The Early Years
2004 PCA Main Event
The first PCA was held in 2004 aboard a cruise ship. A total of 221 players entered the $7,500 buy-in Main Event, with Gus Hansen emerging victorious after defeating Hoyt Corkins heads-up — with Corkins allegedly playing the final table with the flu! The final table also featured Daniel Negreanu, with famous poker names such as Andy Bloch and Chris Ferguson also finishing in the money.
2004 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Gus Hansen | $455,780 |
2nd | Hoyt Corkins | $290,065 |
3rd | Daniel Negreanu | $192,270 |
4th | Michael Benedetto | $132,600 |
5th | John D’Agostino | $99,450 |
6th | Remco Schrijvers | $74,590 |
2005 PCA Main Event
The following year, the field more than doubled to 461 players, with Englishman John Gale taking the top prize of $890,600. Gale would of course go on to win two WSOP bracelets before tragically dying in 2019 aged just 65.
2005 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | John Gale | $890,600 |
2nd | Alex Balandin | $484,700 |
3rd | Michael Westerlund | $306,400 |
4th | Patrick Hocking | $207,700 |
5th | “Miami” John Cernuto | $155,800 |
6th | Nenad Medic | $112,500 |
2006 PCA Main Event
In 2006, the PCA Main Event awarded more than $1 million in prize money to the winner for the first time. Canada's Steve Paul-Ambrose took home top prize of $1,388,600 after defeating a field of 724 players.
Ambrose has gone on to make two more deep runs in the PCA Main Event, finishing 20th in 2007 ($36,026) and 72nd in 2010 ($33,000)
2006 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Steve Paul-Ambrose | $1,388,600 |
2nd | Brook Lyter | $681,500 |
3rd | David Singer | $436,200 |
4th | Michael Higgins | $327,100 |
5th | Anders Henriksson | $239,900 |
6th | Aurangzeb Sheikh | $177,200 |
2007 PCA Main Event
The PCA held in 2007 was the last year the event was part of the World Poker Tour. The event had grown to 937 players, with a buy-in of $7,800. American Ryan Daut defeated Isaac Haxton heads-up to win $1,535,255.
Where Are They Now: 2007 PCA Champion, Ryan Daut
2007 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Ryan Daut | $1,535,255 |
2nd | Isaac Haxton | $861,789 |
3rd | Robert Ford | $550,980 |
4th | Robert Mizrachi | $409,703 |
5th | Jonathan Little | $317,873 |
6th | Frank Rusnak | $247,234 |
The Boom Years
2008 PCA Main Event
With the PCA now finding a home on the European Poker Tour, 2008 was the first time the field broke 1,000 entrants. Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier defeated a field of 1,136 players to win a cool $2,000,000.
2008 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier | $2,000,000 |
2nd | Hafiz Khan | $1,094,976 |
3rd | Kristopher Kuykendall | $800,000 |
4th | David Pham | $600,000 |
5th | Craig Hopkins | $450,000 |
6th | Joe Elpayaa | $300,000 |
7th | Christian Harder | $200,000 |
8th | Rich Fohrenbach | $150,000 |
2009 PCA Main Event
2009 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Poorya Nazari | $3,000,000 |
2nd | Anthony Gregg | $1,700,000 |
3rd | Benjamin Spindler | $1,100,000 |
4th | Alexandre Gomes | $750,000 |
5th | Pieter Tielen | $550,000 |
6th | Dustin Dirksen | $400,000 |
7th | Dan Heimiller | $300,000 |
8th | Kevin Saul | $234,000 |
2010 PCA Main Event
2010 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
2nd | Tyler Reiman | $1,750,000 |
3rd | Barry Shulman | $1,350,000 |
4th | Benjamin Zamani | $1,000,000 |
5th | Ryan D’Angelo | $700,000 |
6th | Aage Ravn | $450,000 |
7th | Zachary Goldberg | $300,000 |
8th | Thomas Koral | $201,300 |
2011 PCA Main Event
2011 PCA Main Event Results
PLACE | PLAYER | PRIZE |
1st | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
2nd | Chris Oliver | $1,800,000 |
3rd | Anton Ionel | $1,350,000 |
4th | Sam Stein | $1,000,000 |
5th | Mike Sowers | $700,000 |
6th | Bolivar Palacios | $450,000 |
7th | Max Weinberg | $300,000 |
8th | Philippe Plouffe | $202,000 |
Decline
2012 PCA Main Event
2012 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | John Dibella | $1,775,000 |
2nd | Kyle Julius | $1,500,000 |
3rd | Faraz Jaka | $755,000 |
4th | Xuan Liu | $600,000 |
5th | Mark Drover | $468,000 |
6th | Anthony Gregg | $364,000 |
7th | David Bernstein | $260,000 |
