WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship All-Time Winners
The World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the entire world. It’s full of elite players. Those that are considered to the best of the best will tell you that it’s the most meaningful poker tournament to them, while others spend entire careers just trying to build up enough skill, experience, respect, and bankroll to simply compete in it. When it comes to the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, who are the best? That’s what we’re going to take a look at here.
The event’s first year was in 2006 and it drew 143 entries. David ‘Chip’ Reese, of whom many will tell you was the greatest all-around poker player ever, won the inaugural tournament by beating Andy Bloch in heads-up play. He earned $1.784 million for the win and is still one of the event’s top earners. In 2008, following the death of Reese in December 2007, the tournament’s trophy was named the ‘Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.’
With the completion of the 2019 edition of the event, the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship has been played 14 times. From those 14 events, a total of 1,556 entries have been generated and 140 individual players have cashed. The total prize money that’s been awarded from the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship stands at $74.61 million.
Twenty-one different players have cashed for $1 million or more in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, and it’s none other than three-time winner Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi sitting atop the event’s all-time money list with $4.63 million in winnings. Mizrachi has cashed four times in the event, with each being a run to the final table. His success has been so great in this tournament that he’s nearly $1.5 million ahead of Brian Rast’s second-most winnings of $3.16 million.
WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship Facts and Figures
- Michael Mizrachi is the event’s all-time money leader with $4.63 million won
- 140 individual players have cashed at least once in the event
- 21 individual players have cashed for a total of $1 million or more
- Five individual players have cashed for a total of $2 million or more
- Three individual players have cashed for a total of $3 million or more
- Freddy Deeb holds the record for single-largest payday, winning $2.276 million for his victory in 2007
- Five players are tied for most cashes in the event at four each – Michael Mizrachi, John Hennigan, Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, and Barry Greenstein
- 19 individual players have cashed at least three times in the event
- Ralph Perry has cashed three times in the event but never reached the final table
- In 2013, Gary Benson and Joe Cassidy busted simultaneously with 17 players left, splitting 16th-place prize money and taking $55,947 each
- Michael Mizrachi has made the most final tables at four; John Hennigan has made the second most at three
- The event has awarded a total of $74.61 million
- Largest field size and prize pool came in both 2007 and 2008 – each year drew 148 entries for a prize pool of $7.104 million
- 2019 marked the event’s smallest turnout and prize – 74 entries and $3.552 million
WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship All-Time Money List
| PLAYER | WINNINGS | CASHES | FINAL TABLES | WINS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Mizrachi | $4,630,641 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Brian Rast | $3,160,474 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| John Hennigan | $3,091,166 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Freddy Deeb | $2,360,462 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Matthew Ashton | $2,025,385 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Scotty Nguyen | $1,989,120 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Andy Bloch | $1,813,988 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Chip Reese | $1,784,640 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| John Hanson | $1,641,679 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Mike Gorodinsky | $1,519,715 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Elior Sion | $1,512,338 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Bruno Fitoussi | $1,448,599 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| David Bach | $1,436,646 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Michael DeMichele | $1,243,200 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Klodnicki | $1,148,249 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Vladimir Schemelev | $1,131,904 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Phil Hui | $1,099,311 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Don Nguyen | $1,096,254 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Phil Hellmuth | $1,063,034 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Glantz | $1,044,458 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Phil Ivey | $1,013,457 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Minh Ly | $975,593 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Brandon Shack-Harris | $937,975 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Barry Greenstein | $928,919 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Jean-Robert Bellande | $873,455 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| David Oppenheim | $869,955 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Johannes Becker | $862,649 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Josh Arieh | $803,969 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Justin Bonomo | $801,048 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Erick Lindgren | $781,440 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| David Singer | $749,280 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Huck Seed | $708,651 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| David ‘ODB’ Baker | $657,123 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Abe Mosseri | $642,726 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Isaac Haxton | $595,812 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jesse Martin | $594,570 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Amnon Filippi | $586,080 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lyle Berman | $573,957 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Jim Bechtel | $549,120 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Eric Wasserson | $545,772 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Daniel Negreanu | $535,634 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Erik Sagstrom | $522,393 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dan Smith | $521,782 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Robert Mizrachi | $516,650 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Shaun Deeb | $507,791 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| David Benyamine | $497,122 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Daniel Alaei | $492,771 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Scott Seiver | $484,567 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Owais Ahmed | $482,058 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| TJ Cloutier | $480,480 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dewey Tomko | $474,624 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Mike Wattel | $467,046 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| John Esposito | $466,407 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kenny Tran | $444,000 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| John Juanda | $436,865 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ivo Donev | $419,337 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Luke Schwartz | $406,736 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Doyle Brunson | $398,880 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Ralph Perry | $392,200 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| George Danzer | $388,523 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Vitaly Lunkin | $368,812 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mike Leah | $364,197 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ben Sulsky | $353,928 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bryce Yockey | $325,989 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Roland Israelashvili | $317,882 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Paul Volpe | $312,813 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Jonathan Duhamel | $307,018 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| George Lind | $300,441 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ray Dehkharghani | $299,617 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Katz | $288,562 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Chun Zhou | $286,122 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tommy Hang | $279,292 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Wilkinson | $272,558 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| David ‘Bakes’ Baker | $272,275 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Benny Glaser | $260,578 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Stephen Chidwick | $253,497 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jeff Lisandro | $248,635 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Bueno | $230,880 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ville Wahlbeck | $219,655 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Frank Kassela | $212,829 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gavin Smith | $205,920 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrik Antonius | $205,920 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Williamson III | $205,920 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Chen | $205,856 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brett Richey | $204,579 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ben Lamb | $201,338 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Joe Cassidy | $193,227 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| James Obst | $192,767 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Thor Hansen | $188,256 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mike Matusow | $186,128 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Daniel Kelly | $184,222 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chau Giang | $184,087 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mikael Thuritz | $182,463 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Vitch | $182,391 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Raymond Davis | $177,600 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Glick | $173,796 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jason Lester | $168,529 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan Cates | $168,305 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Melissa Burr | $165,435 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Erik Seidel | $162,381 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alexander Kostritsyn | $152,730 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nick Schulman | $152,730 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Talal Shakerchi | $149,398 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryn Kenney | $147,882 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Mueller | $144,049 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yan Chen | $143,400 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Joseph Michael | $142,080 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jason Mercier | $139,265 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Shawn Buchanan | $139,265 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cong Do | $137,280 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| David Levi | $137,280 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Allen Kessler | $134,101 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gabe Kaplan | $131,424 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Song | $128,620 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ian Johns | $125,142 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Binger | $124,723 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gus Hansen | $123,895 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Gregorich | $117,216 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephen Wolff | $117,216 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rep Porter | $116,571 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Todd Brunson | $115,447 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Allen Bari | $113,030 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Troy Burkholder | $111,893 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Smith | $110,073 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastian Ruthenberg | $108,503 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Viktor Blom | $105,235 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Greg Raymer | $103,008 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Phan | $103,008 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| David Chiu | $99,590 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ilya Bulychev | $98,330 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Dario Sammartino | $93,764 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Reslock | $88,800 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| John Racener | $87,010 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Antanas ‘Tony G’ Guoga | $83,630 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| John Kabbaj | $72,914 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Billirakis | $72,914 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Randy Ohel | $72,500 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yehuda Buchalter | $72,500 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Andrew Brown | $72,078 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Benson | $55,947 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated Saturday, June 29, 2019.
