What Were The Largest Ever Online Poker Tournaments by Field Size and Prize Pool?
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Q: What Was The Largest Ever Online Poker Tournament?
A: What was the largest ever online poker tournament? Let's break this down into two different categories - the largest ever online poker tournament by total # of players, and the largest ever online poker tournament by prize pool.
Largest Ever Online Poker Tournament by Field Size - this record currently stands at 149,196 players, and was set by Pokerstars in December of 2009.
Interesting note - Pokerstars had originally set the record back in December of 2008 by hosting a tournament that ended up with a total field size of 35,000 players.
Full Tilt Poker announced their intention to try and break this record in July of 2009 with their "The Record Breaker" event. Not to be outdone, Pokerstars hosted a tournament the same day in order to maintain their hold on the record.
65,000 people ended up turning out for the Pokerstars event, while 50,000 people turned out for the Full Tilt Poker event. Pokerstars again broke the record in December of 2009 when 149,196 players turned out for a record-breaking $1 tournament.
Largest Ever Online Poker Tournament by Prize Pool - this record also belongs to Pokerstars. The 2010 WCOOP (World Championship of Online Poker) ended up with a total prize pool of more than $12.2 million, which set the record for largest ever prize pool in an online poker tournament. This record will probably hold until the 2011 WCOOP takes place.
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