One query at all times will get requested within the build-up to the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP): who’re one of the best gamers nonetheless chasing their first bracelet? It is one thing PokerNews seems at yearly.
However this is one other angle value exploring. Which gamers have truly received essentially the most cash on the WSOP with out ever getting their palms on one in every of poker’s most coveted prizes?
Some gamers have racked up thousands and thousands in WSOP earnings, constructing their totals on one monster rating, whereas others have chipped away 12 months after 12 months grinding the sequence.
Cashes listed are WSOP earnings, not whole stay
1. Sam Trickett – $11,681,942
Sam Trickett, one in every of poker’s standout stars from the late 2000s, tops the listing of gamers with the largest WSOP haul with out ever ending on prime of the rostrum. The Brit has racked up $11,681,942 in WSOP earnings with out capturing a bracelet.
An enormous chunk of that whole got here from his runner-up end within the 2012 Massive One for One Drop, which paid Trickett $10,112,001. Whereas WSOP bracelets are usually valued at round $1,500 (with Foremost Occasion bracelets value considerably extra), Trickett’s payday in actual cash phrases was value way over the trophy itself.
The 2012 Massive One for One Drop was the first-ever $1 million buy-in match, and Trickett battled by way of the 48-entry area to achieve heads-up earlier than falling to Antonio Esfandiari, who banked $18,346,673, nonetheless the largest win in WSOP historical past. Remarkably, Trickett’s $10,112,001 rating would nonetheless rank because the sixth-biggest WSOP payout.
Regardless of topping this listing thanks to at least one big payday, it isn’t like he is a one-trick pony. In keeping with WSOP.com, he has made six WSOP ultimate tables from 16 cashes in bracelet occasions, ending in second place on two different events. His final money underneath the WSOP umbrella got here on the 2019 WSOP Europe (WSOPE) pageant, the place he once more completed runner-up within the €25,500 Platinum Excessive Curler, this time shedding out to Kahle Burns.
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2. Christoph Vogelsang – $10,348,709
Christoph Vogelsang might have a repute for taking his time on the desk, however the German high-stakes professional has had no hassle stacking up big scores over time.
The 40-year-old — who’s now eligible for the WSOP Poker Corridor of Fame — has greater than $45 million in whole stay earnings in accordance with The Hendon Mob, with $10,348,709 of that coming from 41 WSOP cashes.
The Tremendous Excessive Curler Bowl III champion’s finest end in a WSOP bracelet occasion is third place, a outcome he has recorded 3 times.
Vogelsang banked $4,480,001 within the 2014 Massive One for One Drop and added one other $1,309,599 5 years later within the WSOPE €250,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler, each amongst his seven-figure WSOP scores. He additionally got here shut once more in 2024, when a third-place end within the $50,000 Excessive Curler paid $957,104.
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3. Ben Tollerene – $8,101,149
Like Trickett, Ben Tollerene is one other participant who has hit the put up on a couple of event on the WSOP.
Tollerene has two runner-up finishes, each of which got here in 2024. He narrowly missed out on a maiden bracelet in that summer season’s $250,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler, ending second to Santhosh Suvarna earlier than taking part in bridesmaid as soon as once more at WSOP Paradise (WSOPP). A couple of months later in The Bahamas, Tollerene was pipped to the $100,000 Pot-Restrict Omaha bracelet by Lautaro Guerra.
In March, the American captured his second Triton Foremost Occasion title, with PokerStars ambassador Jason Koon calling him “Considered one of, if not essentially the most proficient poker gamers of all time” following the victory.
4. Thomas Boivin – $7,404,394
Thomas Boivin is undoubtedly one in every of poker’s rising stars and firmly introduced himself on the worldwide stage throughout the 2025 WSOP season.
The Belgian recorded three seven-figure scores, ending third in each the $100,000 Excessive Curler and $250,000 Tremendous Excessive Curler. He then added one other deep run in December, ending fifth within the $250,000 WSOPP Triton Invitational.
These three scores accounted for $5,559,450 in stay earnings, along with his next-biggest WSOP money standing at $264,306.
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5. Niklas Astedt – $6,839,294
Niklas Astedt is broadly thought-about one in every of, if not the best, on-line poker gamers in historical past, so it ought to come as no shock that almost all of his 155 WSOP cashes have come on the digital felt.
The poker legend can be the primary participant on this listing to personal WSOP titles. In truth, he has two of them, each coming in on-line WSOP Circuit occasions, headlined by his $525 WSOP Tremendous Circuit On-line Sequence Foremost Occasion victory on GGPoker in 2021.
On the 2024 WSOP, he confirmed he might switch that on-line success to the stay poker area. That summer season, he recorded the largest payout of his profession, incomes $4 million for his third-place end within the record-breaking 2024 WSOP Foremost Occasion.
The Swedish crusher astonishingly described the WSOP Foremost Occasion as “a bit of cake. Individuals say it is a marathon; they need to strive 20 tables for 40 days throughout SCOOP!”
6. Antoine Saout – $6,676,645
Antoine Saout has made not one, not two, however THREE WSOP Foremost Occasion ultimate tables, a feat nobody else has achieved. Two got here in Las Vegas and one in London when it hosted the WSOPE.
