An elite group of poker royalty gathered on Tuesday for a special event during the 2025 WSOP Paradise festival. All WSOP Main Event champions were invited to a special freeroll with four $26K seats to this year’s Super Main Event awarded.
Two tables were filled with 16 players who have accomplished every poker player's lifelong dream. It was a reunion, a celebration, and a chance for this unique group to reconnect, swap stories, and battle it out on the felt.
- 1989: Phil Hellmuth
- 1996: Huck Seed
- 1998: Scotty Nguyen
- 2003: Chris Moneymaker
- 2004: Greg Raymer
- 2006: Jamie Gold
- 2009: Joe Cada
- 2012: Greg Merson
- 2013: Ryan Riess
- 2014: Martin Jacobson
- 2017: Scott Blumstein
- 2019: Hossein Ensan
- 2021: Koray Aldemir
- 2022: Espen Jorstad
- 2023: Daniel Weinman
- 2025: Michael Mizrachi
Lon McEachern kicks things off
Veteran poker commentator Lon McEachern was invited to open the event with introductions and Main Event trivia. One by one, from Phil Hellmuth to reigning champion Michael Mizrachi, he gave each champion a moment in the spotlight.
“I'm really having some long-ago emotions bubble up seeing these guys,” said McEachern. “They're part of the whole poker boom. For them to all be together, and for me to play the small part I did, I'm excited to be here and watch it.”
McEachern was proud to have been in the commentary booth for the majority of the players’ famous Main Event wins in years past.
“All but three,” he reminisced. “Not Huck Seed, not Scotty (Nguyen), and I didn't call Phil's (Hellmuth). I was pleased to see this many guys show up. We had five decades of winners represented, from the 1980s to the 2020s.”
Four winners emerge
With 15-minute blinds, the field of 16 would play a satellite-style tournament with the top four players all winning a $26K seat.
After a couple hours of play, the four winners were Ryan Riess, Scott Blumstein, Scotty Nguyen, and Greg Raymer, while Hossein Ensan was the unfortunate bubble boy.
However, the WSOP asked the four winners to play it out to see who would be crowned champion of champions, which the players were happy to oblige.
Riess fell first after losing with 
to 
.
Blumstein gave high praise to the other two remaining champions. He open-raised all but one chip and then folded after getting jammed on by Nguyen.
“I wouldn't be here without these two guys,” said Blumstein. “I want to let these two legends of the game battle it out against each other.”
He promptly lost his final chip in the following hand, and his kind gesture left Nguyen versus Raymer for bragging rights.
A lifelong heads-up battle
With less than 25 big blinds in play total and no prize money to play for, one would think it would be a quick heads-up affair. However, it was anything but that.
Nguyen and Raymer traded blows for nearly an hour, taking it as seriously as if there was big money in play. It was clear that both wanted to win, despite the lack of real stakes.
“I can't play badly on purpose,” said Raymer. “I may make mistakes, but I'll always try my best no matter what.”
Eventually, Raymer closed it out, and the 2004 Main Event champion stood above all others.
“It was a lot of fun,” Raymer started. “The last time I played against this many Main Event champions it was 2009. They put on a freeroll that was much smaller than this. There was one winner, and Tom McEvoy won a classic car that he sold for less than the price of one of these seats.”
Raymer appreciated sharing the tables with others who shared his accomplishment. Despite the shared title, Raymer hadn't met all of the other players until today.
“It's funny, there are several I met for the first time today,” he said. “The WSOP is so big now, and it's spread across all those different rooms. It used to be Jamie Gold won the Main Event, and then I'd say hi and congratulate him the next year. Some of these guys, you just never run into them in the crowd.”
Raymer and his three fellow winners have all won a seat into the $60 million guaranteed Super Main Event that starts on Wednesday at 12pm ET.
“I'll play on Wednesday,” Raymer shared. “Hopefully I'll bag huge and take a day off before Day 2.”
Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer might have ended up with all the chips, but everyone who had the chance to watch this special event was a winner.
