Tue, 01/18/2011 – 04:48 – PokerPages Staff

#5 – Steve Paul Ambrose (Canada)
A graduate in Business and Science from Waterloo University, Ontario, strides straight into our fifth place, with his record-breaking win in 2006 of $1,388,600 – the first time the PCA had generated a top prize exceeding $1 million. The tournament was really gathering momentum by this year, with players from Sweden, England, France, Israel and Australia converging on the exotic Atlantis Resort and Casino venue.

#4 – Ryan Daut (USA)
Bounding into fourth place is a 26-year-old from New Jersey. Ryan Daut claimed victory in the PCA’s 4th season in 2007, wining a life-changing $1,535,255. 724 players had made the journey to the Bahamas for the event the previous year. In 2007, this figure had swelled to 934.

#3 – Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier (France)
A former Starcraft aficionado from Paris seizes the number three slot. Team PokerStars Sponsored Pro Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier beat back 1,136 other players in Season 5 (2008) after five days of action to return home with the top prize of $2 million.  This was the year that the PCA became integrated into the vastly successful European Poker Tour.

#2 – Harrison Gimbel (USA)
The biggest prize in the mammoth 2010 Season 7 PCA went to a young resident of Florida, Harrison Gimbel, who snatches the runner up position with his superb win of $2.2 million. 2010 saw the tournament expand to 10 days, 50 events and 1,529 players.

#1 – Poorya Nazari (Canada)
The biggest PCA cash winner of them all remains Season 6′s champion, Ontario’s Poorya Nazari. In 2009, Poorya beat back a field of 1,347 runners to take down the first prize of $3 million.  To date, this remains the biggest cash prize in the history of the event.