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157 Players Cash for $1 Million or More in 2019

For the last few years, we’ve tracked the number of poker millionaires created this year. As has been the case for the last few years, 2019 saw more players cash for $1 million or more in live poker tournaments than any other year.

A total of 157 players had combined tournament cashes of at least $1 million in 2019. That’s up from 130 players in 2018 and more than double the number of players who cashed for $1 million back in 2010.

Bryn Kenney Leads All Players With $30 Million in Earnings

It wasn’t shocking that a new record was set in 2019 for most players to cash for at least $1 million in poker tournaments. The surprising number was how much that Bryn Kenney managed to take down in 2019.

Kenney took over the top spot on Poker’s All-Time Money List with a record year of $30.32 million in earnings. The bulk of it came at the Triton Million for Charity back in August when a chip deal netting him $20.56 million for second place.

Kenney had three other seven-figure scores, including $4 million in earnings at the Triton Poker Series Montenegro Event.

Aaron Shu Nu Zang officially won the Triton Million for Charity Event and took home $16.77 million. It was his only tournament cash of 2019 and good enough to give him the runner-up spot. Normally, that figure would have made him the top dog.

Four other players managed to earn at least $10 million on poker tournaments in 2019. Stephen Chidwick earned $13.14 million. Paul Phua earned $11.61 million. Dan Smith and 2019 WSOP Main Event Champion Hossein Ensan earned $10 million each. It’s amazing that the winner of the WSOP Main Event was sixth on the 2019 Money List.

74 Players Earned $2 Million or More

Out of the 157 players to cash for seven-figures, 74 of them earned at least $2 million on live poker tournaments. Looking deeper into those numbers, 45 players earned at least $3 million while 34 players earned $4 million or more.

Amazingly, there were 23 players that earned $5 million or more in poker tournaments in 2019. Star players such as Justin Bonomo, Dario Sammartino, Sam Soverel, and 2019 GPI Player of the Year Alex Foxen all took home over $5 million.

Kristen Bicknell was the top female earner in 2019.

Out of that list, only two women earned $1 million or more in 2019. Kristen Bicknell had a career year and earned $2.46 million. Kathy Lehne finished 3rd in the Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for $1.78 million, which was good for second. Maria Ho just missed out on the Million Dollar Club, finishing the year with $986,241 in earnings.

Earnings Do Not Equate to Profits

While these numbers are indeed impressive, they are not indicative as to whether players finished the year in the black. This is especially true for pros who frequent High Roller poker tournaments. For example, Ben Lamb won $1.7 million in poker tournaments in 2019, but how much did he spend in buy-ins? At $25,000 to $50,000 a tournament on average, professional high rollers can win millions and still finish the year in the red.

Players such as Hossein Ensan who don’t frequent high rollers but took down a seven-figure score likely had a much better year profit-wise than the majority of high rollers on the list.

The number of players winning seven figures in a year has exploded since 2012 thanks to high rollers, but the Poker Boom, in general, changed the tournament landscape forever. Back in 2003, only eight players won seven-figures in a year.

Based on recent trends, we could see over 200 players cash for seven figures by 2022. Below are the number of players who had cashes totaling $1 million or more in poker tournaments during a calendar year dating back to 2000:

2019 – 157
2018 – 130
2017 – 118
2016 – 100
2015 – 90
2014 – 83
2013 – 78
2012 – 69
2011 – 61
2010 – 61
2009 – 57
2008 – 65
2007 – 59
2006 – 58
2005 – 41
2004 – 23
2003 – 8
2002 – 3
2001 – 2
2000 – 3

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