WSOP pro reveals how much he really wins at poker

WSOP pro reveals how much he really wins at poker
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Arved Klöhn Content Writer
Fact Checked: PokerListings
  • Updated: January 21, 2026
  • Read time: 10 min

Well-known poker players always like to talk about winnings, big titles and successes. The costs of these winnings and titles, however, remain mostly unknown to the spectators. To give a blatant example: David Williams finished 117th in the Flip&Go tournament at the WSOP this year and collected 2,155 dollars. That’s all well and good, but he had to buy in 19 times and thus paid 19,000 dollars in buy-ins. What looks like a small win on paper is in reality a huge loss.

Brandon Shack-Harris WSOP 2016
Brandon Shack-Harris

With Brandon Shack-Harris, a WSOP professional has now disclosed all his tournament data, including all buy-ins.

Brandon Shack-Harris has been a key player at the WSOP for a decade and is one of the most active and successful players on the tour. Since 2010 he has accumulated 2 WSOP titles, 3 second place finishes, 3 third place finishes and 6 other final tables. In 2014, he finished second to George Danzer in the Player of the Year race and won a total of almost $3.5 million in prize money.

On his homepage, Shack-Harris revealed how much money he invested in WSOP tournaments during the twelve years and how much net profit he made.

The most important figures first: Brandon Shack-Harris invested over 1.2 million dollars in buy-ins. This compares to winnings of almost 3.5 million dollars. Spread over all tournaments, his ROI (return on investment) is at around 184%.

This is how Shack-Harris’ WSOP profits and buy-ins have developed since 2010:

Brandon Shack-Harris; Full Profits and Losses at WSOP
Buy-ins and cashes (left axis); ROI over all years combined (right axis)

Profits and losses in numbers

These are the profits and losses of Brandon Shack-Harris in numbers since 2010:

YearEvents Buy-Ins  Cashes FTsROI
20103 $                    7,000 $                           –  0-100.0%
20117 $                  14,500 $                  14,0000-3.4%
201210 $                  22,500 $                126,9251464.1%
201312 $                  31,000 $                           –  0-100.0%
201425 $                139,350 $            1,444,7205936.8%
201521 $                159,000 $                  59,7501-62.4%
201621 $                163,000 $            1,057,7003548.9%
201726 $                194,500 $                  97,0601-50.1%
201832 $                198,180 $                478,3001141.3%
201932 $                142,800 $                  43,3430-69.6%
202012 $                    8,300 $                    3,2050-61.4%
202129 $                147,700 $                160,33228.6%
Sum230 $            1,227,830 $            3,485,33514183.9%

All in all, Bandon Shack-Harris turned a profit in 5 of his 12 years at the WSOP, in 7 years he had to record net losses. He participated in a total of 230 tournaments and cashed in 53 of those, meaning he’s in the money in roughly 23% of all tournaments.

Brandon Shack-Harris is certainly in the top percentile of all players at the WSOP in terms of quality of play. His data shows that even a player of such calibre has to put up with significant variance. Good years also contrast with several years of near six-figure losses.

In order to be successful over the long run in tournaments with large fields, you need a little luck and, above all, the will to invest a lot – in the case of Shack-Harris, over 1.2 million dollars.

