2015 Joe McKeehen ($7,683,346 for 1st – 6,420 attendees)
Perhaps the most convincing victory in the history of major tournaments. At the beginning of the final table, Joe had a third of all the chips in the tournament and a two-fold advantage in stack over his nearest pursuer. At the final table, he eliminated five opponents.
McKeehen also had a good run in the pre-final, which largely predetermined his success.
In 14th place, he knocked out Justin "Stealthmunk" Schwartz.
Turyansky thought for a long time and folded, Schwartz was eliminated, and McKeehen received a stack of 38 million (20% of all chips at that time) with a big blind of 240,000.
According to Hendonmob, Justin Schwartz has not cashed in a poker tournament since 2016. The 2+2 legend had mental health issues before, and after that crash, his life went downhill. As a result, he was banned from all Caesars casinos in 2016. They say that during one of the WSOP Circuit series, neighbors complained about the noise in their hotel room. When security went up there, they found Schwartz and his friends, one of whom had a bong. According to rumors, Schwartz has been living a homeless life and has become addicted to alcohol in recent years. The last public information about him was that in the summer of 2023, he was arrested by Las Vegas police for being on the territory of a casino despite a ban.
Another memorable hand from that tournament was Daniel Negreanu's exit in 11th place. He was also eliminated by McKeehen.
Joe continues to play successfully live poker, mainly in America.
Final table replay:
2016 Quí Nguyễn ($8,005,310 for 1st – 6,737 participants)
The master of street poker was remembered for the complete unpredictability of his actions.
"Does he have lenses in his glasses?" Patrick Leonard marveled during the Main Event. "He can call with 52o in the BB and then fold 98. He opens with 74 but folds T9s. He 4-bets the flop when his opponents have nothing and easily bluffs them with 2-3 barrels.
At the final table, Quí Nguyễn did not change his style.
In 5-max he 4-bet shoved with fours and Cliff Josephy folded.
In 3-max I made a 4-bet with and called Josephy's all-in.
“I decided to gamble,” he explained his game to the fans.
Cliff doubled up in this hand but still finished in 3rd place. He was soon dealt a set for a set against Gordon Vayo.
Nguyễn and Vayo's heads-up lasted nearly eight hours. In one of the most exciting hands, Quí bet all the streets and ended up shoving the river, eventually forcing Gordon to fold the best hand.
Michael Ruane took 4th place and would become the final table bubble boy in the Main Event a year later.
Kenny Hallaert was eliminated in 6th place and has every chance to improve on this result in 2025.
2017 Scott Blumstein ($8,150,000 for 1st – 7,221 attendees)
Scott Blumstein missed the entire series, came to Las Vegas only for the Main Event, and left with a bracelet. He never became a grinder after this victory. After winning the main event, his best live result was $58k for 6th place in one of the PokerMasters series tournaments.
Scott entered the final table as the chip leader and played extremely carefully.
He even gave up the lead to crowd favorite John Hesp early in the day, but then they were dealt top set against two pairs, a hand that would determine the outcome of the tournament.
In 7-max, Scott had almost half of all the chips in the tournament, and he never lost his lead.
Hesp finished fourth, with 2009 main tournament finalist Antoine Saout knocked out in fifth place.
Argentine Damian Salas finished in 7th place; in a couple of years he would win the “Covid” main tournament.
Ben Lamb was eliminated in 9th place. This was also his second final table in a short time – in 2011 he finished third behind Pius Heinz and Martin Staszko.
2018 John Cynn ($8,800,000 for 1st – 7,874 Entries)
John Cynn finished 11th in the 2016 Main Event. In 2018, he entered the final table as the fourth stack and sat in the middle of the table almost until the very end. Michael Dyer and Tony Miles were the soloists at the final table.
After 2009 World Champion Joe Cada was eliminated in 5th place, it took 119 hands for him to be eliminated again. In 4th place, Zinn eliminated Nick Manion ( > ) and moved into second place. Dyer, who had 180 million at one point, ended the day with 26 million and was eliminated early the next day.
