The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15 marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports and/or television history at the time ($7,500,000) was awarded to the winner. ESPN’s broadcast began July 19 with coverage of WSOP Circuit Tournaments, and coverage of the Main Event began October 11 and ended November 15. All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino with the exception of the final two days of the Main Event which were held at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino. This marked the last time the final table was held at Binion’s Horseshoe. There were 5,619 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter what was the largest poker tournament ever played in a brick and mortar casino at the time. Many entrants won their seat in online poker tournaments.
Final table results
1 Joe Hachem (Melbourne, Australia) $7,500,000
2 Steven Dannenmann AKA “Stevo” (Severn, MD, USA) $4,250,000
3 John Derick Barch AKA “Tex” (McKinney, TX, USA) $2,500,000
4 Aaron Kanter AKA “The Giant Killer” (Elk Grove, CA, USA) $2,000,000
5 Andy Black (Dublin, Ireland) $1,750,000
6 Scott “Magic” Lazar (Studio City, CA, USA) $1,500,000
7 Daniel Bergsdorf (Umea, Sweden) $1,300,000
8 Brad Kondracki (Kingston, PA, USA) $1,150,000
9 Mike Matusow AKA “The Mouth” (Las Vegas, NV, USA) $1,000,000
