There are different levels when it comes to online poker sites, especially when you consider who might play on them and what they're looking to achieve. There are some players who are genuinely looking to make a life-changing amount of money, while other modest users like stay-at-home moms can earn cash by playing on the top online poker sites ranked here. Although the amounts may vary, the key attraction is winning money, so let's take a look at some of the biggest known wins from the poker world in recent times.
Born Antanas Guoga more commonly known as Tony G, is a man of many talents. Previously served as an elected politician in the Lithuanian government. He's not just a suit-wearing businessman, however, as he likes to play a lot of online poker in his free time. In early 2022 he played multiple hands of online poker on CoinPoker. This platform hosted what has been known as the largest pot on an online poker platform, as he raked home $7.75 million from this iconic game.
Triton events are known to offer massive pots and attract the high rollers of poker. Paul Phua, a Malaysian player almost exclusively plays at high roller events and has been relatively successful at it. His biggest event win to date came back in 2018 when he was attending the Triton Poker Super High Roller cash game on the South Korean island of Jeju. With a mountain of chips on the table, Phua defeated his adversary Tom Dwan in the final showdown to win around $2.5 million. Dwan was noticeably upset and stormed off when the final card was revealed.
Tony G again? Yep, he's been playing a lot of online poker. CoinPoker allows him to also work on another of his favorite pastimes, cryptocurrency. Combining the two, he earned another massive pot win in 2022 when he played Leon Tsoukernik, a Czech businessman. The two got to the showdown and split the massive $1.8 million pot down the middle. Granted, not as much as his prior win but not bad for a day's work.
In October 2023, history was made by a British man called Bert Stevens. He participated in a long-haul online poker game lasting a consecutive 27-hour period. He gained notoriety by the local media as he consumed mountains of sugary and caffeinated goods throughout his win, where he won £2.2 million, from the comfort of his windowless attic.
Who remembers 2009? Yeah, it seems like an eternity ago but back then on Full Tilt Poker, poker rivals Patrik Antonius and Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom had an enduring online poker rivalry over massive pot wins. This was one of the most lucrative times they met, in the end, Antonius got the big pot of $1.3 million. Of course, this was just one chapter in their storied rivalry but potentially the most lucrative encounter.
Full Tilt Poker was the place to be back in 2009. While pots seldom reached over a million in potential winnings, these entries are two of the occasions that it did. It's no wonder that Phil Ivey was sniffing around these high-ticket tables. Unfortunately for him, Viktor 'Ilisdur1' Blom got the win and took home the crisp $1.1 million pot.
The Bosnian-American poker player, Ali Imsirovic was one of the most promising poker players having previously been named the poker player of the year. He was at his peak in 2020 when he was regularly seen on GGPoker among other online rooms. His $970,000+ win over Tan Xuan in the showdown made him both rich and powerful in the poker scene. Unfortunately, he was accused of cheating back in April 2022 and has since admitted to bending the rules during multiple games. As such, he no longer plays online poker.
This hand was massive when it happened back in 2020. However was somewhat eclipsed by the aforementioned entry from Imsirovic as it took place just one week after this one won by Wiktor Malinowski. The Polish player was facing off against Michael Addamo. Despite the game being well contested the final hand was a comprehensive win for Malinowski who took home an impressive $840,000+.