The heads-up lasted 10.5 hours. The players started with equal stacks and by the final hand there was no clear leader.
Miles ended up shoving the turn with no outs, and Cynn made a slow call on the verge of a slow roll.
Artem Metalidi took 8th place.
2019 Hossein Ensan ($10,000,000 for 1st – 8,569 Entries)
Hossein Ensan became the chip leader in the top 20 and after that he only lost the lead occasionally.
In the top 5 at the 400k/800k level, Hossein and Timothy Su played for a pot of over 117 million.
After this hand, Hossein Ensan had more chips than the rest of the players combined.
On the final day, Hossein entered the tournament with a stack of 163 big blinds against two of the strongest opponents at the final table – Alex Livingston (60BB) and Dario Sammartino (33BB).
Despite the huge lead, it was not an easy walk for Ensan. In 3-max, all players managed to be in first place, and the game lasted 9 hours. But it was Hossein who managed to knock out both opponents.
The scandalous situation occurred when there were 11 players left in the game.
At 400k/800k, Sammartino opened to 1.7 million and Nick Marchington 3-bet all-in to 22.2 million with queens. Dario asked for a stack count. The dealer said Nick had 17.2 million.
Dario asked again and made the call.
At this point, the neighbors noticed that Marchington's stack was clearly larger.
A long dispute with the World Series managers began, during which Jack Effel famously said, "If you were going to call 17 million, you'd call 22 million, too."
– The calling ranges against 20BB and 30BB stacks are completely different, – explained Dario in an interview a few months after the final table. – I still don’t know if I would have called then or not, but I know for sure that it could have affected my decision. I definitely wouldn’t have called in 30 seconds. After that episode, I played very tight, didn’t take any risks at all. I couldn’t focus on poker 100%, not even 50%. I was thinking about something else. I played strictly according to the map and waited until there were 9 of us left, so I could reload before the final table.
Effel's phrase has become a poker meme.
"I wish Effel would tell Kassouf, 'If you call in 4 minutes, you'll call in 10 seconds,'" wrote Ray Henson in the midst of the war between William Kassouf and WSOP management in this year's Main Event.
2020 Damian Salas ($1,550,969 + $1,000,000 for 1st – 1,379 Entries)
During the Covid year, the tournament was held online in parallel in two rooms.
The Americans played on WSOP.com, the rest of the world on GGPoker. The final tables were played live – in Rozvadov and Las Vegas. The winners then met heads-up for an additional million, Damian Salas was stronger than Joseph Ebert.
One of the finalists of the American part of the tournament, Upeshka De Silva, was unable to play due to a positive COVID test and received money for 9th place.
2021 Koray Aldemir ($8,000,000 for 1st – 6,650 Entries)
Koray Aldemir entered the final table as one of the most decorated and strongest regulars in the world. It was a rare case when a champion won less ($8 million) in the main event than in other tournaments throughout his career ($14 million).
Koray was among the leaders in the top 100 stage, entering the final table with a stack of 175 blinds (his closest pursuer George Holmes had 105). But it was clear that Aldemir was unstoppable when he eliminated Alejandro Lococo in 7th place.
The players started the hand with 1st and 2nd stacks.
The Argentine rapper called a 3-bet and check-called all streets.
The final hand of the tournament between Koray and amateur Holmes was thoroughly analyzed by GTO experts.
2022 Espen Jørstad ($10,000,000 for 1st – 8,663 Entries)
Despite a difficult start to the tournament – Espen Jørstad finished the opening day of the tournament with a stack of 18,000 – he entered the final table as the chip leader.
The first day of the final table was played to the top 3. Espen eliminated Matija Dobrich (5th place) and John Eames (4th) and finished the day with a stack of 99 blinds. Adrian Attenborough from Australia had 50, Michael Dweck – 23.
The final day ended very quickly. Duek was eliminated almost immediately, and the heads-up, although it started with roughly equal stacks, lasted only 17 hands.
