Top 5 Biggest Poker Tournaments that Pay Big

The tournaments mentioned in this article are some of the biggest poker tournaments around the world. Thousands of people take part and try to win them. All these poker tournaments pay big and offer a great player experience.

Keep in mind that the buy-in amount for these tournaments is a bit on the higher end. But all these tournaments pay a huge amount to the winners that account to more than $1M. And just for the sheer challenge of winning these tournaments makes them so special. It takes a player to be a master of the game and have a great game knowledge to win in these tournaments. And if you manage to win, you’ll be treated as the best player in the world. And this is a great title to have.

What makes these tournaments so big and Special?

So, you must be wondering what makes these poker tournaments so special. Well, there are four main factors that make these tournaments stand apart from the rest. They are as follows:

1. The total number of people taking part: Literally thousands to tens of thousands of people take part in these tournaments. It feels special to play with so many people. The atmosphere built in these tournaments is the best part of all. To be a part of something so big which has great value is one’s in a lifetime experience.
2. The tournament locations: All of these poker tournaments takes place in really big casinos which are really well-known and world-famous. To go and visit them is a dream for many people out there. Also, the locality of these tournaments are really awesome and cool places to visit for anyone.
3. Tournaments Winnings: The winnings from these tournaments are all in Millions. This alone tells that these are not the common typical poker tournaments that happens every year. Winning in these tournaments makes you a world-famous poker player. Also, if you win in some of these poker tournaments, you’re considered as the world champion of poker. This is really a big deal in the poker industry. So, go a win in these biggest poker tournaments and make a name for your self.
4. Challenge: It takes one to be extremely skillful to win in these biggest poker tournaments. There’s no luck as such because you compete with tens of thousands of people. And to win the title you need to be on top of the game for the entire tournament. Not just for couple of hours. And only a few players can do this. And the players that do this win most of the time.

These factors make this list one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world.

Biggest Poker Tournaments around the World

Without any further discussion let’s take a look at the top 5 most Biggest Poker Tournaments that pay big.

1. World Series Of Poker ( WSOP)

WSOP is one of the biggest poker tournaments and happens all over the world.  Around tens and thousands of players compete hoping to win the tournament.

The first WSOP was played in 1970 when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players. From then on the WSOP was played each year with the increasing number of contestants year by year.

WSOP became one of the most prestigious poker tournament a player can win. The winner is crowned as the Poker champion of the World.

Format

WSOP Las Vegas is the most popular and is conducted every year in Las Vegas in the month of June-July. Each players competing has to pay the $10,000 buy-in to get into the tournament. More than 8000 players competed in 2019 WSOP held in July.

The prize pool of 2019 WSOP Las Vegas was $80,548,600 and the Winner took $10 million in cash. The winner additional gets a bracelet to take away to his home. This bracelet signifies that the player is the world champion and the best in the world.

WSOP happens in other parts of the world too. The Variants of WSOP are as follows:

1. WSOP Las Vegas
2. WSOP Online Poker
3. WSOP U.S Circuit
4. WSOP Europe Circuit
5. WSOP International Circuit

Each one of these tournaments offers a huge cash prize for the winners along with a bracelet to take home. The player with the most bracelets is Phil Hellmuth and has won 15 times. There’s no question that WSOP is the world’s biggest poker tournaments ever.

2. World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP)

This is one of the biggest poker tournaments conducted online and is played by players all over the world. The tournament is sponsored by Poker Stars.  It is played on the PokerStars site in the month of September every year.

WCOOP was started in the year 2002 and is the online equivalent to the World Series Of Poker. The WCOOP offers a variety of Poker games with Texas Hold’em being the famous one. There are different buy-ins for different variants and different prize pool.

The games featured are Limit, Pot-Limit and No-Limit Texas Hold’em, Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, Pot Limit Omaha High and Limit Omaha Hi/Lo, 5 card draw, 2-7 triple draw, and H.O.R.S.E.

