The Biggest WSOP Winners Without a Bracelet
One question always gets asked in the build-up to the World Series of Poker (WSOP): who are the best players still chasing their first bracelet? It's something PokerNews looks at every year.
But here's another angle worth exploring. Which players have actually won the most money at the WSOP without ever getting their hands on one of poker's most coveted prizes?
Some players have racked up millions in WSOP earnings, building their totals on one monster score, while others have chipped away year after year grinding the series.
Cashes listed are WSOP earnings, not total live
1. Sam Trickett - $11,681,942
Sam Trickett, one of poker’s standout stars from the late 2000s, tops the list of players with the biggest WSOP haul without ever finishing on top of the podium. The Brit has racked up $11,681,942 in WSOP earnings without capturing a bracelet.
A huge chunk of that total came from his runner-up finish in the 2012 Big One for One Drop, which paid Trickett $10,112,001. While WSOP bracelets are typically valued at around $1,500 (with Main Event bracelets worth significantly more), Trickett’s payday in real money terms was worth far more than the trophy itself.
The 2012 Big One for One Drop was the first-ever $1 million buy-in tournament, and Trickett battled through the 48-entry field to reach heads-up before falling to Antonio Esfandiari, who banked $18,346,673, still the biggest win in WSOP history. Remarkably, Trickett's $10,112,001 score would still rank as the sixth-biggest WSOP payout.
Despite topping this list thanks to one huge payday, it's not like he's a one-trick pony. According to WSOP.com, he has made six WSOP final tables from 16 cashes in bracelet events, finishing in second place on two other occasions. His last cash under the WSOP umbrella came at the 2019 WSOP Europe (WSOPE) festival, where he again finished runner-up in the €25,500 Platinum High Roller, this time losing out to Kahle Burns.
2. Christoph Vogelsang - $10,348,709
Christoph Vogelsang may have a reputation for taking his time at the table, but the German high-stakes pro has had no trouble stacking up huge scores over the years.
The 40-year-old — who is now eligible for the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame — has more than $45 million in total live earnings according to The Hendon Mob, with $10,348,709 of that coming from 41 WSOP cashes.
The Super High Roller Bowl III champion’s best finish in a WSOP bracelet event is third place, a result he has recorded three times.
Vogelsang banked $4,480,001 in the 2014 Big One for One Drop and added another $1,309,599 five years later in the WSOPE €250,000 Super High Roller, both among his seven-figure WSOP scores. He also came close again in 2024, when a third-place finish in the $50,000 High Roller paid $957,104.
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3. Ben Tollerene - $8,101,149
Like Trickett, Ben Tollerene is another player who has hit the post on more than one occasion at the WSOP.
Tollerene has two runner-up finishes, both of which came in 2024. He narrowly missed out on a maiden bracelet in that summer's $250,000 Super High Roller, finishing second to Santhosh Suvarna before playing bridesmaid once again at WSOP Paradise (WSOPP). A few months later in The Bahamas, Tollerene was pipped to the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet by Lautaro Guerra.
In March, the American captured his second Triton Main Event title, with PokerStars ambassador Jason Koon calling him "One of, if not the most talented poker players of all time" following the victory.
4. Thomas Boivin - $7,404,394
Thomas Boivin is undoubtedly one of poker's rising stars and firmly announced himself on the global stage during the 2025 WSOP season.
The Belgian recorded three seven-figure scores, finishing third in both the $100,000 High Roller and $250,000 Super High Roller. He then added another deep run in December, finishing fifth in the $250,000 WSOPP Triton Invitational.
Those three scores accounted for $5,559,450 in live earnings, with his next-biggest WSOP cash standing at $264,306.
5. Niklas Astedt - $6,839,294
Niklas Astedt is widely considered one of, if not the greatest, online poker players in history, so it should come as no surprise that the majority of his 155 WSOP cashes have come on the virtual felt.
The poker legend is also the first player on this list to own WSOP titles. In fact, he has two of them, both coming in online WSOP Circuit events, headlined by his $525 WSOP Super Circuit Online Series Main Event victory on GGPoker in 2021.
At the 2024 WSOP, he showed he could transfer that online success to the live poker arena. That summer, he recorded the biggest payout of his career, earning $4 million for his third-place finish in the record-breaking 2024 WSOP Main Event.
The Swedish crusher astonishingly described the WSOP Main Event as "a piece of cake. People say this is a marathon; they should try 20 tables for 40 days during SCOOP!"
6. Antoine Saout - $6,676,645
Antoine Saout has made not one, not two, but THREE WSOP Main Event final tables, a feat no one else has achieved. Two came in Las Vegas and one in London when it hosted the WSOPE.
