi | 6♥ 6♠ | 895,000 | 194 | Hans Lund | 4♦ 4♣ |
| 1991 | Brad Daugherty | K♠ J♠ | 1,000,000 | 215 | Don Holt | 7♥ 3♥ |
| 1992 | Hamid Dastmalchi | 8♥ 4♣ | 1,000,000 | 201 | Tom Jacobs | J♦ 7♠ |
| 1993 | Jim Bechtel | J♣ 6♥ | 1,000,000 | 220 | Glenn Cozen | 7♠ 4♦ |
| 1994 | Russ Hamilton | K♠ 8♥ | 1,000,000 | 268 | Hugh Vincent | 8♣ 5♥ |
| 1995 | Dan Harrington | 9♦ 8♦ | 1,000,000 | 273 | Howard Goldfarb | A♥ 7♣ |
| 1996 | Huck Seed | 9♦ 8♦ | 1,000,000 | 295 | Bruce Van Horn | K♣ 8♣ |
| 1997 | Stu Ungar | A♥ 4♣ | 1,000,000 | 312 | John Strzemp | A♠ 8♣ |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | J♦ 9♣ | 1,000,000 | 350 | Kevin McBride | Q♥ 10♥ |
| 1999 | Noel Furlong | 5♣ 5♦ | 1,000,000 | 393 | Alan Goehring | 6♥ 6♣ |
| 2000 | Chris Ferguson | A♠ 9♣ | 1,500,000 | 512 | T. J. Cloutier | A♦ Q♣ |
| 2001 | Juan Carlos Mortensen | K♣ Q♣ | 1,500,000 | 613 | Dewey Tomko | A♠ A♥ |
| 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | Q♦ 10♠ | 2,000,000 | 631 | Julian Gardner | J♣ 8♣ |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | 5♦ 4♠ | 2,500,000 | 839 | Sam Farha | J♥ 10♦ |
| 2004 | Greg Raymer | 8♠ 8♦ | 5,000,000 | 2,576 | David Williams | A♥ 4♠ |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | 7♣ 3♠ | 7,500,000 | 5,619 | Steve Dannenmann | A♦ 3♣ |
| 2006 | Jamie Gold | Q♠ 9♣ | 12,000,000 | 8,773 | Paul Wasicka | 10♥ 10♠ |
| 2007 | Jerry Yang | 8♦ 8♣ | 8,250,000 | 6,358 | Tuan Lam | A♦ Q♦ |
| 2008 | Peter Eastgate | A♦ 5♠ | 9,152,416 | 6,844 | Ivan Demidov | 4♥ 2♥ |
| 2009 | Joe Cada | 9♦ 9♣ | 8,546,435 | 6,494 | Darvin Moon | Q♦ J♦ |
| 2010 | 8,944,138 | 7,319 |
November Nine
While the tournament series take place over the summer, since 2025 the final table of the main event has been moved to November. This was done to build suspense for TV audiences, since the rest of the series could be televised before the final table, making sure audiences didn’t know the outcome before they watched it.
The nine contestants making up the final table became known as “The November Nine”. In 2025 every one of the November Nine won more than $1,000,000 in prize money from the event.