Two of these ultimate desk appearances additionally got here in the identical 12 months. In 2009, Saout’s first deep WSOP Foremost Occasion run resulted in third place for $3,479,670, which stays his greatest stay money. The Frenchman then adopted it up with a seventh-place end within the WSOPE Foremost Occasion, which featured a stacked ultimate desk that included Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, and eventual winner Barry Shulman.
Eight years later, he did it once more in Sin Metropolis, securing a $2 million payout for his fifth-place end within the 2017 WSOP Foremost Occasion. The 12 months prior, Saout had one way or the other already made one other deep run, ending twenty fifth.
Regardless of all that success, Saout has but to seize a stay main poker title. He has come shut in recent times on the European Poker Tour (EPT), ending runner-up within the 2022 EPT Foremost Occasion earlier than falling quick once more within the 2023 EPT Prague Excessive Curler.
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7. Steven Jones – $6,665,233
Steven Jones is the primary WSOP Foremost Occasion runner-up to make this listing. His $6,665,233 in earnings is closely skewed by the $6.5 million he received in 2023 Poker’s World Championship.
Nevertheless, what units Jones other than the remaining is that he additionally got here narrowly near successful $4,560,000 within the winner-take-all Netflix gameshow Squid Recreation: The Problem.
“I went in there simply not careworn in any respect, as a result of I am entering into for enjoyable, not pondering, ‘oh, I’ll win $4.5 million,” Jones defined to PokerNews, speaking about his time on the present. “I wasn’t careworn in any respect. The Foremost Occasion, the entire time clearly you are simply careworn till you are busted.”
Jones thought-about his Squid Recreation elimination “far more soul-crushing” than his heads-up defeat to Daniel Weinman, who received $12.1 million.
“My coronary heart sank,” he stated. “Once I acquired squibbed, I simply, I knew I tousled.”
8. Ivan Demidov – $6,647,422
Antoine Saout’s WSOP Foremost Occasion ultimate desk double in 2009 was spectacular, however a 12 months earlier Ivan Demidov had already gone one higher.
The Russian completed runner-up within the 2008 WSOP Foremost Occasion for $5,809,595 to Peter Eastgate and got here agonizingly near a WSOP title once more later that fall on the WSOPE. Demidov virtually went the gap as soon as extra however fell simply quick, exiting in third place.
Demidov won’t have felt too unhealthy about lacking out that point, as Stanislav Alekhin and John Juanda went on to provide one of many longest heads-up battles in WSOP historical past. The pair battled for almost 12 hours earlier than Juanda finally claimed the title. That ultimate desk additionally stays the longest in WSOP historical past, lasting 484 palms and greater than 19 hours from begin to end.
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9. Jean-Noel Thorel – $6,597,000
Jean-Noel Thorel captured the hearts of the poker group throughout his runner-up end within the 2025 WSOPP Tremendous Foremost Occasion. He put up a spirited struggle in opposition to heads-up opponent Bernhard Binder, who was 51 years his junior, with the pair representing the youngest and oldest gamers on the ultimate desk.
Thorel has simply two WSOP cashes to his title, each coming at the latest WSOP Paradise pageant. His different rating was value $597,000, earned within the Triton WSOPP $100,000 Foremost Occasion.
10. Jonathan Jaffe – $6,549,428
It has been 9 ultimate tables with only one podium end for Jonathan Jaffe, one other participant broadly thought-about to sit down within the higher echelons of match poker.
After buying and selling in his wetsuit for playing cards, the previous dolphin coach (IYKYK) has racked up simply over $6.5 million in WSOP earnings, with a finest money of $2,860,000 highlighting his 37 WSOP cashes.
The closest he is come to capturing a WSOP bracelet was a third-place end within the $5,000 6-Max on the 2021 WSOP, which paid $234,781.
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Honorable Mentions
A number of different gamers have additionally come near cracking the primary listing, with deep WSOP runs and seven-figure scores serving to them construct spectacular resumes with out securing a bracelet.
Michael Duek – $6,513,085 (4th in 2022 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $4M)Paul Wasicka – $6,464,639 (2nd in 2006 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $6.1M)Adrian Attenborough – $6,399,931 (2nd in 2022 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $6M)John Wasnock – $6,159,974 (2nd in 2025 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $6M)Jesse Sylvia – $6,138,820 (2nd in 2012 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $5.3M)Kenny Hallaert – $6,126,156 (4th in 2025 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $3M; sixth in 2016 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $1.46M)David Einhorn – $6,046,569 (third in 2012 Massive One for One Drop: $4.35M)Jordan Griff – $6,029,285 (2nd in 2024 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $6M)Leonard Maue – $5,881,424 (ninth in 2025 WSOP Paradise Tremendous Foremost Occasion: $850K)Martin Staszko – $5,684,710 (2nd in 2011 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $5.4M)Gabriel Andrade – $5,679,751 (2nd WSOP Paradise Triton Invitational: $5.24M)Dennis Phillips – $5,530,868 (third in 2008 WSOP Foremost Occasion: $4.5M)
Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Dwell Occasions Govt
Calum has written for varied poker shops however discovered his residence at PokerNews, the place he has contributed to varied articles and stay updates, offering insights and reporting on main poker occasions, together with the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP).
