Registration finally closed at the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship at midday on Monday, and the numbers are official: In total, there are 1039 entries, setting new records for a high roller poker tournament.
With a $25,000 rake-free buy-in and $1 million added to first place, the total prize pool stands at $26,975,000. This makes it the 18th largest prize pool among live poker tournaments, and the largest $25,000 buy-in event.
Indeed, outside the iconic World Series of Poker Main Event and the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop charity tournaments at the WSOP and Monte Carlo, it is the largest poker tournament ever held.
As another point of reference, PokerStars’ previous record for its largest ever poker tournament was PokerStars Championship Barcelona in 2017 which, according to The Hendon Mob’s list of the largest poker tournaments, built a prize pool of $9,589,509.69.
The PSPC is almost three times bigger. In fact, even removing all the Platinum Pass entries, which amounted to $8 million injected into the prize pool, and the $1 million added to first place prize, the remaining players—all satellite winners and direct buy-ins—would still amount to over $17 million in prize money, still smashing both PokerStars’ and the $25k record.
With the added money, the first place prize will be $5.1 million—again, by far the largest prize PokerStars has ever paid out (and that almost certainly includes online games, including casino jackpots as well as the biggest online poker tournaments). It is among the 20 largest prizes paid out in live poker history.
You get the picture: The PSPC is big, and it smashed everyone’s expectations. Follow along for all the Day 2 action at one of PokerStars’ live-streaming options, read their blog, follow live updates from PokerNews, and follow on our social media. There’s a lot more action to come.
Biggest Prize Pools in Live Tournament History
| Event | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | First Place Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 WSOP Main Event | 8773 | $82,512,162 | Jamie Gold | $12,000,000 |
| 2018 WSOP Main Event | 7874 | $74,015,600 | John Cynn | $8,800,000 |
| 2010 WSOP Main Event | 7319 | $68,799,059 | Jonathan Duhamel | $8,944,310 |
| 2017 WSOP Main Event | 7221 | $67,877,400 | Scott Blumstein | $8,150,000 |
| 2011 WSOP Main Event | 6865 | $64,531,000 | Pius Heinz | $8,711,956 |
| 2008 WSOP Main Event | 6844 | $64,333,600 | Peter Eastgate | $9,152,416 |
| 2016 WSOP Main Event | 6737 | $63,327,800 | Qui Nguyen | $8,005,310 |
| 2014 WSOP Main Event | 6683 | $62,820,200 | Martin Jacobson | $10,000,000 |
| 2012 WSOP Main Event | 6598 | $62,021,200 | Greg Merson | $8,527,982 |
| 2009 WSOP Main Event | 6494 | $61,043,600 | Joe Cada | $8,547,042 |
| 2015 WSOP Main Event | 6420 | $60,348,000 | Joe McKeehen | $7,680,021 |
| 2007 WSOP Main Event | 6358 | $59,784,954 | Jerry Yang | $8,250,000 |
| 2013 WSOP Main Event | 6352 | $59,708,800 | Ryan Riess | $8,359,531 |
| 2005 WSOP Main Event | 5619 | $52,818,610 | Joe Hachem | $7,500,000 |
| 2012 WSOP Event 55 – The Big One for One Drop | 48 | $42,666,672 | Antonio Esfandiari | $18,346,673 |
| 2014 WSOP Event 57 – The Big One for One Drop | 42 | $37,333,338 | Dan Colman | $15,306,668 |
| 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza | 26 | $27,437,564 | Elton Tsang | $12,248,912 |
| PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship | 1039 | $26,455,500 | TBD | $5,100,000 |
| 2018 WSOP Event 78 – The Big One for One Drop | 27 | $24,840,000 | Justin Bonomo | $10,000,000 |
| 2004 WSOP Main Event | 2576 | $24,224,400 | Greg Raymer | $5,000,000 |
| 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge Super High Roller | 73 | $23,511,128 | Stanley Choi | $6,465,560 |
| Super High Roller Bowl 2015 | 43 | $21,500,000 | Brian Rast | $7,525,000 |
| 2016 WSOP Event 67 – High Roller for One Drop | 183 | $19,316,565 | Fedor Holz | $4,981,775 |
| 2013 WSOP Event 47 – One Drop High Roller | 75 | $17,891,148 | Anthony Gregg | $4,830,619 |
| Super High Roller Bowl 2017 | 166 | $16,800,000 | Christoph Vogelsang | $6,000,000 |
| 2007 WPT Championship | 56 | $15,495,750 | Carlos Mortensen | $3,970,415 |
| 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions Main Event | 639 | $15,376,897 | Niklas Heinecker | $4,456,885 |
| 2011 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | 71 | $15,132,000 | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
| Super High Roller Bowl 2016 | 1560 | $15,000,000 | Rainer Kempe | $5,000,000 |
| 2010 Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure | 132 | $14,831,300 | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
