What is the largest amount of money ever won in poker?

anbu210 · Mar 16, 2026

The largest single payout in poker history was won by Antonio Esfandiari.
He won $18.3 million at the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop tournament in Las Vegas.
The event had a massive $1 million buy-in, which is why the prize pool was so huge.
It remains the biggest first-place prize ever awarded in a poker tournament.
Several players have earned more overall in their careers, but this is the biggest single win.

I'm mostly a cash game player, My highest win so far in MTT is around $600+ ...

comini · Apr 16, 2026

My biggest prize was 500$

bazza155 · Apr 17, 2026

My biggest win was a £1k package £500 cash and a £500 live event ticket, which I have won twice.

G0930 · Apr 17, 2026

anbu210 said:
The largest single payout in poker history was won by Antonio Esfandiari.
He won $18.3 million at the 2012 WSOP Big One for One Drop tournament in Las Vegas.
The event had a massive $1 million buy-in, which is why the prize pool was so huge.
It remains the biggest first-place prize ever awarded in a poker tournament.
Several players have earned more overall in their careers, but this is the biggest single win.

Technically Bryn Kenney had the highest payout but it didn't count because of a deal

Kenney technically finished in 2nd place. However, because of a heads-up deal made before the final showdown with Aaron Zang, Kenney took home more money than the actual winner.
Zang walked away with $16.7 million.

If you only count 1st-place finishes without deals, the record belongs to Antonio Esfandiari.
This held the record for the largest single payout for seven years until the Triton Million in 2019.

The largest individual payout ever awarded in a poker tournament belongs to Bryn Kenney.

Amount: $20,563,324 (£16,890,509)
Event: 2019 Triton Million for Charity (£1,050,000 buy-in).

In cash games Tom Dwan is still the king with the highest pot in televised poker. 31M$
Off camera even way more

anbu210 said:
I'm mostly a cash game player, My highest win so far in MTT is around $600+ ...

I am mostly MTT player but I had some years where I played live cashgame almost exclusively
My highest single pot was little over 1000€

NSX_Amfe2nat · Apr 17, 2026

My personal best 4200$. After that i never won more than 800$

SergioV · Apr 17, 2026

There weren't any particularly big wins because I play low limits, but I took 1st place for $220😁

hardongear · Apr 17, 2026

As others mentioned the largest was of Antonio Esfandiari for 18.35m.

My largest came in only my 2nd live event when our casino in Halifax first opened. I won't just over 5k for 1st place in a $300 buy-in MTT. My next best was just over $1500 which a scored few times on Pokerstars. Also have had a couple $800 scores on Ultimate Bet. Not bad for the rather short time I got too play there thanks to the douchebag Russ Hamilton who ruined it for everyone. Always liked UB's software a bit more then Pokerstars. It was nice, simple, easy to navigate/user friendly, not cluttered, clean and ran very good.

Cheers!!!

s0ftdumps · Apr 17, 2026

Personally, I won a spin on 888 for a $109 ticket. Not many people entered, so I managed to take it down. That was a pretty sweet payday.

All time, there have to be some crazy high-stakes games out there, Epstein Island level, in private tables.

CardFather · Apr 17, 2026

My personal best cash was 6678 on a 250 buy-in, got a 5 k bounty, had a few scores closer to 5k before that.. the biggest i think ever close 20 million but guessing

DiazPoker3101 · Apr 17, 2026

If you're talking about the biggest single tournament score ever, it’s:
👉 Antonio Esfandiari – $18,346,673
He won it in the 2012 wsop Big One for One Drop, which still holds the record.
If instead you mean the biggest overall winner in poker history (live tournaments):
👉 Bryn Kenney – $70M+ in total live earnings
He leads the all-time money list, mostly thanks to high rollers and Triton events.
Worth noting:

💰 Kenney actually had a $20.5M cash in a Triton event (2019), the biggest payout ever, but he finished 2nd due to a deal.
🏆 Justin Bonomo is also up there with $60M+ in total earnings.

Quick summary:

Biggest single win: Esfandiari – $18.3M
Biggest career earnings: Bryn Kenney – $70M+

R.Holynskyi · Apr 18, 2026

So far - $300. I hope this is just the beginning

austral · Apr 18, 2026

Largest prize in a single tournament (official, live)
The absolute record is held by American player Bryn Kenney, who won:
$20,563,324
In 2019
Event: Triton Million for Charity
Although he finished second, a deal at the final table gave him the largest payout in tournament history.
This is the biggest individual prize ever recorded in live poker.

Mazembe · Apr 18, 2026

dompoker said:
I don't remember well, but I think I won $250 in a tournament, but then I lost everything to play bigger tournaments.

That's one of the biggest mistake that poker players do, including myself. We jump to high stakes and big buy-ins too quickly

Gritz18 · Apr 18, 2026

What is the largest amount of money ever won in poker?

Since I only play freerolls, my biggest prize was $78.00 in a Cardschat freeroll on Pokerstars, back in the good old days when we had $300.00 freerolls on weekends. I miss those times.

ranon77 · May 1, 2026

It was $55

ranon77 · May 4, 2026

I know that is little but it was $16

vedo · May 6, 2026

12 k in a bounty tournament

MAFNL16061986 · May 6, 2026

i just won 1 time so far and the price was about 600 euro

Sschafell · May 31, 2026

The most I ever earned was 10k USD.

RomboPro777 · Jun 9, 2026

$1500 a long time ago at poker stars

Mwaki · Jun 10, 2026

Biggest I ever won in an mtt was 457$

piic · Jun 10, 2026

The biggest single tournament prize I can think of is Antonio Esfandiari winning about $18 million in the 2012 Big One for One Drop.

embaixador · Jun 10, 2026

$1.500,00 em um torneio

cwdignus · Jun 10, 2026

I think I won US$260 in a single tournament. I've won several tickets from 109 in 888poker in a week across various tournaments and blackjack. I even reached $1,000 in 2018. I thought I'd always be able to do it, but I never managed to again.

Leandro Moecke · Jun 10, 2026

gus_eva said:
A maior vitória da história do poker, excluindo torneios online, foi de US$ 18,35 milhões. Ela foi conquistada pelo jogador iraniano-americano Antonio Esfandiari no torneio WSOP One Drop de 2012.

a minha maior foi 83 dólares kkk mas era em um freeroll então foi top

What is the largest amount of money ever won in poker?

anbu210

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comini

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bazza155

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G0930

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NSX_Amfe2nat

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SergioV

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hardongear

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CardFather

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austral

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What is the largest amount of money ever won in poker?​

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vedo

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MAFNL16061986

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What is the largest amount of money ever won in poker?