Who Won Biggest at the 2025 WSOP Paradise Festival?

The 2025 World Series of Poker Paradise festival has broken new records, setting higher expectations than ever before in poker and introduced us to GGMillion$, Super Main Event and Mystery Bounty champions. But who won biggest at Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas? We’ve trawled the trophy hauls of some of the biggest poker players in the world and broken down the biggest winners on Paradise Island.

Early Events Fill Up

In the early events at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, well-known players celebrated victories along with established names. Event #1 was the $2,500-entry WSOP Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty event and it was won by Mark Darner, who took home $350,000 for his troubles after beating Yayun Lou heads-up.

In Event #2, players battled in Pot Limit Omaha for the first time on the trip, with the Austrian Pokercode co-creator Matthias Eibinger taking home the $1.57 million top prize. Heads-up, he defeated the Canadian superstar Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson, in an event with 93 entries including legends of the felt such as fifth-placed Stephen Chidwick and ninth-placed Isaac Haxton.

The $100,000 PLO Triton Main Event was Event #3, and it was won by the American player Sam Soverel for $2.59 million after he defeated the Hungarian player András Németh in the final duel. Two European legends took each other on in Event #4, as Daniel Rezaei got the better of Mustapha Kanit at the death to claim the $1.9 million top prize.

Mokri Makes Mockery of Amateur Status

“It levels the playing field a little bit, which also makes it more fun.”

In the $250,000-entry Triton Invitational event, Event #5 on the schedule saw the Norwegian player Kayhan Mokri make a mockery of the rank of amateur as he won the $7.72 million top prize in The Bahamas. The event was a special one, with 20 amateur players inviting 20 professionals to share the felt with. Cary Katz, Albert Daher and the eventual winner Mokri featured as amateurs, while Jonathan Jaffe (4^th for  $2.86m), Sergio Aido (7^th for $1.32m) and Mikita Badziakouski, who came 10^th for $648,000.

After victory, Mokri as ecstatic, telling reporters that he “loved” the format.

“I think both sides enjoy it a lot,” he said. “The Invitees have a format where they get to talk and play among themselves, and then face stiff competition afterwards! It levels the playing field a little bit, which also makes it more fun for them. I think they enjoy both parts.”

Having overtaken his countryman and former WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jørstad at the top of the Norwegian All-Time Money List, Mokri had a ‘pinch me’ moment about his victory.

“If I went back ten years and told myself I would be doing this right now, I would not believe myself,” he said. “I am very fortunate to be able to compete in these tournaments, and just to be invited is a big honor in itself. I’m thrilled. I’m over the moon. You get immune to the happiness and adrenaline that comes with winning, but this one was really special.”

Other Big Winners in Paradise

Across the WSOP Paradise festival in total, over $200 million was awarded to players in the money across the 15 bracelet events. Among the next raft of winners, Rokas Asipauskas won the Super Colossus for $504,950, Tom Vogelsang captured gold in the Super Plossus for $609,800 and David Coleman broke his duck, winning his first bracelet for $3.11 million.

Aleks Ponakovs won another bracelet in the $100,000 Triton Main Event for $4.75m, Joao Simao took down Event #10, winning $3.06m in the two-day event, and Koray Aldemir took down the $10,000 8-Game Mix for $287,800, beating the luckless Felipe Ramos heads-up, The Brazilian having finished as runner-up in WSOP bracelet events for the fourth time without sealing victory.

One player who did end his long wait for a bracelet was Johan ‘YoH ViraL’ Guilbert. The Frenchman, a star of the first series of Game of Gold, won $1.53 million when he took down the GGMillion$ Live Turbo Event after a stunning heads-up comeback. His win was worth a touch more than the $1.45m claimed by Charles Hook in the $50,000-entry High Roller PLO Event #13, while Imari Love rounded out the series with a $145,725 ‘skin saver’ in Event #15, the $2,500-entry Closer.

But the biggest winner was the man who captured the Super Main Event title.

Bernhard Binder Wins Epic Super Main Event

“WSOP Paradise is already the second biggest festival on the planet, and we’re just getting started.”

The 27-year-old Austrian Bernhard Binder won $10m – the same top prize as many WSOP Main Events over the years – when he took down the $25,000 Super Main Event. With a lofty $60m guarantee, many believed that the WSOP would fall short of that total and end up paying a chunky overlay. In fact, the opposite happened, with a massive $72.7 million eventually gathered as the eight-biggest prize pool of all-time in poker.

Many players bought in half a dozen times, with legends of the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Faraz Jaka and Stephen Chidwick among them. In the end, however, the young Austrian player Bernhard Binder took the top prize as he beat French player Jean-Noel Thorel heads-up with a comeback victory for the ages.

With a record-breaking 8,015 total entries across the series, WSOP Paradise shattered any ceiling that was in place for a 15-event poker tournament and will only make next year’s events bigger and better than ever.

“The goal of WSOP Paradise is to create a winter festival that ultimately rivals our summer series in Las Vegas,” said Ty Stewart, Chief Executive Officer of WSOP. “Seeing a singular tournament eclipse $70 million with a second $10 million prize and non-stop action across all tournaments shows we’re well on our way to that ambitious goal becoming reality. WSOP Paradise is already the second biggest festival on the planet, and we’re just getting started. Thank you to everyone in the poker community who has decided to make this their new end of year tradition.”

In 2026, WSOP players will start earlier than ever, with the WSOP Europe festival that took place in Autumn moving to the Spring and Prague from Rozvadov, a shift that will please players of all levels. The iconic Las Vegas Strip will welcome players back to Sin City for the 57^th annual WSOP festival in the summer where even more legends will win gold.

Poker in paradise? The WSOP have completed it.