With every all-in announced and a roughly $15,000 prize at stake, it's been called the most exciting day in the WSOP Main Event, especially for fans on the rail. For the players, surviving the money bubble is the difference between losing $10,000 and making $5,000 with the possibility of much, much more.
The percentage of players who made the money bubble fluctuated greatly for many years, from a low of 2.94% in 1977, the last winner-take-all year, to a high of 25.53% in 1986 when payouts jumped from 9 to 36 players, dropping back down to 7.13% in 2002 before settling in around 10% in 2005. In 2015, the WSOP's most recent change widened payouts across-the-board to 15% of the field. All totaled through 2018, 11.41% of 105,542 Main Event entrants made the money, meaning that an average player would cash only once every nine years, or just under six times even if you played every Main Event ever.
The best pros can expect to do better than this, and Berry Johnston was the first to ten Main Event cashes in 2007. Allen Cunningham and Johnny Chan finally tied the record in 2019, a dozen years later. Chan then got his record eleventh in 2023, and Cunningham tied him in 2024.
| Rank | Player | Cashes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnny Chan | 11 |
| 1 | Allen Cunningham | 11 |
| 3 | Berry Johnston | 10 |
| 4 | Chris Bjorin | 9 |
| 4 | Doyle Brunson | 9 |
| 4 | Humberto Brenes | 9 |
| 4 | John Esposito | 9 |
| 8 | Bobby Baldwin | 8 |
| 8 | Jason Lester | 8 |
| 8 | Phil Hellmuth | 8 |
| 8 | Aditya Agarwal | 8 |
| 8 | J.C. Tran | 8 |
| 8 | Roland Israelashvili | 8 |
| 8 | Vitaly Lunkin | 8 |
Kathy Liebert leads all women with six Main Event cashes, one ahead of Maria Ho and two ahead of Annie Duke, Jackqueline Glazier, Liv Boeree, Meikat Siu, and Melanie Weisner.
| Rank | Player | Cashes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kathy Liebert | 6 |
| 2 | Maria Ho | 5 |
| 3 | Annie Duke | 4 |
| 3 | Jackie Glazier | 4 |
| 3 | Liv Boeree | 4 |
| 3 | May Siu | 4 |
| 3 | Melanie Weisner | 4 |
| 8 | Barbara Enright | 3 |
| 8 | Gaelle Baumann | 3 |
| 8 | J.J. Liu | 3 |
| 8 | Jamie Kerstetter | 3 |
| 8 | Kelly Minkin | 3 |
| 8 | Kristy Gazes | 3 |
| 8 | Lisa Wang | 3 |
| 8 | Louise Francoeur | 3 |
| 8 | Sara Hall | 3 |
| 8 | Sarah Herzali | 3 |
| 8 | Susie Zhao | 3 |
| 8 | Thi Xoa Nguyen | 3 |
| 8 | Xi Yang | 3 |
In addition to Saout, Cada, and Salas, three others have done it twice: Carlos Mortensen, Mark Newhouse, and Michael Ruane.
In addition to Harrington and Lamb, ten other players have three six-figure Main Event cashes: Benjamin Pollak, Berry Johnston, Brian Yoon, Huck Seed, Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Stu Ungar, T.J. Cloutier, Salas, and Saout.
Kelly Minkin is the only woman with multiple $100,000 cashes (29th for $211,821 in 2015 and 50th for $156,265 in 2018). Gaelle Baumann has three cashes over $40,000.