8th | Ruben Visser | $156,400 |
2013 PCA Main Event
2013 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Dimitar Danchev | $1,859,000 |
2nd | Joel Micka | $1,190,000 |
3rd | Jerry Wong | $725,000 |
4th | Jonathan Roy | $560,000 |
5th | Owen Crowe | $435,000 |
6th | Andrey Shatilov | $325,000 |
7th | Yann Dion | $230,000 |
8th | Joao Nogueira | $165,900 |
2014 PCA Main Event
2014 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Dominik Panka | $1,423,096 |
2nd | Mike McDonald | $1,064,865 |
3rd | Isaac Baron | $1,207,599 |
4th | Madis Muur | $581,040 |
5th | Daniel Gamez | $447,040 |
6th | Shyam Srinivasan | $328,020 |
7th | Pascal Lefrancois | $242,020 |
8th | Fabian Ortiz | $173,220 |
2015 PCA Main Event
2015 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Kevin Schulz | $1,491,580 |
2nd | Diego Ventura | $907,080 |
3rd | Chance Kornuth | $641,140 |
4th | Niklas Hambitzer | $482,820 |
5th | Juan Pastor | $380,720 |
6th | Rami Boukai | $285,740 |
7th | Pratyush Buddiga | $203,420 |
8th | Dylan Linde | $140,900 |
2016 PCA Main Event
2016 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Mike Watson | $728,325 |
2nd | Anthony Gregg | $612,175 |
3rd | Phillip McAllister | $356,020 |
4th | Toby Lewis | $267,340 |
5th | Vladimir Troyanovskiy | $207,940 |
6th | Randy Kritzer | $153,920 |
7th | Ken Demlakian | $110,220 |
8th | Timothy Ulmer | $78,540 |
2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event
2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Christian Harder | $429,664 |
2nd | Cliff Josephy | $403,445 |
3rd | Michael Vela | $259,980 |
4th | Aleksei Opalikhin | $191,420 |
5th | Michael Gentili | $140,940 |
6th | Rasmus Glaesel | $103,780 |
7th | Allon Allison | $76,400 |
8th | John Dibella | $53,260 |
Final Years
2018 PCA Main Event
2018 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | Maria Lampropulos | $1,081,100 |
2nd | Shawn Buchanan | $672,960 |
3rd | Koray Aldemir | $481,560 |
4th | Adrian Mateos | $372,600 |
5th | Dan Coupal | $293,560 |
6th | Christian Rudolph | $229,760 |
7th | Oleg Titov | $169,920 |
8th | Adalfer Gamarra | $116,860 |
2019 PCA Main Event
2019 PCA Main Event Results
Place | Player | Prize |
1st | David "Chino" Rheem | $1,567,100 |
2nd | Daniel Strelitz | $951,480 |
3rd | Scott Wellenbach | $671,240 |
4th | Pavel Veksler | $503,440 |
5th | Vicent Ramon | $396,880 |
6th | Brian Altman | $297,020 |
7th | Mihai Manole | $208,920 |
8th | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | $146,840 |
2019 PokerStars No Limit Hold'em Players Championship
2019 PSPC Main Event Final Table Results
PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (USD) |
1 | Ramon Colillas | Spain | $5,100,000 |
2 | Julien Martini | France | $2,974,000 |
3 | Marc Rivera | Philipines | $2,168,000 |
4 | Scott Baumstein | United States | $1,657,000 |
5 | Jason Koonce | United States | $1,304,000 |
6 | Marc Perrault | Canada | $1,012,000 |
7 | Farid Jattin | Colombia | $746,000 |
8 | Talal Shakerchi | United Kingdom | $509,000 |
Return of the PCA
2023 PCA Main Event
2023 PokerStars No Limit Hold'em Players Championship
List of PCA Main Event Winners
YEAR | BUY-IN | ENTRIES | TOTAL PRIZE POOL | WINNER | FIRST PRIZE |
2004 | $7,500 | 221 | $1,657,500 | Gus Hansen | $455,780 |
2005 | $8,000 | 461 | $3,487,200 | John Gale | $890,600 |
2006 | $8,000 | 724 | $5,647,200 | Steve Paul-Ambrose | $1,388,600 |
2007 | $8,000 | 937 | $7,063,842 | Ryan Daut | $1,535,255 |
2008 | $8,000 | 1,136 | $8,562,976 | Bertrand Grospellier | $2,000,000 |
2009 | $10,000 | 1,347 | $12,674,000 | Poorya Nazari | $3,000,000 |
2010 | $10,300 | 1,529 | $14,831,300 | Harrison Gimbel | $2,200,000 |
2011 | $10,300 | 1,560 | $15,132,000 | Galen Hall | $2,300,000 |
2012 | $10,300 | 1,072 | $10,398,400 | John Dibella | $1,775,000 |
2013 | $10,300 | 987 | $9,573,900 | Dimitar Danchev | $1,859,000 |
2014 | $10,300 | 1,031 | $10,070,000 | Dominik Panka | $1,423,096 |
2015 | $10,300 | 816 | $7,915,200 | Kevin Schulz | $1,491,580 |
2016 | $5,300 | 928 | $4,500,800 | Mike Watson | $728,325 |
2017 | $5,000 | 738 | $3,376,712 | Christian Harder | $429,664 |
2018 | $10,300 | 582 | $5,645,400 | Maria Lampropulos | $1,081,100 |
2019 | $10,300 | 865 | $8,390,500 | Chino Rheem | $1,567,100 |