OK - makes sense - these guys were obviously not staking millions - it seems sort of spurious making it look like so much is at stake.
Sort of trying to make it something it really isn't.
Why does everything have to get dumbed down for TV?
High Stakes Poker had million dollar hands but can't help thing it was staged. That said, there were whales like Guy Labierte (not sure on spelling of surname but he is the Cirque du Soleil billionaire) who would play ridiculously high stakes games live and on Full Tilt, his main advantage being the money meant less to him. Some Texas billionaire also got into a battle with top pros initially taking millions from them before they pooled together (The Organization) to get money off him, mainly using Phil Ivey, to skin him for millions. There is a book about it, has banker and suicide in title I think.
@ Twaddle, winnings have been as high as 12 million dollars for winner, 2nd gets around 60% of that. A guy I went to school with finished 6th in 2012 and got $1.8m, winner got $8.5 million.