As the world is readying itself to bid farewell to 2016 and celebrate the arrival of 2017, it is not a surprise that materials that present some sort of a look-back at key events over the past twelve months dominate media outlets.
To mark the end of a quite an exciting year for poker, Casino News Daily has decided to take a quick look at the players who cashed the most from live tournaments over the past twelve months. Here is a list of this year’s top five most profitable players and where they collected their winnings from.
Fedor Holz – $16,484,153
The German wunderkind won or at least cashed in a serious number of the major high roller tournaments to have taken place over the year. He made poker headlines in early January when he bested the field of the inaugural WPT National Philippines $200,000 Triton Super High Roller for a first-place prize of $3,463,500 and numerous accolades for his performance.
Overall, he has cashed in 24 different tournaments this year, winning six of these and cashing six-figure amounts in five of them. The young player’s triumph in the 2016 WSOP $111,111 High Roller for ONE DROP was another notable achievement of his in 2016 as he scooped his best live cash of $4,981,775 as well as his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Elton Tsang – $12,248,912
Tsang entered poker history books as the player to win the €1,000,000 Big One for ONE DROP event, part of this year’s Monte Carlo ONE DROP Extravaganza festival. He won a total of €11,111,111 ($12,248,912) for winning one of the highest, if not the highest, buy-in events in history. Prior to that, Tsang had cashed in 17 tournaments over a ten-year time span and had collected a little less than $500,000 in those.
Qui Nguyen – $8,005,310
It is not a surprise that the 2016 WSOP Main Event Champion is part of the top 5 list. He collected a smashing first-place payout of $8,005,310 in early November for becoming the last man standing at the table of the world’s most prestigious No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Nguyen’s WSOP Main Event cash was his only one this year. He has a total of 29 in-the-money results and has collected the amount of $8,058,296 in those.
David Peters – $7,271,414
David Peters has had his most successful and profitable year since the beginning of his career. The US poker pro has won several high roller events and has made final table appearances in several other over the past twelve months to boost significantly his poker bankroll.
He recently won the 2016 ACOP HK$250,000 High Roller for HK$4,885,200 ($629,868). Peters was also a frequent participant in Aria High Roller and Super High Roller events, winning several of them. During the 2016 WSOP, the player captured a gold bracelet for taking down the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em.
Rainer Kempe – $6,627,501
The German player’s most notable achievement this year, and over the course of his whole career, was his first place in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl with 888poker No-Limit Hold’em tournament. He collected $5 million for winning the event. In July, he took down another high roller event – a $50,000 Aria Super High Roller – for a first-place prize of $531,245.
