10. Layne Flack 2002

Cashes: 3
Final Tables: 2
Bracelets: 2

Not only did ‘Back-to-Back Flack’ manage to win two bracelets in a single year twice in his career, he managed to do it in back-to-back years in 2002 and 2003.

Despite this amazing achievement, this list only counts best single year performances and for Flack, that would have to be 2002, where the fields he bested were much bigger than the ones he defeated en route to his 2003 wins.

Flack took down his first 2002 bracelet in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament with 449 players and the second one just a few weeks later in a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event with 528 players.

9. Jeff Madsen 2006

Cashes: 4
Final Tables: 4
Bracelets: 2

In 2006, Jeff Madsen was a WSOP newcomer, only 21 years old and completely new to live poker. Despite his lack of experience, Jeff made a statement early in the series by finishing 3rd in a $2,000 Omaha Hi-low event.

Just 11 days later, Jeff was successfully navigating himself through a 1,579 player field in a $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em tourney. He eventually took down that tournament for his first bracelet and a $660,948 payday. He also made history with this win, becoming the youngest ever bracelet winner at the time.

At this point, Jeff wasn’t done by a long shot, as just a week later he earned a second bracelet, taking down a $5,000 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event for another $643,381.

To top off his stellar year, Jeff scored another final table and finished third just four days after his second bracelet win in a Seven Card Hi/Low event. His impressive performance also earned him the Player of the Year title for 2006. Not bad for a newcomer.

8. Daniel Negreanu 2013

Cashes: 10
Final Tables: 4
Bracelets: 2

Many players have been criticizing Negreanu lately for his stances on the recent PokerStars changes. However, that does not take away from his incredible results at the felt.

Negreanu has had more than one impressive year at the WSOP, including nabbing the Player of the Year title in 2004. Though his 2004 run was not impressive enough to be one of the best, his 2013 run was one to be remembered.

In 2013, Negreanu earned the Player of the Year title again, but the most amazing thing about his year was that he barely had any success in Las Vegas, making a single final table in the 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball and finishing 2nd.

The bulk of Negreanu’s success came in the World Series of Poker Europe and World Series of Poker Asia Pacific with two huge wins in the WSOPE €25,600 High Roller for €725,000 and the WSOP APAC Main Event for another $1,038,825.

7. Brandon Shack-Harris 2014

Cashes: 9
Final Tables: 5
Bracelets: 1

This year’s WSOP saw two players stand out as the most dominant in the series and one of them was Brandon Shack-Harris.

Brandon broke out early in the series by winning Event #3, which was a PLO event for $205,634. By the end of the series, Brandon raked up an astounding five final tables out of his total 9 cashes, finishing 2nd twice. One of the second place finishes was in the $50,000 The Poker Players Championship for $937,975.

6. Men Nguyen 2003

Cashes: 6
Final Tables: 5
Bracelets: 2

While Men Nguyen might have a controversial reputation, he is still one the few players to win multiple bracelets in a single year twice. Granted, his first double – bracelet performance was in 1995, when the games were really soft and the fields really small.

In 2003, Nguyen came back with another impressive performance and even though games were still relatively easy in 2003, 5 final tables and 2 bracelets is never an easy feat to achieve. What’s even more interesting is that all five of Nguyen’s final tables were in non-Hold’em events.

4. Chris Ferguson 2003

Cashes: 8
Final Tables: 5
Bracelets: 2

While Chris Ferguson is still nowhere to be found after Black Friday, the spotlight never seemed to leave him in the early 2000s.

While Ferguson’s 2000 WSOP results were more than impressive, in hindsight, his 2003 run seems like a bigger achievement. With five final tables, Ferguson took down two of the events, finishing second once. Even though he did not have any scores as big as his 2000 Main Event win, the consistency of his 2003 results made him one of the top players in that year’s series.

4. Phil Hellmuth 2012

Cashes: 10
Final Tables: 4
Bracelets: 2

Phil Hellmuth is one of a handful of players who has had multiple stellar years, including 1993, when he won three bracelets and finished second once, and 2003, when he won two more bracelets and made two more final tables.

While these can be dismissed as “old era” results, Phil’s 2012 performance really gave his critics something to think about. Like Negreanu would one year later, Phil extended his success across multiple countries, first crushing the series in Vegas with three final tables, which included a bracelet win in a $2,500 Razz event and a fourth place finish in The Big One for One Drop for $2,645,333.

After Phil was done in Vegas, he was soon on his way to London, where he took down the WSOPE Main Event for €1,022,376, becoming the first player to win both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOPE Europe Main Event.

3. Jeff Lisandro 2009

Cashes: 6
Final Tables: 4
Bracelets: 3

One of the most remarkable runs in the history of the WSOP came in 2009 at the hands of Jeff Lisandro. The 2009 Player of the Year earned his title in the span of 21 days. Jeff entered a total of five events, reaching four final tables and taking down three of them.

Besides joining the elite handful of players who have won three bracelets in a single year, Jeff also became the first player to win bracelets in all variants of Stud played at the WSOP.

2. Phil Ivey 2002

Cashes: 7
Final Tables: 4
Bracelets: 3

Coming into the 2002 WSOP, Phil Ivey was already a rising start in the poker world, having won his first bracelet the year before, but in a span of a single series, Ivey managed to turn himself from rising star to ‘The Phenom’ by taking down three bracelets in an 18-day span.

Two of Ivey’s bracelets came in 7-Card Stud events, with another one in a Limit S.H.O.E event. Apart from another final table finish, Ivey also placed 23rd in the Main Event that year.

1. George Danzer 2014

Cashes: 10
Final Tables: 5
Bracelets: 3

As poker games get tougher each year, you would think that amazing single year runs would become less frequent. As Brandon Shark-Harris found out, this might not be the case, since making five final tables in a single year may not guarantee you the Player of the Year award.

This year, that award went to George Danzer, who took the WSOP by storm, cashing in 10 tournaments, making five final tables and winning three bracelets. Danzer’s sheer domination in high buy-in events traditionally packed with pros was even more outstanding, easily making his run the greatest single year WSOP performance of all time.

Submit your review
1
2
3
4
5
Submit
     
Cancel

Create your own review

Top 10 Most Impressive Single Year WSOP Performances
Average rating:  
 0 reviews