The 10 most prestigious tournaments in poker The Redux Part 2
About three years ago I offered up my thoughts on the 10 most prestigious tournaments in poker, and considering all of the tumult and changes across the poker world since January of 2010 *cough, Black Friday, cough* I figured it’s now time to revisit this list and see what changes and updates can be made.
In 2010 my choices were:
#10 – Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) Main Event
#9 –PokerStars’ WCOOP Main Event
#8 – NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship
#7 – PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
#6 – European Poker Tour Grand Final
#5 – World Series of Poker Europe Main Event
#4 – Aussie Millions
#3 – World Series of Poker $50k Mixed Event
#2 — World Poker Tour Championship
#1 — World Series of Poker Main Event
Alright, this list definitely needs some shuffling considering at least three of these tournaments need to be removed from the list entirely. So let’s take a look at the final five choices on my new revised most prestigious tournaments list [Read Part 1 HERE]:
#5 – The European Poker Tour Grand Final
While the EPT has seen its growth stagnate in the past two years, the tour is still going strong and some would argue, more prestigious than the World Poker Tour. The Grand Final is definitely on every tournament poker player’s “must-play” list, evidenced by the huge fields the event has attracted… Being held in Monte Carlo helps of course!
#4 –The World Poker Tour $25k Championship
I still count the WPT Championship ahead of the EPT simply because the buy-in is $25,000. Even though the field sizes have shrunk over the years, the WPT Championship attracts the very best players in poker year-after-year.
#3 – The PokerStars PCA Main Event
The biggest jump on the list goes to the PokerStars PCA. This event not only has a $10k buy-in and million-dollar first-place payouts, but the tournament kicks off the tournament year, occurring in early January, and is the first tournament that impacts the Player of the Year races.
#2 – The Big One for One Drop
One tournament was all it took for the Big One for One Drop to vault to the #2 spot in poker tournaments, so there is still hope that another event can be created that can rival the WSOP. One Drop’s massive prize-pool, million-dollar-buy-in, and record-setting first-place prize (buh-bye Jamie Gold!) are more than enough for One Drop to debut at #2.
#1 – The World Series of Poker Main Event
Really, is there even anything I need to say here? The WSOP Main Event is THE poker tournament, and has been since 1971. While some of the other entries have very little space between them, the difference in prestige between the WSOP Main Event and every other tournament is vast.
