The history of poker is filled with huge losses and impressive wins but none are as extraordinary as the Big One for One Drop. In 2012, during the World Series of Poker tournament, there was one poker game that had a $1 million buy-in and a winning pot of nearly $19,000,000. The purpose of the game was to make money for a charity – One Drop – which raised funds to supply drinking water to needy countries. From every buy-in, $111,111 went to this charity. One Drop, a non-profit organisation, received a staggering $6 million in donations from the event.

There were 48 players who competed in this high stakes game and they were a combination of poker stars and prosperous businessmen. They played No LimitHold’emand all the action was televised. The record-breaking final table was eventually won by Antonio Esfandiari. Known as The Magician, he pulled the rabbit out of the hat and walked away with poker’s first platinum bracelet, worth $350,000, and $18,346,673 – the single biggest prize in sports history.While he took the main prize, the top nine finishers walked away with a total of over $42,000,000.