There’s no doubt the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the largest poker event in the world. The 2024 edition is already on, and poker fans and professionals are excited about it. This year, it promises to be more fun as there are 129 event bracelets (both live and online). Registration for the series continues until July 20.
The WSOP main event is the most coveted by participants. It costs $10,000 to get in, but the winner also walks away with a huge cash prize. Apart from the prize, the World Champion bracelet is another thing players look forward to claiming. Before we introduce the last ten winners, let’s briefly look at the WSOP schedule for this year.
World Series of Poker 2024
WSOP 2024 kicked off on May 30 and will run till July 18. It will be hosted at two locations – Bally and Paris Casinos, just like in 2022. There will be 95 live events at these venues and 34 online events running simultaneously.
This year, the main event is slated to begin on July 3, and the new world champion will be crowned on July 17 when it ends. To see the full schedule and information about the venues you can visit https://www.tightpoker.com/wsop/.
The page also contains registration info and updates on the bracelet winners as WSOP 2024 progresses.
The Last 10 Winners
Now, let’s meet the last 10 champions of the main events, starting from WSOP 2022 to 2012.
Espen Jostad
Born in 1988, Espen Jorstad is a professional poker player from Norway. He currently resides in London and bagged $10,000,000 as the main event prize winner in 2022. Espen graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a Master’s degree in Brewing Science.
In 2016, he played professionally on Pokerstars and GGPoker and began to stream on Twitch. He achieved his first WSOP final table but finished fifth in 2020. He participated again in 2021 and finished sixth in the WSOP main event online, earning over $600k. Jorstad won his first bracelet in 2022 in the Tag Team event, after which he won the main event final.
Koray Aldemir
Born in the German capital, Koray Aldemir is a Turkish poker player who was awarded $8,000,000 for coming top at WSOP 2021. The 1990-born player first played poker at his friend’s house in 2006. In 2016, Aldemir participated in WSOP and finished third in the $111,111 One Drop High Roller event. At the 2021 WSOP main event, Aldemir contested against George Holmes in the final and emerged victorious. He also came third in the Player of the Year race in 2022.
Damian Salas
In 2020, Damian Salas made history as he became the first Argentine and second South American to become WSOP World Champion. A practicing lawyer, Salas participated at WSOP in 2009 for the first time. Since then, he has joined many other events. The 1975-born poker player was awarded $2,550,969 for winning the main WSOP in 2020.
Hossein Ensan
Born in 1964, Hossein Ensan is an Iranian-German poker player who walked away with $10,000,000 after winning the main event at WSOP 2019. The Civil Engineering graduate claimed to have learned poker rules since childhood. He began his professional poker career back in 2002.
John Cynn
John Cynn is an American poker player awarded $8,800,000 for winning the WSOP Main Event 2018. Born in 1984, Cynn graduated with a Finance and Supply Chain Management degree from Indiana University Bloomington. He participated in a poker event for the first time in 2010 and tried WSOP in 2012. Cynn also participated in the WSOP main event 2016, finishing 11th and earning $650,000.
Scott Blumstein
Born in 1992, Scott Blumstein is a professional Poker Player from New Jersey. He graduated with an Account degree from Temple University. Before competing in the WSOP 2017, Scott participated in the Borgata Summer Poker Open, winning $199,854. In 2017, against over 7,000 players, Scott won the main event to get the $8,150,000 top prize.
Qui Nguyen
Qui is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who earned $8,005,310 from winning the WSOP main event 2016. The 1977-born player started life in Vietnam and moved to the US at 24. He began to play poker in 2003 while working in a nail salon. In 2008, he participated in the $1,500 WSOP Limit Hold ’em event for over $9,000. His seat at the 2016 main event was won via a $1,100 satellite.
Joe McKeehen
Born in 1991, Joseph McKeehen is a poker player from Pennsylvania. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from Arcadia University. According to https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Joe_McKeehen, Joe was also a professional mind sports player. In 2010, he competed and emerged world champion in the Risk Annual Classic, a board game tournament.
Joseph began to play poker at a very young age but won his first title in 2012. In 2013, he won $174,147 in the Atlantic City WSOP Circuit and also participated in the main event. Moreover, in WSOP 2014 he earned $820,863 in the Monster Stack event. He attended again in the WSOP 2015 and emerged as the world champion, winning $7,683,346.
Martin Jacobson
Martin was born on June 30, 1987, in Stockholm, Sweden. He started playing poker in high school but began professionally while working as a chef. The Swedish player also played poker online at internet cafes. In 2014, he won $10,000,000 after becoming world champion in the WSOP main event.
Ryan Riess
A graduate of Michigan State University, Ryan played his first poker tournament in October 2012 and came second at the WSOP Circuit main event in Indiana. The following year, he participated in the WSOP main event and won the world champion bracelet, earning $8,361,570. Ryan Reiss wasn’t the only one on the medals table that year, Chad Holloway, and Trevor Pope were also on the medals table. You can check www.wsop.com/2013/ for a full list of the winners.
