WSOP 2013 netted the latest crown World Champion, Ryan Reiss a sweet $8.3 Million Big ones and a cool $5.2 Million for 2nd to Jay Faber!

But how much do they really get to keep of this money and who really comes out on top.

Biggest Winner In This Year’s WSOP Main Event is none other than The Taxman

Here are some light shed on some numbers of the WSOP November 9 take home pay. The taxman, or good ol’ Uncle Sam, will get their ~40%+ cut no matter where you are:

• Ryan Reiss of Michigan will most like have to pay 42% Tax rate: Est.~$3.5 Million in Federal Taxes on his $8.3 Million win leaving just under $5million.
• Jay Farber of Nevada ~ 39% Tax rate: Est.~$2 Million in Taxes on his $5.1 Million win leaving ~$3.1Million.
• Amir Lehavot ~ 40% Tax rate: Est.~$1.5 Million in Taxes on his $3.7 Million win leaving ~$2.2Million.
• JC Tran ~48% Tax rate: Est. ~1 Million out of his $2 Million win. (California & Federal Tax) Leaving ~$1.1Million.
• Marc – Eitienee McLaughlin from Canada ~50% Tax rate: Est. ~$800k out of his $1.6 Million win leaving ~ $800k.
• David Benefield of New York ~ 46% Tax rate: Est. ~$437k out of his $940K win leaving just over $500k.

Here’s a table summarizing the tax bite from Taxable Table Talk:

That’s a total tax bite of 37.18%.

As an amateur poker player you also do not have to pay as much and overseas also has different tax laws.

So what about the backers? Do backers have to pay tax? Depending on the deal structure, taxes are usually paid out first and win is split afterwards. Buy-in is generally not taken out first before splitting the wins from what I have experience. Really depends on the individual deal made.

For the American IRS, the WSOP final table was a huge win no matter who took home the gold bracelet. In total, the final table participants won $25,932,167. Of that huge sum, the IRS took $8,626,311, with $9,642,011 (37%) going to the taxman in all of the players’ countries combined.

This surely has all players that understand the grind of the Main Events thinking… is it worthwhile to play for the Main Event title? Is it about the money or the simply the coveted title?