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World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

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The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions (WSOP ToC) is an invitational freeroll poker event. The WSOP ToC has been played intermittently five times in the 21st Century with different formats. The four WSOP ToC events held from 2004-2010 did not count as official WSOP bracelets events, with the winners receiving instead a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo. In 2010, the WSOP Tournament of Champions returned with a new format more akin to a typical sports league All-Star Event format. 27 players vied for $1 million, with 20 of those players selected by the fans via online vote at the WSOP's website. Controversies over the inclusion of commercially sponsored players resulted in a hiatus in the WSOP ToC for over a decade. The WSOP ToC was reintroduced in 2022 as an official WSOP bracelet event.


Results

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Year Winner Prize (US$) Runner-up
2004 United States Annie Duke $2,000,000 United States Phil Hellmuth
2005 United States Mike Matusow $1,000,000 United States Hoyt Corkins
2006 United States Mike Sexton $1,000,000 Canada Daniel Negreanu
2010 United States Huck Seed $500,000 United States Howard Lederer
2022 United States Benjamin Kaupp $250,000 United States Raul Garza

2004

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The first event took place on 1 September 2004 with invitations only being extended to ten of the most well-known names on the poker tournament circuit at the time. The winner took home a $2,000,000 prize. No other participants received prize money.

Position Competitor
1st Annie Duke
2nd Phil Hellmuth
3rd Howard Lederer
4th Johnny Chan
5th Greg Raymer
6th Doyle Brunson
7th Daniel Negreanu
8th Phil Ivey
9th T. J. Cloutier
10th David "Chip" Reese

2005

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The 2005 event took place between November 6 and November 8 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Prior to the event, Harrah's advertised that to qualify a player would need to reach the final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker $10,000 no limit Texas hold 'em championship event, or win any World Series of Poker Circuit event.

Controversy erupted however when Pepsi, the event's sponsor, insisted that Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Johnny Chan be granted Sponsor Exemptions. Despite public protests from other players that they were lied to as the event was billed as one that one had to qualify for, ESPN and Harrah's newly hired Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Jeffrey Pollack allowed the three to participate. Hellmuth finished third, while Chan and Brunson missed the final table, coming in 13th and 10th, respectively.

From 2006 onward, Harrah's reserved the right to let in up to six players via sponsor's exemptions.

Position Competitor Prize
1st Mike Matusow $1,000,000
2nd Hoyt Corkins $325,000
3rd Phil Hellmuth $250,000
4th Tony Bloom $150,000
5th Steve Dannenmann $100,000
6th Grant Lang $75,000
7th David Levi $50,000
8th Keith Sexton $25,000
9th Brandon Adams $25,000

2006

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The 2006 field of twenty-seven players included the 9 players who made the final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, the winners of the 11 WSOP Circuit events in the preceding calendar year, and some sponsor exemptions.

Position Competitor Prize
1st Mike Sexton $1,000,000
2nd Daniel Negreanu $325,000
3rd Mike Matusow $250,000
4th Chris Reslock $150,000
5th Andy Black $100,000
6th Darrell Dicken $75,000
7th Chris Ferguson $50,000
8th Thang Pham $25,000
9th Daniel Bergsdorf $25,000
Other qualifiers and invitees

2005 World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table Players:

WSOP Circuit Event Winners:

Sponsor Exemptions:

2007

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Harrah's put the Tournament of Champions on hold indefinitely.

2010

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On March 15, 2010, Harrah's and the World Series of Poker announced that the WSOP Tournament of Champions would return on June 27, 2010 when 27 players competed in a freeroll for $1 million in prize money. The new format is an All-Star Event format, where the public decided which players participated in the event from a list of 521 current WSOP bracelet-holders.

The public decided the 20 players via an online vote at www.WSOP.com/TOC. Voting was open from March 15, 2010 until midnight ET on June 15, 2010. Voted in were: Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, John Juanda, Erik Seidel, Jennifer Harman, Huck Seed, Dan Harrington, T. J. Cloutier, Sammy Farha, Howard Lederer, Greg Raymer, Joe Hachem and Antonio Esfandiari.[1]

Five of the seats were automatically awarded. The reigning WSOP Champion Joe Cada, the reigning WSOP Europe Champion Barry Shulman and the three previous TOC winners: Annie Duke, Mike Matusow and Mike Sexton.[1]

The remaining two seats were awarded as sponsor exemptions by Harrah's, to Andrew Barton and Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier.[1]

On June 27, the 27 players began play in the Amazon Room at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The final nine players returned to play the final table on July 4, 2010 in the same location.

Position Competitor Prize
1st Huck Seed $500,000
2nd Howard Lederer $250,000
3rd Johnny Chan $100,000
4th Joe Hachem $25,000
5th Barry Greenstein $25,000
6th Daniel Negreanu $25,000
7th Jennifer Harman $25,000
8th Annie Duke $25,000
9th T. J. Cloutier $25,000

2022

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In 2022, the WSOP ToC was reintroduced to automatically include the season's winners of all WSOP Circuit Events played at regional casinos and online, as well as WSOP bracelet winners in Las Vegas from the previous year. 470 Champions out of an eligible 569 qualifiers participated in the 2022 WSOP ToC. The top 60 participants split a prize pool of $1 million with a first prize of $250,000.

Position Competitor Prize
1st Benjamin Kaupp $250,000
2nd Raul Garza $150,000
3rd Ryan Messick $100,000
4th Robert Cohen $75,000
5th Ali Eslami $50,000
6th Gregory Wish $37,500
7th Yuliyan Kolev $27,500
8th Eric Bensimhon $20,000
9th Gianluca Speranza $15,000
10th Jonathan Woof $11,400

References

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  1. ^ a b c "TOP 20 VOTE-GETTERS FOR WSOP TOC REVEALED". WSOP.com. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
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