Shack-Harris’ results at the WSOP since 2010

DateEventPlace Prize Money 
27-Jun-11WSOP  $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo12 $          13,984
29-May-12WSOP  $ 1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (Event #4)3 $          84,415
16-Jun-12WSOP  $ 10,000 H.O.R.S.E. (Event #32)10 $          35,923
19-Jun-12WSOP  $ 2,500 8 Game (Event #37)30 $            6,587
28-May-14WSOP  $ 1,000 Pot Limit Omaha (Event #3)1 $        205,634
06-Jun-14WSOP  $ 10,000 Seven Card Razz (Event #18)2 $        182,155
20-Jun-14WSOP  $ 1,500 Limit Hold’em (Event #43)3 $          78,335
22-Jun-14WSOP  $ 50,000 The Poker Players Championship (Event #46)2 $        937,975
30-Jun-14WSOP  $ 3,000 Omaha Hi/Lo (Event #59)34 $            7,236
02-Jul-14WSOP  $ 1,500 10-Game Mix (Event #63)21 $            4,775
02-Oct-14WSOP  A$ 1,100 No Limit Hold’em Accumulator53 $            2,044
06-Oct-14WSOP  A$ 1,650 No Limit Hold’em Terminator6 $            9,962
12-Oct-14WSOP  A$ 10,000 No Limit Hold’em WSOP APAC Main Event17 $          20,346
06-Jun-15WSOP  $ 10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship (Event #17)8 $          31,727
14-Jun-15WSOP  $ 3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (Event #31)26 $            9,408
01-Jul-15WSOP  $ 10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (Event #63)17 $          18,619
16-Jun-16WSOP  $ 1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (Event #26)5 $          54,680
21-Jun-16WSOP  $ 2,500 Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better (Event #36)29 $            5,147
26-Jun-16WSOP  $ 1,500 Mixed No Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha (Event #45)20 $            6,820
29-Jun-16WSOP  $ 10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship (Event #51)1 $        894,300
05-Jul-16WSOP  $ 1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better (Event #60)2 $          96,750
01-Jun-17WSOP  $ 1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo (Event #4)92 $            2,425
07-Jun-17WSOP  $ 1,500 H.O.R.S.E. (Event #14)9 $          14,339
13-Jun-17WSOP  $ 10,000 Razz Championship (Event #26)6 $          43,370
15-Jun-17WSOP  $ 10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (Event #30)16 $          16,951
28-Jun-17WSOP  $ 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha – 8 Handed Championship (Event #54)45 $          17,420
06-Jul-17WSOP  $ 1,500 Razz (Event #69)46 $            2,551
06-Jun-18WSOP  $ 1,500 H.O.R.S.E. (Event #15)88 $            2,319
08-Jun-18WSOP  $ 565 Pot Limit Omaha (Event #19)271 $                876
19-Jun-18WSOP  $ 2,500 Mixed Big Bet (Event #40)24 $            4,470
23-Jun-18WSOP  $ 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha – Championship (Event #49)3 $        433,259
29-Jun-18WSOP  $ 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo – Championship (Event #60)12 $          31,334
07-Jul-18WSOP  $ 1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Little One for One Drop (Event #68)457 $            2,025
12-Jul-18WSOP  $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em – The Closer (Event #75)122 $            4,021
01-Jun-19WSOP  $ 2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw (Event #6)25 $            5,055
04-Jun-19WSOP  $ 1,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super Turbo Bounty (Event #12)256 $            1,166
09-Jun-19WSOP  $ 600 Pot Limit Omaha – WSOP.com Online PLO 6-Handed (Event #24)23 $            3,809
10-Jun-19WSOP  $ 600 Pot Limit Omaha – Deep Stack (Event #25)87 $            1,856
12-Jul-19WSOP  $ 3,000 Pot Limit Omaha – 6-Handed (Event #85)12 $          26,277
14-Jul-19WSOP  $ 3,000 H.O.R.S.E. (Event #87)32 $            5,180
03-Jul-20WSOP  $ 400 No Limit Hold’em – (Event #3)278 $                677
20-Jul-20WSOP  $ 500 Pot Limit Omaha – 6-Handed (Event #20)64 $            1,228
10-Jul-21WSOP  $ 333 No Limit Hold’em ONLINE (WSOP Event #10)100 $                637
11-Jul-21WSOP  $ 400 No Limit Hold’em – Ultra Deepstack ONLINE (WSOP Event #11)159 $                612
06-Oct-21WSOP  $ 1,500 Seven Card Stud (Event #14)28 $            2,687
15-Oct-21WSOP  $ 1,500 No Limit 2-7 Lowball (Event #31)23 $            3,056
16-Oct-21WSOP  $ 3,000 H.O.R.S.E. (Event #32)13 $            9,563
19-Oct-21WSOP  $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Super Turbo Bounty (Event #37)124 $            1,876
20-Oct-21WSOP  $ 10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship (Event #40)5 $          82,033
23-Oct-21WSOP  $ 10,000 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack – 8 Handed Championship (Event #45)43 $          16,141
26-Oct-21WSOP  $ 600 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha – 8 Handed Deepstack (Event #50)165 $            1,051
30-Oct-21WSOP  $ 10,000 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Championship (Event #57)6 $          41,270
12-Nov-21WSOP  $ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha – 8 Handed (Event #72)86 $            3,018