The Ten WSOP Main Event Winners in the Post-Moneymaker Poker Era

With just one week to go, here at RankingHero we have caught the WSOP fever too and are preparing for the high point of the poker calendar by - what else - looking at the rankings :)

Ten players have been crowned WSOP champions in the post-Moneymaker era and most are still active in the live tournament arena. Who should we watch out for in the coming 45th Annual World Poker Series?

Year

Winner

Prize

Field

2004	@Greg Raymer	$5,000,000	1/2576
2005	@Joe Hachem	$7,500,000	1/5619
2006	@Jamie Gold	$12,000,000	1/8773
2007	@Jerry Yang	$8,250,000	1/6358
2008	@Peter Eastgate	$9,152,416	1/6844
2009	@Joe Cada	$8,547,044	1/6494
2010	@Jonathan Duhamel	$8,944,310	1/7319
2011	@Pius Heinz	$8,715,638	1/6865
2012	@Greg Merson	$8,531,853	1/6598
2013	@Ryan Riess	$8,361,570	1/6352

As evident from the data above, it was the 2006 winner, Jamie Gold, who topped the largest field and pocketed the largest prize. However, he has added little (in comparative terms, of course :) to it since, and his last recorded cash was $2,720 in May, 2012.

The WSOP win unsurprisingly accounts for the large part of the career winnings of the respective players. Here is how our ten champs rank by all-time earnings:

The top three by number of ITM finishes are Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer, with 57 each, and Jonathan Duhamel, with 51. Greg Raymer tops the ranking by final table finishes with as many as 36 (ahead of Joe Hachem with 29 and Jonathan Duhamel with 24 final tables).

We need to add at least one more name to this trio in our to-watch-out-for list: Greg Merson has had an excellent 2014 with a major cash in the 2014 PCA High-Roller where he finished second and a recent ITM finish in LAPC Main Event.

We will be comparing performances and looking at rankings throughout the WSOP and meanwhile, here is the link to the full schedule: 45th Annual World Series of Poker