For the last seven years, the largest tournament in the world has been the World Series of Poker Main Event. With the exception of 1992, the $10,000 buy-in tournament has increased in prize pool year-over-year from its start in 1970 until 2007 (the latter a result of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which reduced the number of players winning their seats via online play).
The first tournament to reach a million dollar prize pool was the 1983 WSOP Main Event. The WSOP Main Event of 2004 had the first prize pool of above $10,000,000.
The largest non Hold'em Tournament has been the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE with a prize pool of $7,104,000 and the first prize of $1,989,120 going to Scotty Nguyen.[1]
Below are the 30 largest poker tournaments with respect to the prize pool and not number of entrants. This list includes live and online poker.
All tournaments, besides thoses noted, were played in No Limit Hold'em.
| Event |
Prize Pool (US$) |
Winner |
1st Prize |
Ref. |
| 2006 WSOP Main Event |
$82,512,162 |
 Jamie Gold |
$12,000,000 |
[2] |
| 2010 WSOP Main Event |
$68,799,059 |
 Jonathan Duhamel |
$8,944,310 |
[3] |
| 2011 WSOP Main Event |
$64,531,000 |
 Pius Heinz |
$8,711,956 |
[4] |
| 2008 WSOP Main Event |
$64,333,600 |
 Peter Eastgate |
$9,152,416 |
[5] |
| 2009 WSOP Main Event |
$61,043,600 |
Joe Cada |
$8,547,042 |
[6] |
| 2007 WSOP Main Event |
$59,784,954 |
Jerry Yang |
$8,250,000 |
[7] |
| 2005 WSOP Main Event |
$52,818,610 |
 Joe Hachem |
$7,500,000 |
[8] |
| 2004 WSOP Main Event |
$24,224,400 |
Greg Raymer |
$5,000,000 |
[9] |
| 2007 WPT Championship |
$15,495,750 |
 Carlos Mortensen |
$3,970,415 |
[10] |
| 2011 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure |
$15,132,000 |
Galen Hall |
$2,300,000 |
[11] |
| 2010 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure |
$14,831,300 |
Harrison Gimbel |
$2,200,000 |
[12] |
| 2006 WPT Championship |
$14,671,250 |
Joe Bartholdi Jr |
$3,760,165 |
[13] |
| 2008 EPT Grand Final |
$13,323,417 |
Glen Chorny |
$3,196,354 |
[14] |
| 2008 WPT Championship |
$13,216,250 |
David Chiu |
$3,389,140 |
[15] |
| 2009 EPT Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure |
$12,674,000 |
Poorya Nazari |
$3,000,000 |
[16] |
| 2011 PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebration - Sunday Million |
$12,423,200 |
Kyle Weir ('First-Eagle') |
$1,146,574.65 |
online [17] |
| 2009 EPT Grand Final |
$12,293,896 |
 Pieter De Korver |
$3,024,167 |
[18] |
| 2010 World Championship of Online Poker |
$12,215,000 |
Tyson Marks ('POTTERPOKER') |
$2,278,097.50 |
online[19] |
| 2011 PokerStars 5th Anniversary Sunday Million |
$11,825,600 |
Luke Vrabel ('Bdbeatslayer') |
$671,093.81 |
online, added Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 for first place[20] |
| 2010 EPT Grand Final |
$11,289,206 |
 Nicolas Chouity |
$2,263,166 |
[21] |
| 2008 World Championship of Online Poker |
$10,925,000 |
Carter King ('ckingusc') |
$1,265,432 |
online[22] |
| 2009 World Championship of Online Poker |
$10,720,000 |
Yevgeniy Timoshenko ('Jovial Gent') |
$1,715,200 |
online[23] |
| 2011 EPT Grand Final |
$10,181,818 |
 Ivan Freitez-Rosales |
$2,226,345 |
[24] |
| 2007 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic |
$9,661,200 |
Eugene Katchalov |
$2,482,605 |
[25] |
| 2011 FTOPS XIX Main Event |
$8,851,130 |
 'GIAMPP' |
$877,949.74 |
online [26] |
| 2007 EPT Grand Final |
$8,687,400 |
Gavin Griffin |
$2,434,061 |
[27] |
| 2008 EPT Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure |
$8,562,976 |
 Bertrand Grospellier |
$2,000,000 |
[28] |
| 2006 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic |
$8,482,650 |
Joe Hachem |
$2,207,575 |
[29] |
| 2004 WPT Championship |
$8,342,000 |
 Martin de Knijff |
$2,728,356 |
[30] |
| 2009 WPT Championship |
$8,172,250 |
Yevgeniy Timoshenko |
$2,149,960 |
[31] |
