The 10 Best WSOP Main Event Champions of All-Time

Winning the World Series of Poker Main Event is a surefire way to catapult a player to the forefront of the poker world, and while a few winners wallow away in relative obscurity and never re-climb the mountaintop, most winners go on to have a good deal of success during their poker careers. However, there are a few main Event winners who have gone on to become the cream of the crop in the poker world.

This list ranks the top 10 best players who have won the WSOP Main Event:

10.  Chris Ferguson

‘Jesus’ has 5 gold bracelets overall and has been one of the top poker minds in the new millennium. Hard to argue his inclusion when he has close to $8 million in career tournament winnings, and turned $1 into $20,000 in 6 months.

9.      Scotty Nguyen

The ‘Prince of Poker’ has one of the biggest personalities in all of poker, and he has the results to back to it up with over $12 million in career tournament winnings and 5 WSOP bracelets. I’d rank Scotty higher, but as a pure tournament player he has struggled in cash games over the years.

8.      Dan Harrington

‘Action Dan’ only has two WSOP bracelets, but he has two Main Event final tables in addition to his win. Harrington has also captured a WPT title. With all his poker success, Harrington is probably best known for writing the 1^st comprehensive books on tournament poker with his Harrington on Hold’ Em series.

7.      Phil Hellmuth

I can hear ‘The Poker Brat’ screaming now, “NUMBER 7!!!” Well, all of Hellmuth’s 11 bracelets are in No Limit Holdem events, and his cash game struggles are legendary.

6.      Juan Carlos Mortensen

Mortensen has always been considered a top player, but a look into his career achievements shows someone who is more than a solid poker pro. Mortensen may only have 2 WSOP bracelets, but he also has 3 WPT titles, and is approaching $10 million in career tournament winnings.

5.      Bobby Baldwin

The amazing thing about Bobby Baldwin is that for many years poker has taken a backseat to his other pursuits, yet Baldwin has amassed some impressive numbers including 4 WSOP bracelets, a Poker Hall of Fame induction, and having the high-stakes room at the Bellagio named after the highly successful casino executive.

4.      Johnny Moss

“The Grand Old Man of Poker’ was one of poker’s first superstars and was the first WSOP Main Event Champion, and the first 3-time champion. With a total of 9 WSOP bracelets he will always be mentioned among the best poker players of all-time.

3.      Stu Ungar

‘The Kid’ was a prodigy that was taken from the poker world much too soon. Ungar joined Johnny Moss as the only 3-time WSOP Main Event champion. Of the 30 $10,000 buy-in tournaments Ungar entered in his career he won an astounding 10 of them!

2.      Johnny Chan

‘The Orient Express’ was the last back-to-back champion, and nearly three-peated when he came up just short to Phil Hellmuth in 1989. With 10 WSOP bracelets -in a number of different disciplines-along with his impressive cash game record Chan is widely considered among the top poker players of all-time.

1.      Doyle Brunson

‘Texas Dolly’ is poker’s living legend; having dominated tournaments and cash-games for the better part of 40 years! 10 gold bracelets, a WPT title, best-selling poker author: Doyle’s overall resume is likely never to be matched.