Already in the first, Jorstad went all-in on the river with top pair, Attenborough with a lower match thought for 18 minutes, but gave up.
The tank heard around the world.
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 16, 2022
Espen Jorstad strikes first in heads-up play after moving all in on the river and putting Adrian Attenborough in the cage with his bluff catcher.
▶️ – Stream is live. Watch here: https://t.co/niEDphYWiO pic.twitter.com/Ano6cgCaYX
Attenborough was back in the game almost immediately when he called his opponent's stack bluff.
Attenborough strikes back.
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 16, 2022
Espen Jorstad puts Adrian Attenborough all in on the river, but Attenborough rivered two pair and calls to double up into the chip lead.
▶️ – Stream is live. Watch here: https://t.co/niEDphYWiO pic.twitter.com/0T7gDZ9EHT
The stacks evened out, but in the final hand Espen moved all-in on the river again. His opponent was lost in thought with a low pair, this time calling and looking at a full house.
Espen Jorstad puts Adrian Attenborough into the tank once more.
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 17, 2022
This time, Attenborough cannot find the fold.
With his full house, Jorstad claims victory in the Main Event and the $10M first-place prize.
▶️ – Watch the conclusion of the Main Event here: https://t.co/niEDphYWiO pic.twitter.com/gB5EES61Rf
This heads-up made a big impression on Vanessa Selbst at the time.
After the final table, Alex Theologis caused a bit of a stir. He thought he had swapped 3% with the champion, but he couldn't confirm it.
Espen missed this year's World Series. He recently recorded a video in which he explained that he had been living on the road for the past few years, and that his apartment renovations were completed just before the World Series. Espen decided to take on his own home improvements and has no regrets about it.
2023 Daniel Weinman ($12,100,000 for 1st – 10,043 Entries)
A record-breaking main event, in which the most colorful hand was played at two tables.
In the top 14, the future champion went triple all-in with the worst hand, but beat everyone by buying two outs on the turn.
Weinman entered the final table with the second stack, but on the first day he participated in only one event – in 5th place he knocked out Ruslan Pridrik from Ukraine.
On the final day, Weinman, Adam Walton, and Stephen Jones entered with roughly equal stacks of 100 blinds each. It looked like the game would drag on, but in one of the first hands, Walton shoved 84 blinds with , Weinman had aces.
In heads-up, Daniel did not give his opponent any chances and quickly brought the matter to victory.
After this success, Weinman essentially quit poker and devotes all his time to the startup RF Labs, which he founded with friends. The company develops RFID systems for poker, chess, billiards and other games.
2024 Jonathan Tamayo ($10,000,000 for 1st – 10,112 Entries)
The future champion could have been eliminated on Day 4, when he went all-in with a stack of less than 10 blinds. against and caught an ace. One of the players at the table threw out , and the other one is .
Jonathan Tamayo entered the final table third from the bottom with 17 blinds and spent some time just surviving while other players got in and knocked each other out. He waited until he was dealt the first double-up against chip leader Jordan Griff.
Tamayo then dropped back down to his last stack and got it all in with against same Griff, the river was a nine. With six players left, Tamayo doubled up against the overall favorite Niklas Ostedt. They were dealt V on the flop .
In 5th place, Tamayo knocked out Boris Angelov ( > ) and came very close to the chip leaders. On the final day, Tamayo, Griff and Ostedt entered with roughly equal stacks of around 70 blinds.
Griff knocked out Lena900 in 3rd place.
Tamayo started heads-up with a decent deficit, but managed to become the champion.
After the tournament, a loud scandal broke out – Tamayo's fans, led by Dominik Nitsche, were actively using the solver in the stands and giving him advice right during the game.
This year, the official rules have been amended – players and spectators are prohibited from using any poker software in the tournament area.
To find out who will receive poker's biggest crown in 2025, check the results for the WSOP Main Event, or stay tuned to GipsyTeam's feed.
