When it comes to poker, many novice players tend to idolize famous professional players and praise them for incredible tournament winnings. But most of the time, poker newcomers know absolutely nothing about the price their idols have to pay to achieve another victory at a prestigious poker event.
While casual gamblers rarely go over their initial budget and often prefer to play poker in demo mode, professional players run the risk of losing mind-boggling amounts of money at every high-roller tournament. In this article, you will find out which poker stars have experienced the most painful losses and how much money exactly they lost due to their poor decisions.
Phil Galfond
When this player with the nickname “OMGClayAiken” started his online poker career in 2008, he managed to earn about $8 million pretty fast. Such rapid success boosted his confidence through the roof, and he decided to try his luck in the new 2-7 Triple Draw poker format. This decision turned out to be extremely unfortunate for him, as he lost over $2.5 million during his sessions in this new game.
Di Dang
Even though Dang was considered one of the most promising poker players in the online scene, he did not manage to avoid serious defeats. When he lost $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2009, he realized that such losses could lead him to complete bankruptcy. To avoid such a painful scenario, he ended his gambling career in 2011 and began to develop his business projects.
Ben Sulsky
In 2012, Ben made $4 million thanks to his poker talent and decided to try his hand with higher-level opponents. However, this move proved to be devastating for his career, and in early 2013, he had lost nearly $3 million over the course of two months.
Patrik Antonius
This Finnish gambler reached the top of the Full Tilt poker room from the earning perspective in 2009. But the next year was far less successful for him, and he lost over $4 million over that period. According to the player, his back injury was the main reason for such colossal losses. So, when he normalized his health, he improved his tournament results substantially.
Brian Townsend
Brian’s poker path will remind you that there is nothing worse than a gambler trying to get his lost money back. After the player lost $2.5 million in 2010, he did not stop and surely regretted his decision. The following poker season, Townsend lost about $2 million, and he has never shown up at a serious tournament since then.
Phil Ivey
If you thought that top poker players never experienced serious defeats, this is not the case. Live events have earned Phil over $21 million in total. And when the gambler shifted his focus to the 8-Game format, he lost about a quarter of this massive fortune, which was equal to $5 million.
Ilari Sahamies
This player is one of the clearest examples of why you should never gamble in an emotional state of mind. Ilari held drunken sessions quite frequently, and his aggressive playstyle cost him over $6 million in losses.
Noataima
This online poker player was one of the most mysterious in the gambling industry. However, his losses reached $7 million in 2006 alone, and this “achievement” made the player much more famous among high roller gamblers.
Victor Blom
Victor joined the poker scene quite unexpectedly and started winning tournament after tournament. It allowed him to generate about $7 million in total winnings, and such a serious amount could not but interest professional players. As a result, Blom faced a few more experienced gamblers, and they robbed him of over $7.5 million.
Gus Hansen
Many amateur players know Hansen as an incredibly skillful poker player who has demonstrated his talent during live tournaments many times. And yet, Gus claims to have lost just under $20 million in his gambling career. Such a shocking result guaranteed him the crown of the most losing player in poker history.
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