The world’s largest online poker site, PokerStars, successfully set a new world record for the largest online poker tournament ever played, almost larger than any game you’ll find at a casino. The even took place on December 28, 2008, with 35,000 entrants starting out in the field. This Hold ‘em tournament broke the previous record, also set by PokerStars, in July 2007 with about 20,000 players.

The buy-in was relatively low — $10 + $1 US, with PokerStars guaranteeing a prize pool of $500,000 by making a contribution of $150,000. About 25 percent of the players - 8,750 - actually made it to the money. This is almost as many players that participated in the largest ever live poker tournament, the 2006 WSOP, which had 8,773 entries.

The December 2008 tournament sold out in advance, and the playing lasted for nearly 10 hours.

The Final Table results: 1st - stan34powa ($30,000) 2nd - meiky777 ($20,000) 3rd - rumred14 ($15,000) 4th - Goldman007 ($10,000) 5th - Nekochan48 ($7,500) 6th - gustave44 ($5,000) 7th - n0ideahh ($3,500) 8th - alepolice ($2,500) 9th - ONE_TIMEE ($2,000) 10th - FuFish ($1,500) Not only did the event draw the most online players ever, it also broke records for its audience - with nearly 250,000 spectators watching the action. Congratulations to the winners of the world’s largest ever online poker tournament!