| YEAR |
CHAMPION |
ENTRANTS |
TOP PRIZE |
| 2006 |
Jamie Gold  |
8773 |
$12,000,000 |
| 2005* |
Joseph Hachem  |
5619** |
$7,500,000 |
| 2004*** |
Greg Raymer |
2576 |
$5,000,000 |
| 2003 |
Chris Moneymaker |
839 |
$2,500,000 |
| 2002 |
Robert Varkoni |
631 |
$2,000,000 |
| 2001 |
Juan Carlos Mortensen  |
613 |
$1,500,000 |
| 2000 |
Chris Ferguson |
512 |
$1,500,000 |
| 1999 |
Noel Furlong  |
393 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1998 |
Scotty Nguyen |
350 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1997 |
Stu Ungar |
312 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1996 |
Huck Seed |
295 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1995 |
Dan Harrington |
273 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1994 |
Russ Hamilton |
268 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1993 |
Jim Bechtel |
220 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1992 |
Hamid Dastmalchi |
201 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1991 |
Brad Daugherty |
215 |
$1,000,000 |
| 1990 |
Mansour Matloubi  |
194 |
$895,000 |
| 1989 |
Phil Hellmuth |
178 |
$755,000 |
| 1988 |
Johnny Chan / |
167 |
$700,000 |
| 1987 |
Johnny Chan / |
152 |
$625,000 |
| 1986 |
Berry Johnston |
141 |
$570,000 |
| 1985 |
Bill Smith |
141 |
$700,000 |
| 1984 |
Jack Keller |
140 |
$660,000 |
| 1983 |
Tom McEvoy |
108 |
$580,000 |
| 1982 |
Jack Strauss |
104 |
$520,000 |
| 1981 |
Stu Ungar |
75 |
$375,000 |
| 1980 |
Stu Ungar |
73 |
$385,000 |
| 1979 |
Hal Fowler |
54 |
$270,000 |
| 1978 |
Bobby Baldwin |
42 |
$210,000 |
| 1977 |
Doyle Brunson |
34 |
$340,000 |
| 1976 |
Doyle Brunson |
22 |
$220,000 |
| 1975 |
Sailor Roberts |
21 |
$210,000 |
| 1974 |
Johnny Moss |
16 |
$160,000 |
| 1973 |
Walter Pearson |
13 |
$130,000 |
| 1972 |
Amarillo Slim Preston |
8 |
$80,000 |
| 1971 |
Johnny Moss |
6 |
$30,000**** |
| 1970 |
Johnny Moss |
|
n/a***** |
* The 2005 WSOP was the first WSOP not to be held exclusively at the Bininon’s Horseshoe casino.
** 5661 players registered for the 2005 WSOP but only 5619 played. Of those 1116 (a fifth) had qualified by playing online at PokerStars.com.
*** The 2004 WSOP was the first WSOP to be held after Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. had purchased rights to the event and the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino from the Binion family.
**** In 1971 the buy-in to the WSOP Championship event was only $5000.
***** In 1970 there was no ‘freeze out’ Championship event. Instead the seven players invited by Jack Binion to play in the WSOP played a variety of games and voted for the best player at the end of the series. Johnny Moss was voted America’s best player by "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Brian "Sailor" Roberts, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Walter "Puggy" Pearson, Crandall Addington and Carl Cannon. He received a silver cup as a trophy.