Profiling Some of the Biggest Poker Wins in History
By Space Coast Daily // March 4, 2024
Poker tournaments are the place to be if you are looking for thrilling competition and the opportunity to win some serious cash – but you need to be amongst the biggest players in the world if you want a chance to win millions from the game.
Most players are satisfied playing local tournaments or even just playing cash games in online poker rooms – and oddly enough, that is where some of the best players started, too. Online poker is a fantastic way to learn how to play and to work on your own, personal strategy.
Getting that practice in before taking on some of the live competitions makes sense, and if you are lucky and skilled enough, you might be invited to take a seat at the table at a live tournament or even take part in a national or even global competition. Poker is fun and exciting – even when there aren’t millions at stake – and learning from the professionals and taking on some ideas about strategies can only help your game.
In this article, we will look into a few of the biggest poker wins in history to give you some inspiration for your future games.
Jamie Gold
Based in Malibu, California, Gold was born in Kansas City, Missouri before moving to Manhattan as a child. He studied entertainment law at UCLA and interned at a talent agency, boasting clients like Jimmy Fallon.
His mother was a keen poker player, and his interest from an early age meant that Gold was keen to work with former World Series of Poker winners on a TV show. This led to him being mentored by former champion Johnny Chan and taking on tournaments in 2005. By April, he won $54k in a Texas Hold’Em tournament.
Gold entered the 2006 World Series of Poker, and maintained a significant chip lead through the earlier rounds to beat 8772 other players to win a record $12 million and become the first player to win more than $10 million in a tournament.
Following this success, he appeared on televised poker shows, but never managed to repeat is WSOP success – and he is probably best known as the President of Production for the entertainment company Buzznation.
Elton Tsang
Elton Tsang is known as both a professional poker player and an entrepreneur who is currently living in Hong Kong. He is considered as one of the five best Asian poker players in the world, and he was born and raised in Vancouver.
Like many players, he started playing poker online, and whilst in Asia he realized that there weren’t any live poker tournaments in Macau – so he helped establish one. He put $130,000 of his own money into the tournament, and despite not being involved in the organization past the initial set up, he was instrumental in bringing the game to the new mecca for gambling – Macau.
He remained in Macau, honing his poker skills until he could call himself a professional. In October 2016, Tsang was invited to compete in the €1 million Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, organized by Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.
In the competition, he defeated 25 other players to take home a prize pot of €11,111,111 – the third-highest payout in poker history.
Aaron Zang and Bryn Kenney
Aaron Zang was born in 1982, and he got into playing poker online through a friend while he was at university. Another Asian player that went to Macau to grow and develop their skills, Zang began playing professionally in 2007.
Bryn Kenney was born In 1986, a relatively young buck in the world of poker. He lives in Long Beach New York and played Magic: The Gathering competitively before transitioning to poker – and some might say more successfully, too.
Kenney had several successes, wining his first major cash tournament in 2007, finishing 8th in the 2010 WSOP, ad earning his first WSOP bracelet in 2014.
Both Zang and Keney were invited to play in the UK tournament Triton Million – set up to raise funds for charity and get players to compete for a £54 million prize pool. Out of 54 competitors, the final pair was Kenney and Zang – and between them, they split the winnings and the title.
Zang won the title, and £13,779,491 – while Kenney took the lion’s share of the winnings at £16,890.509.
As of August 2020, Zang had amassed over $17.6 million in live poker tournaments, which has made him more successful than Elton Tsang.
Kenney, on the other hand, won the largest ever single scheduled payout in poker tournament history with the Triton Million in August 2019, and the 2024 Hendon Mob All-Time Money List has him listed at number one – his live tournament winnings have exceeded $65 million.
