All Time Money List Inflation Adjusted - Phil Hellmuth Number 1

When the All Time Money List is adjusted for inflation, Phil Hellmuth passes Phil Ivey and takes first place. The biggest improver is Doyle Brunson.

The buy-in to the WSOP Main Event has been fixed at $10K for forty years. We've discussed before that this is a bit weird, that the Main Event has been degraded by inflation.

The inflation adjusted buy-in would be around $60K, and that consequently the $50K HORSE is much more representative of the original Main Event.

Inflation adjusted all time money list

If we adjust the total tournament winnings for the inflation that has occurred since the money was won (as TheHendonMob.com recently did for our enjoyment), obviously some things will change in the All Time Money List.

It's to be expected that the older the player is, or the older his or her career, the more he or she will "profit" from this adjustment.

Old-timers go up in value

Accordingly we see when we compare the money lists (below) that Doyle Brunson takes a huge climb in the ranking, from 35 to 15. His wins from 40 years back obviously go up a lot in value when the inflation is taken into account.

The next biggest jumps (among the top players) are Johnny Chan and TJ Cloutier who climb eight and six places when their old winnings are adjusted for inflation.

With the same logic, recent winners go down in ranking. However, just a little bit. The vastly increased numbers of entrants remains in effect, and Jamie Gold's single win when he defeated a record field in WSOP 2006 still has him anchored in the top of the list.

Phil Hellmuth beats Phil Ivey for first place

Maybe the most noticeable change is that Phil Hellmuth passes Phil Ivey and takes first place. So I guess Hellmuth really is the best player in the world then.

Cheer up Phil, you're actually number one!

Ranking before and after adjustment

Here - are the Top 20 lists with and without adjustment for inflation.