Two of those final table appearances also came in the same year. In 2009, Saout’s first deep WSOP Main Event run ended in third place for $3,479,670, which remains his biggest live cash. The Frenchman then followed it up with a seventh-place finish in the WSOPE Main Event, which featured a stacked final table that included Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, and eventual winner Barry Shulman.
Eight years later, he did it again in Sin City, securing a $2 million payout for his fifth-place finish in the 2017 WSOP Main Event. The year prior, Saout had somehow already made another deep run, finishing 25th.
Despite all that success, Saout has yet to capture a live major poker title. He has come close in recent years on the European Poker Tour (EPT), finishing runner-up in the 2022 EPT Main Event before falling short again in the 2023 EPT Prague High Roller.
7. Steven Jones - $6,665,233
Steven Jones is the first WSOP Main Event runner-up to make this list. His $6,665,233 in earnings is heavily skewed by the $6.5 million he won in 2023 Poker's World Championship.
However, what sets Jones apart from the rest is that he also came narrowly close to winning $4,560,000 in the winner-take-all Netflix gameshow Squid Game: The Challenge.
"I went in there just not stressed at all, because I'm going in for fun, not thinking, 'oh, I'm going to win $4.5 million," Jones explained to PokerNews, talking about his time on the show. "I wasn't stressed at all. The Main Event, the whole time obviously you're just stressed until you're busted."
Jones considered his Squid Game elimination "way more soul-crushing" than his heads-up defeat to Daniel Weinman, who won $12.1 million.
"My heart sank," he said. "When I got squibbed, I just, I knew I messed up."
8. Ivan Demidov - $6,647,422
Antoine Saout's WSOP Main Event final table double in 2009 was impressive, but a year earlier Ivan Demidov had already gone one better.
The Russian finished runner-up in the 2008 WSOP Main Event for $5,809,595 to Peter Eastgate and came agonizingly close to a WSOP title again later that fall at the WSOPE. Demidov almost went the distance once more but fell just short, exiting in third place.
Demidov might not have felt too bad about missing out that time, as Stanislav Alekhin and John Juanda went on to produce one of the longest heads-up battles in WSOP history. The pair battled for nearly 12 hours before Juanda eventually claimed the title. That final table also remains the longest in WSOP history, lasting 484 hands and more than 19 hours from start to finish.
9. Jean-Noel Thorel - $6,597,000
Jean-Noel Thorel captured the hearts of the poker community during his runner-up finish in the 2025 WSOPP Super Main Event. He put up a spirited fight against heads-up opponent Bernhard Binder, who was 51 years his junior, with the pair representing the youngest and oldest players at the final table.
Thorel has just two WSOP cashes to his name, both coming at the most recent WSOP Paradise festival. His other score was worth $597,000, earned in the Triton WSOPP $100,000 Main Event.
10. Jonathan Jaffe - $6,549,428
It's been nine final tables with just one podium finish for Jonathan Jaffe, another player widely considered to sit in the upper echelons of tournament poker.
After trading in his wetsuit for cards, the former dolphin trainer (IYKYK) has racked up just over $6.5 million in WSOP earnings, with a best cash of $2,860,000 highlighting his 37 WSOP cashes.
The closest he's come to capturing a WSOP bracelet was a third-place finish in the $5,000 6-Max at the 2021 WSOP, which paid $234,781.
Honorable Mentions
Several other players have also come close to cracking the main list, with deep WSOP runs and seven-figure scores helping them build impressive resumes without securing a bracelet.
- Michael Duek - $6,513,085 (4th in 2022 WSOP Main Event: $4M)
- Paul Wasicka - $6,464,639 (2nd in 2006 WSOP Main Event: $6.1M)
- Adrian Attenborough - $6,399,931 (2nd in 2022 WSOP Main Event: $6M)
- John Wasnock - $6,159,974 (2nd in 2025 WSOP Main Event: $6M)
- Jesse Sylvia - $6,138,820 (2nd in 2012 WSOP Main Event: $5.3M)
- Kenny Hallaert - $6,126,156 (4th in 2025 WSOP Main Event: $3M; 6th in 2016 WSOP Main Event: $1.46M)
- David Einhorn - $6,046,569 (3rd in 2012 Big One for One Drop: $4.35M)
- Jordan Griff - $6,029,285 (2nd in 2024 WSOP Main Event: $6M)
- Leonard Maue - $5,881,424 (9th in 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event: $850K)
- Martin Staszko - $5,684,710 (2nd in 2011 WSOP Main Event: $5.4M)
- Gabriel Andrade - $5,679,751 (2nd WSOP Paradise Triton Invitational: $5.24M)
- Dennis Phillips - $5,530,868 (3rd in 2008 WSOP Main Event: $4.5M)
