Do want to know what megabucks these top poker pros are winning?

Dollison and Isaacs won the event in consecutive years. Between 1991 and 1997, Isaacs set an event record by qualifying for a cash prize, known as finishing in-the-money, five times. The 1983 Ladies World Poker Championship was the first time that a person 'of color', Carolyn Gardner, won a WSOP bracelet. Out of the top 100 money winners only Men Nguyen (76th place, age 64), Dan Shak (83rd place, age 60), and T.J. Cloutier (84th place, age 79) are older. Anyone not overly familiar with poker might still recognise Seidel from a clip made famous by its inclusion in the seminal 1998 poker flick ‘Rounders’ starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton.

I’ll let you into their grand victories, outrageous cash-ins and some interesting bits of their lives.

The money is crazy!

Let’s start off from the 50th going up.

Sorel Mizzi

Total Winnings: $11,846,61

Sorel Mizzi is a Canadian professional poker player who’s played under the aliases “Imper1um” and “Zangbezan24” in online poker.

He’s made it to the WSOP final table three times and EPT final table four times.

His biggest one-time payout win was worth $2 million when he finished 3rd at the 2013 GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions NLH Main Event.

Trivia:

Mizzi topped the FTOPS XX leaderboard in 2011.

His online tournament earnings have reached $3.6 million as of January 2015 – and that’s just online.

Anthony Gregg

Total Winnings: $11,899,778

This American high stakes poker pro is famous for his 2013 WSOP victory, which earned him $4.8 million and his first and only bracelet to date.

Gregg also has one WPT title and has made a record of three appearances at the PCA final table.

Trivia:

As a kid, Gregg played Magic: The Gathering.

The Hendon Mob ranks him 1st on Maryland, USA All-Time Money List.

Carlos Mortensen

Total Winnings: $11,929,969

Carlos Mortensen is the only South American winner of the WSOP Main Event. He is an Ecuadorian poker master of Danish descent.

He has won two WSOP bracelets and is a three-time WPT champion.

Trivia:

Mortensen moved from Spain to the US to pursue poker.

He is known for his nickname “El Matador” and he sure can stack chips in an interesting way!

Joe Hachem

Total Winnings: $12,067,804

The years 2005 and 2006 were extremely generous to Lebanese Australian poker champ Joe Hachem.

In 2005, Hachem became the first Australian to win the WSOP Main Event which awarded him $7.5 million – the biggest tournament prize at that time.

The following year, he won his first WPT title, adding another $2.2 million to his poker winnings.

Trivia:

Hachem worked as a chiropractor for 13 years.

He has four kids and they also play poker. He believes poker teaches them discipline and the ability to handle adversity.

Matt Damon is a fan of Hachem and has played poker with him.

Jamie Gold

Total Winnings: $12,574,596

Gold gets a crock of gold!

This American poker player was the luckiest in the 2006 WSOP NLH championship, topping the event and winning the fourth largest single payout in poker tournament history worth $12 million.

Trivia:

Gold is also a television producer and a talent agent.

He is the production president for Buzznation.

He was criticized for auctioning off his WSOP gold bracelet for $65k.

Elton Tsang

Total Winnings:$12,606,785

Though their names closely rhyme, He is NOT the Chinese counterpart of that British musician, I swear! Elton Tsang is successful in a totally different field.

This Chinese Canadian is both a poker player and an entrepreneur.

He defeated 25 other players and bagged a whopping $12.1 million – the third largest single payout in poker history – at the NLH Big One for One 2016 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza.

Trivia:

Chang currently resides in Hong Kong and has investments in IT, travel agencies, and internet firms.

He was the 2010 Asian Poker King Tournament champion.

Joseph Cheong

Total Winnings: $12,628,658

Sanghyon “Joseph” Cheong is an American professional poker player.

He was born in South Korea and he and his family moved to the US when he was six.

His biggest win was a life-changing $4.1 million at the 2010 WSOP Main Event where he finished 3rd.

Trivia:

Cheong has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Joint BA degree (Math/Economics)

He started his poker career by playing online, like many others. He goes under the alias “sublime.”

Ryan Riess

Total Winnings:$12,631,411

“I just think I’m the best player in the world!” Riess boldly exclaims in his post-victory interview with ESPN.

This 28-year old American professional poker pro is best known for his sweet victory on the 2013 WSOP Main Event collecting the $8.3 million grand prize.

Trivia:

Riess has a Hospitality Business degree.

He is also known as “Riess the Beast.”

Scotty Nguyen

Total Winnings: $12,676,300

Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Thuận B. “Scotty” Nguyễn has seen highs and lows throughout the course of his poker career.

He’s also known as the “Prince of Poker.”

This Vietnamese-American poker master is a resident of Las Vegas and is the first and only player to win both the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 Players’ Championship to date.

Trivia:

His most famous quote was telling opponent McBride on the final hand, “You call, it’s gonna be all over baby!” McBride called and Nguyen won the title in 1998. (He likes using the word “baby.”)

He has a 2012 e-book entitled “That’s Poker Baby! Volume 1.” (There he goes with that “baby” again!)

Samuel Greenwood

Total Winnings: $12,852,011

“I play poker, write about movies and root for sports teams that lose,” says the astute poker player’s Twitter profile.

The 2015 WSOP NLH Canadian champ is considered one of the most outspoken poker pros in the community as of late. His tweets are quite direct and interesting.

Trivia:

Greenwood has his own blog and writes movie reviews. (It’s refreshing to know that these high rollers also have lives and passions outside of the poker room.)

J.C. Tran

Total Winnings: $12,962,466

Justin Cuong Van “J.C.” Tran is a Vietnamese-American poker shark based in Sacramento, California.

He is a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and also a WCOOP Main Event champion.

His biggest cash winning was at the 2013 WSOP Main Event where he finished fifth with $2.1 million.

Trivia:

Tran was born to Vietnamese parents in Vietnam and is the youngest of eight children.

He was the WPT fifth season POY.

Mike McDonald

Total Winnings: $13,265,948

Mike McDonald is a Canadian poker player who is the youngest to ever win an EPT event.

He won over $1.3 million on that main event in 2008 when he was only 18.

He is also the youngest person to win an event on the EPL.

Trivia:

McDonald ranked 5th on the GPI in April 2014.

Bertrand Grospellier

Total Winnings: $13,294,936

Popularly known as “ElkY” in the online gaming world, this French poker player seems to stop at nothing.

Grospellier has topped all three prestigious tournaments in poker – the WSOP, EPT, and WPT – giving him the Triple Crown.

2021.02