Is Phil Ivey Among the Best High Roller & Seven Card Stud Players in WSOP History?

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Jun 06, 2026 5 min read

With both big buy-in High Roller and Seven Card Stud events taking place right now at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP), PokerNews has decided to take a deep dive into the history of said formats at the series.

WSOP High Roller History

The WSOP recently ended its $25,000 Heads-Up Championship, and right now, the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller is entering Day 3. While there are plenty of high rollers on this year’s schedule, that wasn’t always the case.

The first "High Roller" WSOP tournament with a buy-in of $25,000 or more was the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E., which has now become the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, won by Chip Reese for $1,784,640. He prevailed over a stacked field of 143 after an epic seven-and-a-half-hour heads-up battle with Andy Bloch.

It was the only game in town until 2009, when the $40,000 40th Anniversary NLH Event became the second high roller, although it was a one-time event won by Vitaly Lunkin for $1,891,018.

In 2010, the Poker Players Championship (PPC) officially joined the Las Vegas festival with a $50,000 buy-in and is now considered by many to be the de facto world championship.

WSOP Europe joined the party in 2013 with the €25,000 NLH High Roller (about $34,603 USD), while the first online High Rollers were the 2020 $25,000 NLHE Poker Players Championship and $25,000 Heads-Up NLH: People's Choice Event on GGPoker.

The floodgates opened in 2023 when WSOP Paradise debuted and included two $25,000, one $50,000, and one $100,000 events.

$25,000+ Buy-in Events By Year

When it comes to WSOP High Roller bracelets, 11 players are tied with two each. The players with two high roller bracelets are Aleksejs Ponakovs, Alex Foxen, Chad Eveslage, Daniel Cates, Daniel Negreanu, Fedor Holz, Jason Koon, Jonathan Duhamel, Martin Kabrhel, Santhosh Suvarna, and Stephen Chidwick.

Brian Rast, Joao Vieira, and Michael Addamo are tied with three apiece, while Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi and Shaun Deeb are tied for the all-time lead with four.

Most High Roller Final Tables

Most High Roller Cashes

The players with 17 cashes are Chance Kornuth, Christoph Vogelsang, Dan Smith, Justin Bonomo, Martin Kabrhel, Nick Schulman, Scott Seiver, and Shaun Deeb.

Most High Roller Winnings

This final list is, of course, dominated by results from the three $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop tournaments. If you remove those results, the list looks like this:

Most High Roller Winnings Without Big One for One Drop

_{If you also remove the 2024 Paradise Island $500,000 Triton Million, Heath and Lococo drop off the list, replaced by Joao Vieira and Isaac Haxton.}

History of Seven Card Stud High at the WSOP

Seven Card Stud (high-only) was one of the original games played at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Puggy Pearson was named the Seven Card Stud Champion of the 1970 cash games, and followed up by winning the event in 1971 (which was allegedly a cash game format).

The record for the biggest fields in WSOP history was set in Seven Card Stud in 1975 (44), 1976 (52), 1977 (83; Ladies), and 1980 (176).

The Ladies Championship was Stud from 1977 to 1999. The Mixed Doubles was Stud in four of its five years, and thus the game peaked at four events in 1979 and 1981-83, which was later matched from 1991-98.

The event bottomed out in 2013 with just a single $2,500 tourney. Since 2014, every year has had one $1,500 event and one $10,000 championship.

WSOP Seven Card Stud event records:

• Largest Field: 478 in 2006 $1,500 event.
• Most Places Paid: 61 in 2024 $1,500 event.
• Largest Prize Pool: $1,485,200 in 2008 $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud.
• Largest Prize: $415,856 by Eric Brooks in same event.

When it comes to the top Seven Card Stud (High-Only) players regarding bracelets, final tables (9th place or better), cashes, and winnings:

• 17 players are tied with two Stud bracelets apiece.
• The players with two bracelets are Barbara Enright, David Chiu, Don Williams, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Gary "Bones" Berland, Jeff Lisandro, Marty Sigel, Mel Judah, Puggy Pearson, Richard Ashby, Rod Pardey, Sam Mastrogiannis, Starla Brodie, Susie Isaacs, Ted Forrest, and Vasilis Lazarou.
• Artie Cobb, Johnny Moss, and Men Nguyen are tied with three each for the all-time Stud lead.
• 11 players are tied with six Seven Card Stud final tables. The eleven players with six final tables are Bobby Schwing, Cyndy Violette, Esther Rossi, Gene Fisher, Harry Thomas, Jeff Lisandro, Johnny Moss, Rod Pardey, Starla Brodie, Stu Ungar, and Thor Hansen.
• Poker Hall of Famer Roger Moore (not the actor) is in third place with seven, while Artie Cobb and Men Nguyen are tied for first with eight apiece.

Most Seven Card Stud High Cashes

Most Seven Card Stud Winnings

Dubbed the "World's Greatest Unknown WSOP Historian," Robert Jen has been researching, analyzing, and writing about the world's greatest game, and especially the World Series of Poker (WSOP), since 2013.

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