In the year 2018 WCOOP, 186 different events were conducted by Poker Stars.  The main event of 2018 WCOOP consisted of 2,044 players and the winner won $1,352,967.97. The prize pool of the Main event was $10,220,000.00. The buy-in for the main event was $5,200 No-Limit Texas Hold’em Poker.

This tells us that the WCOOP is one of the biggest poker tournaments that is conducted online by PokerStars.

3. Triton Super High Roller Series ( Triton Poker)

Triton Poker conducts one of the biggest poker tournaments in different parts of the world. Just like PokerStars, Triton Poker conducts different poker tournaments with different buy-in amounts and pool prizes. 

This year Trition Million poker tournament was conducted with the prize pool of $65,660,000. The winner received $23,100,000. Also, the buy-in amount is $25,000. It is the 6th largest poker tournament in terms of the prize pool and number 1 Poker tournament with the highest amount given to a winner.

You can already tell that this tournament is super expensive and is mostly played by the businessman and professional poker players. This is not for everyone.

But, none the less, it is one of the biggest poker tournaments that attract a lot of viewers who watch the best play against each other to win the tournament.

4. Big One for One Drop

The Big One for One Drop is a $1,000,000 buy-in No-Limit Texas hold ’em tournament hosted at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). It was started in the year 2012 and became the highest buy-in poker tournament in history as well as the largest single payout offered. The buy-in amount itself is more than enough to make it one of the biggest poker tournaments of the world.

The event is known for its charitable contributions as much as $111,111 of each player’s buy-in is donated to the One Drop Foundation, an international non-profit organization created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, which focuses on water initiatives.

This is one of those unique tournaments that are not for everyone as the buy-in to play the tournament is 1 million dollars. But the cause of the tournament is really good and the tournament has already collected $16M for the charity foundation One Drop in just four years. So, if you have a lots of money and want to spend something in doing good, then this is the best poker tournament to be a part in.

The event usually happens in the month of June or July as a 3-4 days event. The prize pool for the tournament is more than $40M and the winner usually takes home more than $10M.

So, if you have got the money then you can go and compete and play in one of the biggest poker tournaments ever conducted for a charity cause.

5. World Poker Tour Championships (WPT)

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. The World Poker Tour was started in the year 2002 and has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the final table of each tournament. It is hands down one of the biggest poker tournaments ever.

The WPT Main Tour focuses on the buy-in range of $3,500-$25,000, and winners of official WPT Main Tour events are awarded a membership to the WPT Champions Club. The WPT Champions Cup is the trophy awarded to all winners of WPT Main Tour events, and champions have his or her name engraved on the Cup.

The winners get whopping prize money greater than $1M. This tournament is popular all over the world and millions watch the action by sitting at home and watching on TV.

In 2008, they even started the WPT ladies where there were tournaments conducted only for women. Their buy-in is usually $300 to $1500 and the winner gets more than $500,000 as of the prize money.

Without any doubt, this is one of the biggest poker tournaments that happens once a year and attracts a lot of viewers.

These were some of the world’s biggest poker tournaments and the prize money is massive. It is the dream of all poker players to play and win in one of these tournaments. Don’t forget to Check out the best cards to play poker at home. Also, check out the Best Card Shufflers you can use to shuffle the cards.

Popular FAQ’s

Who is the richest poker player in the world?

Sam Farha is the richest poker player in the world. He is worth over $100M in networth.

Who is the best poker player of all time?

It is literally impossible to tell who is the best poker player of all time. Because there are a lot of poker players who deservers the GOAT in poker. But, if you look at the earnings made by playing poker then Bryn Kenney makes to the top of the list with over $50M in live earnings.

Who won the One Drop poker tournament?

Justin Bonomo won the One Drop Poker Tournament in 2018.

Who has won the WSOP Poker Tournaments the most?

Phil Hellmuth has won the most bracelets with 15 followed by Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Ivey with ten bracelets each.

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