Some of the top high-stakes poker players, including Daniel Negreanu and Martin Jacobson, have brought up some interesting points about tournament poker as a career in recent days.
Negreanu, who is one of the most decorated tournament poker players of all time, mentioned how the results of the super high-stakes tournaments being played these days are mostly a mirage, as few players actually manage to win big, despite risking millions in the process.
Jacobson, a former WSOP Main Event champion and a very successful tournament grinder in his own right, compared poker to golf, and emphasized just how crazy playing tournament poker is as a career.
In light of these posts, we wondered just how hard it is to actually win big playing tournament poker and whether tournament results are, as Negreanu put it “mostly a mirage.”
Negreanu Sheds Light On High Stakes Tournaments
“In 1999, if you traveled the world playing in the highest stakes tournaments, you couldn’t spend more than $250,000. In 2013, that number rose to roughly $1.2 million. In 2025, that number is roughly $12 million.”
This was the opening post from Daniel Negreanu that got much of the poker community involved in a discussion on just how profitable the super high rollers actually were.
According to Negreanu, only Adrian Mateos, Patrik Antonius, and Alejandro Lococo cashed for over $12 million in 2024, while three more players cashed for over $10 million.
Daniel also brought up the point of high-stakes professionals selling a lot of their action, and tried to explain that, in his opinion, much of the results we see around the super high-stakes community are “mostly a mirage.”
Daniel’s opinion was somewhat counteracted by Adrian Mateos himself, who pointed out that most high-stakes players spend between $5 and $7 million a year, rather than $12 million.
He also said his own buyins were well over $12 million, despite playing most stops and eventually cashing for $13 million in 2024.
Sam Greenwood, another high-stakes pro, pointed out that players who sell action can end up both winning and losing money in the process, and that none of them believe their yearly ROI to be anywhere close to $5,000,000.
Negreanu’s answer to this was the most eye revealing of them all, as he pointed out that the fans at home think the players are winning millions, while the actual numbers are actually a lot more modest.
Cash Game Grinder Chimes In
“Every time someone reference a player’s Hendon Mob to qualify/disqualify their ability in this space, just kindly reference this thread & understand that MTTs are the mirage.”
These were the words of Matt Berkey, a highly acclaimed cash game grinder who has made a career out of playing high-stakes cash and mostly avoiding the tournament scene.
Berkey has been adamant in his position that tournament results are mostly not a reflection of a player’s poker skill, and he jumped at the opportunity to quote an actual tournament pro on it.
Indeed, both Daniel and Matt agree that Hendon Mob pages, which list all the tournament cashes rather than profit, are no representation of a player’s ability or a successful poker career.
It is well known that many recreational poker players with millions in Hendon Mob winnings are overall losers in tournaments, while even many pros have also publicly spoken of struggling to maintain any profit in live tournaments.
Main Event Champion Compares Poker to Golf
The 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson had something to say about the life of a professional tournament player recently as well.
In a separate X post of his own, Jacobson compared professional poker to golf. He compared the travel costs, mental swings, and overall difficulty, while pointing out that poker players must also pay tournament buyin costs along the way.
Martin brought up an excellent point, as most professional athletes at high levels get to play for massive prize pools with little or no financial exposure.
Top poker players, on the other hand, must risk millions in tournament buyins, while simultaneously paying for travel cots, accommodations, and a variety of other expenses, including taxes.
At the same time, the players are forced to play against extremely tough fields made up of other elite players and very few amateurs in the mix.
Is Tournament Poker Actually Worth It?
Being a profitable tournament poker player is still possible in 2025, and none of the players posting about it in recent days denied it.
For example, Negreanu pointed out that the profit these days is in the low and mid stakes tournaments, where the ratio of pros to amateurs is much better, and the financial exposure is much lower.
Indeed, there are many mid stakes tournament grinders who make a very solid living playing $1k, $2k, and $5k tournaments, without having to pony up millions in buyins every year.
Online tournament professionals also get to make a good living and maintain a healthy ROI, while playing in games where a $50k bankroll is sufficient to cover the risk of ruin.
At the highest levels, however, tournament poker has become more about the competition than about the money, with many of the players going for years without making any significant profit.
Brands like Triton Poker and PokerGO Tour have been doing their best to make poker into a sport of sorts, which could eventually lead to more sponsorship money and perhaps even some form of payment for the most talented players out there.
Yet, as things stand right now, the high-stakes tournament scene remains a bit of a mirage, with millions of dollars changing hands daily, while most players continue to break even.
The fans get to experience the thrill of watching their favorite players take home massive prizes, but the players may at times struggle to cover their buyins and continue to live the VIP lifestyle they have grown accustomed to.
