Of all the poker tournaments throughout the world, the one that every poker player dreams of winning is the WSOP. Every year poker players from around the world have gathered in Las Vegas to compete for the chance to be named the World Champion of Poker. Several events are held during the series, and a bracelet is awarded to the winner of each event, but the most watched, well known, and coveted prize of all events is the main event of no limit Texas Hold-em.
Since 1976 the WSOP bracelet has been the most coveted prize in the world of poker, and in the last two decades, thousands of players have signed up with the dream of going home wearing this prestigious prize. Those who have won the bracelet have had their names go down in poker history. For those who are interested in the history of the World Series of Poker, we’ve compiled a list of the winners of the main event every year since the WSOP was first played in 1970 as well as the grand prize amount.
| Year | Player | Winnings | Year | Player | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Johnny Moss | Awarded by player vote | 1971 | Johnny Moss | $30,000 |
| 1972 | Amarillo Slim Preston | $80,000 | 1973 | Puggy Pearson | $130,000 |
| 1974 | Johnny Moss | $160,000 | 1975 | Sailor Roberts | $210,000 |
| 1976 | Doyle Brunson | $220,000 | 1977 | Doyle Brunson | $340,000 |
| 1978 | Bobby Baldwin | $210,000 | 1979 | Hal Fowler | $270,000 |
| 1980 | Stu Ungar | $385,000 | 1981 | Stu Ungar | $375,000 |
| 1982 | Jack Strauss | $520,000 | 1983 | Tom McEvoy | $580,000 |
| 1984 | Jack Keller | $660,000 | 1985 | Bill Smith | $700,000 |
| 1986 | Berry Johnston | $570,000 | 1987 | Johnny Chan | $625,000 |
| 1988 | Johnny Chan | $700,000 | 1989 | Phil Hellmuth Jr. | $755,000 |
| 1990 | Mansour Matloubi | $895,000 | 1991 | Brad Daugherty | $1,000,000 |
| 1992 | Hamid Dastmalchi | $1,000,000 | 1993 | Jim Bechtel | $1,000,000 |
| 1994 | Russ Hamilton | $1,000,000 | 1995 | Dan Harrington | $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | Huck Seed | $1,000,000 | 1997 | Stu Ungar | $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | Scotty Nguyen | $1,000,000 | 1999 | J. J. “Noel” Furlong | $1,000,000 |
| 2001 | Carlos Mortensen | $1,500,000 | 2002 | Robert Varkonyi | $2,000,000 |
| 2003 | Chris Moneymaker | $2,500,000 | 2004 | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 |
| 2005 | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 | 2006 | Jamie Gold | $12,000,000 |
| 2007 | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 | 2008 | Peter Eastgate | $9,119,517 |
| 2009 | Joe Cada | $8,546,435 | 2010 | Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,138 |
The prize for each event is determined by the number of participants and is split up among the top players, the grand prize of course, going to the winner and World Champion of poker every year.
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