The 10 Biggest Poker Tournament Wins of 2013

Matthew Pitt
18 December 2013

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The calendar year is almost finished and we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the biggest tournament wins of the past 12 months.

Please note, this article only looks at the prizes awarded for winning the tournament because some events would see second, third, fourth or even fifth place pay out more than some of the sums shown.

1.) Ryan Riess - $8,361,570

Ryan Riess banked over $8.3 million when he took down the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event. With the exception of the Big One for One Drop in 2012, the WSOP Main Event has awarded the biggest first place prize in poker for many years.

2.) Anthony Gregg - $4,830,619

Anthony Gregg secured a $4.8 million payday when he topped a stellar field in the One Drop $111,111 High Roller at the 2013 WSOP. In 2012, Gregg had a $996k cash and in 2009 a $1.7 million one. Must be nice!

3.) Niklas Heineker - $4,464,516

Niklas Heineker, a German cash game specialist, swapped cash games for a tournament in Macau in 2013 and it turned out to be an amazing decision as he won it for almost $4.5 million. Nice work if you can get it!

4.) Sam Trickett - $2,111,397

Sam Trickett started 2013 with a bang; a bang worth A$2,000,000. Trickett started 2013 in Australia where he won the A$250,000 buy-in Super High Roller to see his lifetime winnings surpass $18 million!

5.) Scott Seiver - $2,003,480

Scott Seiver is somewhat of a veteran in poker terms and a player who is regularly found going deep in major poker tournaments across the globe. Seiver got 2013 off to a great start by winning the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller at the PCA in January for slightly more than $2 million.

6.) Dimitar Danchev - $1,859,000

Like Seiver, Dimitar Danchev started 2013 in the Caribbean. Danchev, of Bulgaria, left the sunny Paradise Island with a cheque for $1,859,000 thanks to him winning the $10,300 PCA Main Event.

7.) Mervin Chan - $1,689,118

The Aussie Millions Main Event regularly creates one of the biggest first place prizes of the year and 2013 was no different. Mervin Chan was the recipient of the A$1,600,000 winner's prize. What a life!

8.) Steve O'Dwyer - $1,604,972

Steve O'Dwyer is a regular on the European Poker Tour and had several near misses in terms of actually winning one of the Main Events. He finally got the monkey of his back when he won the EPT Grand Final for a career-best score of $1,604,972!

9.) Philipp Gruissem - $1,379,840

It is no surprise that Philipp Gruissem's name has cropped up on this list because the talented German is a regular in the biggest tournaments in the world. Gruissem only really plays in high roller and super high roller events, one such tournament was the £100,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Alpha8 London. Gruissem won it for $1,379,840.

10.) Adrian Mateos - $1,351,661

British-based Spaniard Adrian Mateos has a solid reputation in online poker circles and that reputation has now followed him to the live arena thanks to the 19-year old binking the 2013 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event for €1,000,000.

Images courtesy of PokerNews.com and data from The Hendon Mob Database.

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