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WSOP Main Event: Check Out These WSOP Main Event Winners Poker
Amarylisa Gonsalves
Posted on 18 Jul, 2024
By Amarylisa Gonsalves
On 18 Jul, 2024
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By Amarylisa Gonsalves
On 18 Jul, 2024
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WSOP Main Event Winners List


The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the most prestigious poker event on the planet and this annual poker fiesta attracts players from across the globe each year. The series got a new home on the Las Vegas Strip at Bally’s and Paris after WSOP 2021 was announced as the last event to take place at the Rio. Each year, pros and poker enthusiasts alike slog hard for the coveted World Series of Poker bracelets and titles.

Here on this page, we take a look at all former World Series of  Poker Main Event (ME) winners till date. The poker series started in 1970 and completed more than five decades so far. We have 53 World Series of Poker Main Event winners who shot to fame with incredible WSOP wins, including poker legends like Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, Phil Hellmuth, iconic 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Chris Moneymaker, Chris Ferguson, and several others.


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The Grand Old Man of Poker — Johnny Moss, has three WSOP ME titles to his credit. The three titles include the inaugural edition of 1970, followed by victories in WSOP 1971 and WSOP 1974 as well. His first victory in 1970 was at a time when the concept of a Main Event didn’t even exist; the winner was selected by secret ballot after a short game with a set start and stop time. 

Stu Ungar is the only other person in WSOP history to have nailed three WSOP ME titles in his career, namely in WSOP 1980, WSOP 1981 and WSOP 1997. Following Moss and Ungar’s three wins each is Doyle Brunson who nailed two consecutive Main Events in 1976 and 1977, with the same cards (T2) too. How amazing is that?!

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Joining the bandwagon is Johnny Chan, who also holds the record of winning two WSOP ME titles back-to-back in 1987 and 1989. Since these early days in the game, the series has grown from being a single invite-only tournament to having 100+ events on the World Series of Poker schedule each year.

The prize pools have also grown massively, with winners getting $10+ million pay cheques as well. The first time a prize was awarded was at the WSOP 1971 series where Johnny Moss won again and he won a prize of $30,000 at the time. On the other hand, the highest WSOP Main Event cash so far has been $12,000,000, which was won by Jamie Gold after he shipped the WSOP 2006 ME. The most recent addition to the list of World Series of Poker Main Event winners is Norway’s Espen Jorstad, who took down the 2022 World Series of Poker Main Event and cashed 10,000,000. 

List of WSOP Main Event winners:

The past WSOP Main Event winners have etched their names in the books of history. Here’s the list of all WSOP winners who have claimed the Main Event titles:

Year Nationality Winner Prize ($)
1970 American Johnny Moss  NA
1971 American Johnny Moss  $30,000
1972 American Thomas Preston  $80,000
1973 American Walter Pearson  $130,000
1974 American Johnny Moss  $160,000
1975 American Brian Roberts  $210,000
1976 American Doyle Brunson $220,000
1977 American Doyle Brunson $340,000
1978 American Bobby Baldwin $210,000
1979 American Hal Fowler  $270,000
1980 American Stu Ungar  $385,000
1981 American Stu Ungar  $375,000
1982 American Jack Straus $520,000
1983 American Tom McEvoy $540,000
1984 American Jack Keller  $660,000
1985 American Bill Smith  $700,000
1986 American Berry Johnston $570,000
1987 American Johnny Chan $625,000
1988 American Johnny Chan $700,000
1989 American Phil Hellmuth $755,000
1990 Iranian-British Mansour Matloubi $895,000
1991 American Brad Daugherty $1,000,000
1992 Iranian-American Hamid Dastmalchi $1,000,000
1993 American Jim Bechtel $1,000,000
1994 American Russ Hamilton $1,000,000
1995 American Dan Harrington $1,000,000
1996 American Huck Seed $1,000,000
1997 American Stu Ungar  $1,000,000
1998 Vietnamese-American Scotty Nguyen $1,000,000
1999 Irish Noel Furlong  $1,000,000
2000 American Chris Ferguson $1,500,000
2001 Ecuadorian Carlos Mortensen $1,500,000
2002 American Robert Varkonyi $2,000,000
2003 American Chris Moneymaker $2,500,000
2004 American Greg Raymer $5,000,000
2005 Lebanese Australian Joe Hachem $7,500,000
2006 American Jamie Gold $12,000,000
2007 American Jerry Yang $8,250,000
2008 Danish Peter Eastgate $9,152,416
2009 American Joe Cada $8,574,649
2010 Canadian Jonathan Duhamel $8,944,138
2011 German Pius Heinz $8,715,638
2012 American Greg Merson $8,531,853
2013 American Ryan Riess $8,359,531
2014 Swedish Martin Jacobson $10,000,000
2015 American Joe McKeehen $7,683,346
2016 Vietnamese-American Qui Nguyen $8,005,310
2017 American Scott Blumstein $8,150,000
2018 American John Cynn $8,800,000
2019 Iranian-German Hossein Ensan $10,000,000
2020 Argentinian Damian Salas $1,550,969
2021 German Koray Aldemir $8,000,000
2022 Norwegian Espen Jorstad $10,000,000
2023 American Daniel Weinman $12,100,000
2024 American Jonathan Tamayo $10,000,000

Winning a World Series of Poker bracelet is a big deal, but winning a World Series of Poker Main Event can be a life-altering moment! It’s the biggest dream of almost every poker player in the world. We await to see which players can go on to create history by shipping future WSOP Main Events, though with the thousands of entries each year now, we doubt anyone can win a WSOP Main Event twice anymore.

As we prepare for the upcoming 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event and the entire series, all eyes are on who will win the World Series of Poker 2023 Main Event. Will World Series of Poker 2022 Main Event champion, Espen Jorstad, be able to defend his title? Well, only time will tell. Till then, check out the WSOP 2023 schedule here.

Also, we at Gutshot Magazine will be covering WSOP 2023 updates, so make sure to stay tuned and keep an eye for all the latest WSOP updates.

For more news and updates, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com. Follow us on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Telegram.

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