I will rate them.

1. Johnny Chan - 1987/1988, 1st/1st
Yes I know the fields were not large back then and the quality of play wasn't as deep but still to win a the championship in 2 straight years is still very hard to do. To best a field of 150+ consecutively is still a feet that very few if any could do.

2.Dan Harrington - 2003/2004, 3rd/4th
Fields of 800+ and then 2000+. Right at the inception of the poker boom an old veteran mastered two straight gigantic fields to come very close to the bracelet each time. Incredible

3. Mark Newhouse - 2013/2014, 9th/9th
These days making the November Nine is seen as a once in a lifetime opportunity. Besting fields of 6000+ with all of the best players in the world, requires luck, skill and great timing multiple times. Doing it twice?? Insane. Even though his 9th place finish in 2014 was a disappointment considering his entering stack, it was still remarkable to make back to back November Nines.

4. Greg Raymer - 2004/2005, 1st/25th
Most recent Main Event Champions fade away a bit after they take home the big prize. But Raymer followed up his championship with another deep deep run in a field that was nearly twice as big as the year before. He had a serious chance to return to the final table in 2005 as well if not for some rotten luck in a few spots.

5. Peter Eastgate - 2008/2009, 1st/88th
Like Raymer, Eastgate followed up his title with an impressive deep run the very next year.

6. Steve Gee - 2012/2013, 9th/24th


any that I am missing?

1. Chan
2.Newhouse
3.Harrington
4a. Eastgate
4b.Raymer

Not that he belongs in the top 6 but didn't Dennis Phillips have a pretty nice back-to-back?

yes he did. 3rd in 2008 to 45th in 2009

back then johnny chan was the best

well timed bets and super aggressive

Crazy... just crazy.

Marcel Luske
2003/2004 = 14th/10th, same years as Harrington, a bit overshadowed.

Doyle Brunson 1976-77 back to back wins

Don't forget Chan not only went 1st 1st but also 2nd the following year.

Definitely best Main Event performance of all time.

that's back when it was one table. Not so impressive

If Chan is #1 Ungar is maybe top 5 for back to back wins.

Didnt Hachem have a deep run the year after he won it?

Not super deep. 238th.

I think it's a toss up between Greg/Mark cuz field sizes, obv. Leaning Greg though.

Newhouse and it's not close.

^ This

+1

Ungar

I've added the amount of entries to your post. And to me it's clear that Newhouse is the winner of this.

Chan's wins are impressive but odds are he played pretty much the exact same people + a handful of newcomers. Whilst it's incredibly impressive it's no more impressive than Fedor etc absolutely crushing SHR's.

I think it's Newhouse, Raymer, Chan, Eastgate, Harrington, Gee.

Raymer just edges out Chan due to the massive minefield that the main event became after his win

Here's the math for each:

1. Johnny Chan: 152 x 167 x 178/2 = 2.26 x 10^6

2. Dan Harrington: 839/3 x 2576/4 = 1.80 x 10^5

3. Mark Newhouse: 6352/9 x 6683/9 = 5.24 x 10^5

4. Greg Raymer: 2,576 x 5,619/25 = 5.79 x 10^5

5. Peter Eastgate: 6,844 x 6,494/88 = 5.05 x 10^5

6. Steve Gee: 6,598/9 x 6,352/24 = 1.94 x 10^5

Johnny "****in" Chan wins. Plus, 1st-1st-2nd is so much cooler than what anybody else has done in consecutive years.

Cheers, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

^Well this guy obviously doesn't know what he's talking about. Kappa.

Nothing pre-Moneymaker is even in the ballpark. The field sizes and evolution of the game make the recent performances far more impressive.

Stu Ungar was sick, he was so ahead of the field

What do you guys think are the odds of Scott Blumstein of repeating the title or even getting to the final table again?

Probably not. It'll probably be one of the anonymous final tablers that makes another relatively deep run . Like Salas or something.


Obviously Ruane made the back to back 4th and 10th run before I made this poll but that one goes high up on the list for sure.