And you thought your job was stressful.
Just imagine taking your seat at a poker table, and knowing that the decisions you take will determine whether or not you walk away $7.6 million – that’s £5.5 million – richer or significantly less wealthy.
That was the situation facing Antanas ‘Tony G’ Guoga recently. He was embroiled in a $5,000/$10,000 game at the crypto casino site CoinPoker, and as the stakes were continually raised and re-raised in one particular hand the pot reached that sizable amount in (virtual) chips.
Tony G, an interesting character whose life story entails a stint as a member of European Parliament and a spell as the Lithuanian Rubik’s Cube champion – that’s a genuine fact by the way, is also a respected poker player who has amassed more than $7 million in career winnings via the World Series of Poker and the like. And when he flopped a straight in this particular game, he was not going to miss the moment.
Tony G (@TonyGuoga) winning a 7,7M plo pot. ? pic.twitter.com/S4JLGfh4kp
— jädimaster83 (@DolphNorris) February 12, 2022
It is, by some distance, the biggest online poker pot in history, and beats some high-profile moments to the accolade.
What are the Biggest Poker Pots in History?
As poker has evolved and become more popular – thanks largely to the internet boom of the early 2000s, the prize pools have increased exponentially.
One of the first to breach the $1 million mark came at the Million Dollar Cash Game back in 2010. Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan went toe-to-toe at the final table, with the former some $1.1 million in chips to the good.
However, the final hand would prove to be a disaster, as he called all-in against Dwan’s straight and saw the seven-figure sum pushed to his opponent. It was, at the time, the biggest pot ever won in a televised poker game.
Of course, the life of a professional poker player has its ups and downs, and eight years after taking down Ivey, Dwan was on the receiving end of a rather hefty loss.
The Super High Roller 2018 game in South Korea saw players buy in with a handsome $1 million bounty, and needless to say it was long before pot sizes were increasing accordingly.
Dwan found himself up against Paul Phua and Dominik Nitsche, and with all three players scoring excellent hole cards a metaphorical bloodbath followed.
Nitsche and Dwan raise with KQ and AQ respectively, unknowing to the fact that Phua has a handsome AA to his name. After some eye-watering raises, Phua and Dwan are left heads up, and none of the cards in the middle would improve the latter’s hand enough to down the former’s pocket aces.
And so Phua trousered a cool $2.5 million from the pot….nice work if you can get it.
As for the biggest online pot ever won, prior to Tony G’s prolific payday the record was previously held by Patrik Antonius. He downed Viktor Blom in head-to-head play in a game back in 2009, and took home $1.3 million for the privilege.