Remember when a one million dollar first prize in a poker tournament was mind blowing? Well, how about a one million dollar buy-in? It will happen next year, at the 2012 World Series of Poker (WSOP). Both a real bracelet event and a charity tournament, the “Big One for One Drop” will run from July 1st through July 3rd and may end up featuring the largest first prize ever awarded in a poker tournament.

The tournament is the creation of Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil and Chairman of the charitable organization ONE DROP. Laliberté went to Caesars Interactive Entertainment CEO Mitch Garber with the grand plan earlier this year. He wanted to use the platform of the WSOP to bring both attention and funds to the global problem of the lack of access to clean, usable water for nearly a billion people. He figured the spectacle of a million dollar buy-in event combined with the generosity of poker players would work well.

ONE DROP’s mission is “To fight poverty by providing access to water and raising awareness among individuals and communities about the need for mobilization in order to make safe water accessible to all, in sufficient quantity, today and tomorrow.”

A poker tournament featuring a 1 million pound ($1.2 million) buy-in - a record according to organizers - started in London on Thursday, with 54 players from around the world competing for the 19. Justin Bonomo became the all-time leader on the poker tournament money list Tuesday night by winning the World Series of Poker's $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop in Las Vegas.

One-ninth of the buy-in, or $111,111, will go towards ONE DROP, with the rest going to the prize pool with no further rake taken.

Among the first players to commit to the event were 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, both of whom stepped up to the plate at during the November Nine festivities this year.

Among those on his calendar: the Big One for One Drop, a charity tournament with a $1 million buy-in. Yes, one million American dollars. The Big One for One Drop — a World Series of. Aug 01, 2019 LONDON (Reuters) - A poker tournament featuring a 1 million pound buy-in - a record according to organisers - started in London on Thursday, with 54 players from around the world competing for the.

“I am absolutely thrilled to participate in the biggest poker event ever organized,” said Duhamel. “One million dollars is a lot of money but my participation comes naturally, being a spokesperson for ONE DROP and because of my attachment to such a great cause. Life starts with water and because of its uneven distribution, a person dies every 20 seconds. The Big One for One Drop will raise $111,111 per participant, which will definitely prove the poker community attachment to ONE DROP. As for me, I personally commit to give 5% of my winnings from this tournament to ONE DROP.”

So far, 22 players have committed to playing in the event, which is coincidentally the same number of players needed for the Big One for One Drop to be considered an official bracelet event. And rather than the standard gold bracelet, a special platinum bracelet will be created just for this tournament.

As it stands currently, the prize pool is just over $19.5 million. The exact payout structure has yet to be announced, but 20 percent of the field will make the money, which is twice the usual for a WSOP event. The event will have a maximum registrant cap of 48 players. It is expected that when all is said and done, the first prize will be the largest ever for a poker tournament, eclipsing the current record of $12 million, won by Jamie Gold at the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

The following players have committed to play in the Big One for One Drop (not all players have permitted the WSOP to publish their names):

Guy Laliberté
Bobby Baldwin (CEO of MGM-Mirage Resorts and four-time WSOP bracelet winner)
Phil Ruffin (owner of Treasure Island Resort of Las Vegas)
Andy Beal
Patrik Antonius
Gus Hansen
Daniel Negreanu
Johnny Chan
Tom Dwan
Antanas “Tony G” Guoga
Jonathan Duhamel
Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier
Dan Shak
Montreal Group seat (organized by Sean O’Donnell, friend of Laliberté)
Loto-Québec satellite seat
Caesars satellite seat
European satellite seat

Players are, of course, still able to register for the event, though the million dollar buy-in is due 14 days before the tournament starts. ESPN plans to include the tournament as part of its 2012 WSOP broadcast.

For the last eight years, the largest tournament in the world has been the World Series of Poker Main Event. With the exception of 1992, the US$10,000 buy-in tournament increased in prize pool year-over-year from its start in 1970 until 2007 (the latter a result of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which reduced the number of players winning their seats via online play).

The first tournament to reach a million dollar prize pool was the 1983 WSOP Main Event. The WSOP Main Event of 2004 had the first prize pool of above $10,000,000.

The largest non Hold'em Tournament has been the 2008 WSOP $50K HORSE with a prize pool of $7,104,000 and the first prize of $1,989,120 going to Scotty Nguyen.^[1]

Below are the 30 largest poker tournaments with respect to the prize pool in United States dollars and not number of entrants. This list includes live and online poker.

Currently, 14 of the 15 largest prize pools in history have been WSOP Main Events. The second largest prize pool outside of the Main Event is the 2012 WSOP event known as The Big One for One Drop, held from July 1–3. It featured a buy-in of US$1 million, the largest in poker history. Of the buy-in, $111,111 was a charitable donation to the One Drop Foundation, and the WSOP took no rake. All 48 seats available for that event were filled, resulting in a prize pool of $42,666,672, with over 5 million dollars donated.^[2] The second largest pool for any event outside of the WSOP was the 2012 Macau High Stakes Challenge, with a HK$2 million (US$260,000) buy-in plus a rebuy option. The event drew a field of 73, of which 21 made a rebuy, resulting in a prize pool of HK$182,360,000 (slightly over US$23.5 million).^[3]

All of the 30 richest tournaments to date were played in No Limit Hold'em.

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Notes[edit]

1. ^Hendon Mob
2. ^Dalla, Nolan (June 30, 2012). 'The Biggest One—World's Most Spectacular Poker Extravaganza Starts Sunday'. World Series of Poker. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
3. ^Peters, Donnie (August 31, 2012). 'Stanley Choi Wins Macau High Stakes Challenge for US$6,465,746'. PokerNews.com. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
4. ^'2006 WSOP Main Event payouts'. WSOP. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
5. ^Hendon Mob
6. ^https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=541550
7. ^[1]
8. ^wsop.com
9. ^http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/payouts.asp?grid=1352&tid=15673
10. ^ ^abhttps://triton-series.com/triton-super-high-roller-series-london-2019/
11. ^'PIUS HEINZ WINS 2011 WSOP MAIN EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP'. WSOP. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
12. ^Hendon Mob
13. ^'Level 4 concludes: officially the largest main event in the last five years'. WSOP. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
14. ^Poker News Daily
15. ^pokernews.com
16. ^'2009 WSOP main event prize pool'. WSOP. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
17. ^'Event #68: No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT'. 2015 World Series op Poker Chip Counts. World Series of Poker. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
18. ^Hendon Mob
19. ^'2013 44th Annual World Series of Poker, Event #62: No-Limit Hold'em Main Event'. WSOP.com. Retrieved July 20, 2013. Click on the 'Prizepool' tab for the first prize.
20. ^Hendon Mob
21. ^Dalla, Nolan (July 3, 2012). 'Antonio Esfandiari Pulls Off Amazing Trick by Winning One Drop'. WSOP.com. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
22. ^Hendon Mob
23. ^[2]
24. ^[3]
25. ^[4]
26. ^Hendon Mob
27. ^Hendon Mob
28. ^Hendon Mob
29. ^Hendon Mob
30. ^Hendon Mob
31. ^[5]
32. ^Hendon Mob
33. ^Hendon Mob
34. ^pokerstarsblog.com

1 Million Buy In Poker Tournament Payout