WSOP Stats: The Biggest Winners, The Best Country, The Most WSOP Bracelets

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Apr 22, 2019 6 min read Last updated Dec 19, 2019

The World Series of Poker is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary in style on May 28 to July 16 with its biggest schedule to date. The festival will award 89 bracelets with organizers estimating at least $200 million to be awarded in prizes.

With the big show just a little more than a month away, PokerNews has dived into the numbers to see who some of the most successful players have been at the WSOP in its long history.

All Time by WSOP Bracelets

Whether you love or hate the "Poker Brat," Phil Hellmuth is the name everyone thinks of when it comes to WSOP success by winning 15 WSOP gold bracelets.

Hellmuth has accumulated bracelets in each of the last four decades dating back to his first bracelet when he burst onto the poker scene with a win in the 1989 WSOP $10,000 Main Event for $755,000. Hellmuth is still at it adding his 15th bracelet last year after winning Event #71: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em (30-minute levels) for $485,082.

While Hellmuth is still on a quest to add to his record total of bracelets, the same can't be said for the three players closely on his tail with 10 bracelets each; Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and Johnny Chan. The 85-year-old Brunson announced his retirement last summer after decades of poker success while Ivey and Chan have appeared at the WSOP during the last few years but had limited success.

Others further down on the list, including Erik Seidel (eight bracelets), Daniel Negreanu (six bracelets), and Chris Ferguson (six bracelets), are still in the hunt for more WSOP gold. However, it appears Hellmuth's massive bracelet lead is safe for the considerable future even with the WSOP adding more events to its schedule every year.

Canada's Negreanu is also one of two players not from the United States in the top 20 in WSOP bracelets. The other player is Australia's Jeff Lisandro who matches "Kid Poker" with six bracelets.

All Time by WSOP Cashes

The most cashes at in WSOP events is slightly more international than the players that won the most bracelets. Negreanu with 108 cashes and Mike Leah with 77 cashes made the cut of the top 20 of all-time. Other players listed as from outside the United States on the WSOP website include Sweden's Chris Bjorin with 92 cashes, Costa Rica's Humberto Brenes with 90 cashes, China's Yueqi "Rich" Zhu with 78 cashes, Italy's Max Pescatori with 73 cashes, and Australia's Lisandro with 71 cashes. At least two other players were also not born in the United States although listed there at WSOP including Roland Isrealashvili with 96 cashes born in Georgia and Men Nguyen with 95 cashes born in Vietnam.

It should come as little surprise that Hellmuth not only has the lead with 15 bracelets but also has the most WSOP cashes in history with 135. His lead in this category isn't as monstrous with Ferguson right on his tail with 120 cashes.

All Time by WSOP Earnings

While on the face of things, it might be surprising that Hellmuth is ranked in fifth place in WSOP earnings with $14.5 million with the most bracelets and the most cashes, it isn't that shocking when looking at who's in front of him.

The prizes were much smaller when Hellmuth won the WSOP Main Event in 1989 when he banked $755,000. It was a bit bigger when he won the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2012 for €1,022,376, but both of these big cashes pale in comparison to what WSOP Main Event champs in Vegas and special events like the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop bring to the winners in recent years.

Instead of Hellmuth, it's Antonio Esfandiari on the top of the pack in earnings at WSOP events with $21.8 million. Most of this came when he won the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop in 2012 for $18.3 million.

More than $4.4 million behind Esfandiari is Dan Colman in second place with $17.4 million in earnings with $15.3 million of that coming in the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop in 2014 for $15.3 million.

Negreanu resides in third place with $16.3 million, and even though he has more WSOP cashes than the two players ahead of him, half his winnings come from finishing in second place to Colman in the 2014 Big One for One Drop for $8.3 million.

Jonathan Duhamel in fourth place for $14.6 million in cashes also had some help from a nosebleed buy-in event by winning the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop for nearly $4 million but this was less than half of what he won when he triumphed in the 2010 WSOP Main Event for $8.9 million.

WSOP Earnings by Country

The fact that the United States leads this list isn't all that shocking with the majority of the events taking place in Las Vegas over its five-decade history along with the country's sizeable population of more than 300 million people. However, the gap between the United States with $2.6 billion and Canada with $193 million is massive. Players from the United States have logged more earnings than players from every other country combined.

Not too far behind Canada is the United Kingdom with $147 million. Going further down the list is Germany with $94 million, France with $75 million, and Russia with $57 million.

All Time by WSOP Circuit Rings

WSOP Circuit rings can be won all year long with many events held around the world. Maurice Hawkins recently tied Valentin Vornicu with 12 WSOP Circuit rings with a victory in April 2019 in the Harrah's Cherokee Event #4: $600 No-Limit Hold'em for $44,297.

Hawkins leads the way in total WSOP Circuit earnings with $1,668,698, nearly triple that of the $675,226 Vornicu made, or the $671,903 that Josh Reichard earned on the way to their 11 gold rings.

Despite not making this list with three WSOP gold rings, Ferguson has been a force on the WSOP Circuit over the years and is just behind Hawkins in earnings with $1,359,143. Behind this duo is Kyle Cartwright with $1,199,229 in earnings catapulted by eight gold ring victories.

^{Data courtesy of the WSOP and HendonMob.com}

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• Tags Antonio Esfandiari Big One for One Drop Chris Ferguson Dan Colman Daniel Negreanu Doyle Brunson Erik Seidel Phil Hellmuth Phil Ivey Johnny Chan WSOP WSOP stats WSOP bracelets
• Related Tournaments World Series of Poker
• Related Players Daniel NegreanuPhil IveyErik SeidelPhil HellmuthChris FergusonJohnny Chan