Here's a list of some of the players with big chip stacks in the main event who eventually blew up.

John Shipley-2002
Andy Black-2005
Phil Ivey-2005
Dimitri Nobles-2006
Scotty Nguyen-2007
Philip Hilm-2007
Billy Kopp-2009

John Shipley was the chip leader going into the final table in 2002 and busted in sixth.

Ivey was second in chips in 2005 with 27 left and busted in 20th.

With 5 players left, Andy Black had about 30% of the chips but finished in 5th.

Dimitri Nobles was running over the main event field and has a huge chip lead but finished in like 80th.

Philip Hilm was the chip leader at 2007 final table but was the first one shown the exit.

Scotty Nguyen was in good position to make the final table but spewed his chips to Hilm and finished 11th.

We all know what a moronic play Billy Kopp made last night.

Where is "I call, I'll give you a gamble!!"?

If we are going to have a serious thread on this, John Bonetti's blow-up with 3 left in 1993(?) deserves mention.

John Shipley was the chip leader going into the final table in 2002 and busted in sixth.

Ivey was second in chips in 2005 with 27 left and busted in 20th.

With 5 players left, Andy Black had about 30% of the chips but finished in 5th.

Dimitri Nobles was running over the main event field and has a huge chip lead but finished in like 80th.

Philip Hilm was the chip leader at 2007 final table but was the first one shown the exit.

Scotty Nguyen was in good position to make the final table but spewed his chips to Hilm and finished 11th.

We all know what a moronic play Billy Kopp made last night.

scotty nguyen obvs no.1 imo

Wouldn't call Ivey, Hilm and Scotty blowups, they just made some aggressive moves and walked into strong hands (or in Ivey's case a crazy Andy Black).

Also if memory serves me correctly Black got pretty unlucky a couple of times before his bustout.
I remember the one hand where he had an ace and an unknown second card and Kanter had the nut boat though.

Wow! Great recall! I forgot about that guy.

If my memory is correct, Bonetti had like 80% of the chips in play at one point and then just imploded.

Where's Amir Vahedi (2003)?

Richard Lee in 2006?

In this hand Gold called from the cutoff and Richard raised $1,200,000 from the small blind. Jamie raised $4,000,000 and Richard went all in. Jamie called with pocket Q's and Richard showed pocket J's. All five cards proved to be no help in improving the hands of either player and Richard goes home a millionaire. With Richard having around $15,000,000 in chips, this win for Jamie has increased the size of his pile to a level that has never been seen at a final table in the history of the WSOP. Players are now officially on dinner break for 90 min.

[ ] blow up

No doubt, that was a ridiculous blowup. Any chance of catching Gold went out the window on that play.

Jamie snapcalled with Queens there, it also was six handed at that time.
Hardly a blowup.

Scott Lazar in 2005 was more of a blowup.
He didn't have a ton of chips, but made two awful allin calls.
In general the awful calldowns/all in calls are more blowup-like than agressive moves.

John Bonetti's blowup in 1993 needs more love.

yeah andy black's blow up was so embarrassing. Putting all in his money in on the flop with best hand and getting five outered was so dumb. Supposed to wait for river before committing more than the big blind when there are no outs left.

raymer's blow up against kanter's backdoor flush draw that year was pretty shameful also

I think his name was bryan watkins. He was a retired cop playing in the 2003 main event. There were twenty people left and he went from chip leader to busto in two consecutive hands.

I don't remember the stacks but I remember him playing like a total uber donk after his AA got cracked.

Also Matt Dean in 2004, completely melting down in the space of two hands. Norman Chad's commentary over his bustout hand (where he pushed into David Williams drawing completely dead) is hilarious:

Chad: "Well, there's no way he's going to continue with this hand..."

Dean: "All-in."

Chad: "Oh. My."

He didn't get aces cracked (at least not at the FT), he folded an ace-rag preflop that would have made quads. Although only an uber donk would have let that put him on tilt.

Did Joe Bishop have a blowup last year? I don't recall..perhaps he had bad luck, but he was 2nd in chips with 18 remaining and the only player in the top 9 at that point that didn't make the final table. Scott Montgomery tried to blow up. Aaron Kanter tried to blow up everytime he put money into the middle in 2005 but he ran really well.

In 2005, the biggest blowup was not Black but rather Scott Lazar. He wasn't a huge chip stack, but shortly after not playing his ace when he would have hit quad aces, he calls Hachem's all in with K9, doubling him up and then when Black pushed with pocket jacks, Lazar insta-called with QToff and was eliminated from the main event.

Dario Minieri (sp?) had a ton of chips that one year as well and donked them off

Scott Lazar needs to be much higher on the list, especially since it was more of a blowup. Hilm played terribly, but it was more...I dunno...poorly timed aggrodonk?

Kanter ran like God he was hitting the river every single hand. Black and Lazar both made some poor plays but Lazars were worse.

Oh yeah, you're right about him winning the AA hand.

Lazar moved all-in preflop with aces against Matusow's kings. A king hit the flop, but Lazar won with runner runner flush.

Correct. He was the chip leader going into like day 3 of the 2007 main event. His hyper aggressive donkey style caught up to him.