Isaac Haxton has absolutely shot out of the gates in 2023. In the first quarter of the year (plus a day), he has won $5,154,740 in live poker tournaments, the first player to hit the $5 million mark. He eclipsed that plateau on Sunday, April 1, when he won Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the U.S. Poker Open for $432,000. Haxton is a million bucks ahead of Sam Greenwood, who is second on the 2023 earnings list; nobody else has over $4 million.
Haxton has already won more than twice what he garnered in 2022. Not that it was a bad year, as he still claimed $2,223,537 in tournament earnings (though I suppose it depends on how much he spent to get there). That was good for 60th on the annual money list. Espen Uhlen Jørstad was first with $10,529,466, thanks to his World Series of Poker Main Event title. Haxton’s current total would have put him in the top 15 last year.
Yearly earnings totals keep growing around poker, as we are now in an era of the super high roller event. While there are loads of more “affordable” tournaments every day around the country, the top players tend to stick to events with five-figure buy-ins and higher, thus making money lists from even a decade ago look quaint.
Haxton’s 2023 resume reflects the new super high roller age. All but two of his cashes this year are from tournaments with buy-ins of $20,000 or more, and those two were still at least $10,000. Here are his cashes so far (thanks to PokerGO for organizing these for me – a copy/paste from TheHendonMob.com was a lot messier).
PokerGO Cup Event #8: $50,000 NL Hold’em – 1st place – $598,000
PCA $100,000 Super High Roller – 1st place – $1,082,230
PCA $10,300 Main Event – 124th place – $17,600
PCA $25,000 NL Hold’em High Roller 8-Handed – 3rd place – $491,550
PCA $100,000 NL Hold’em 7-Handed – 1st place – $1,555,360
Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $25,000 NL Hold’em Turbo – 11th place – $54,600
Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $50,000 NL Hold’em Turbo – 5th place – $147,000
Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $25,000 Short Deck – 5th place – $117,000
Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $50,000 Short Deck – 2nd place – $500,000
Triton Super High Roller Series Vietnam $20,000 Short Deck – 3rd place – $91,000
PGT PLO Series $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty – 6th place – $68,400
U.S. Poker Open $25,000 NL Hold’em – 1st place – $432,000
Haxton has also now eclipsed the $35 million mark for career tournament earnings, just the 15th player to reach that milestone.
Image credit: PokerGO.com
