The biggest buy-in ever was a $400000 no limit Hold'Em on February 2005. 8 players competed and the winner was Gus Hansen.
# 1001
Well, I believe that poker absolutely needs a solid ranking system to rank the players in the world and the IAR appears to be on the right track towards accomplishing that goal. (Daniel Negreanu, one of the best All-Around poker player in the World)