Live poker in 2025 has been nothing short of explosive, and the second boom shows no sign of slowing.
It felt like it would be tough to follow December 2024, when the WSOP stuck a $50 million guarantee on its Super Main Event at Paradise in The Bahamas. Chris Moneymaker and Liv Boeree provided the star power, and Boeree walked away with $2.8 million, the largest cash prize won by a woman in poker history.
But 2025 took the baton and ran with it. In February, Triton Poker smashed records in Jeju, starting with the biggest live event in its history. Then its $100K Main Event became the biggest six-figure buy-in ever. Huang Wenjie beat out Triton regulars to scoop the $5,555,000 first prize.
The Asian Poker Tour went to Taipei in May and shattered records across the 10-day festival, including its biggest Main Event by far, with 2,547 entries. Akira Takasugi of Japan emerged as the champion and the biggest winner, claiming the first-place prize of 19,009,440 TWD ($586,710).
2025 WSOP was one of the biggest and best ever
The 2025 WSOP was one of the best ever. Don’t take our word for it — Daniel Negreanu said afterward it was, “Maybe the greatest WSOP in the 50+ year history.”
The Main Event didn’t break a record but still came in as the third-biggest ever, and in Michael Mizrachi, it had one of the biggest, best and most popular winners in a very long time. Overall, though, the 2025 WSOP smashed records again, including:
- Total entries: 246,960 — up 17,461 from 2024 (229,499)
- Total buy-ins collected: $529 million — up $48 million from 2024 ($481 million)
- Total prize pools: $482 million — up $44 million from 2024 ($438 million)
- Total rake & fees: $47 million — up $4 million from 2024 ($43 million)
And we haven’t even mentioned the WSOP Circuit, the WPT and all the other tours that gave players across the world the chance to battle for huge sums of money.
With record-breaking prize pools everywhere, it’s no surprise that 2025’s money list looks stacked. Familiar names have crushed as expected, but this year’s results also feature a few shocking breakout performances that nobody saw coming. Here are the ten biggest winners of the year so far...
Top-10 money winners in 2025
1st: Seth Davies (US) — $12,291,647
- Career winnings: $44,639,494
Seth Davies has enjoyed a standout year, beating Main Event winner Michael Mizrachi into second place. Amazingly, he didn’t really kick into gear until May when he placed third in the €100K Super High Roller at EPT Monte Carlo for $1,054,746. A couple of weeks later he won a $50K Triton in Montenegro for $1,490,741 and came second in the biggest $200K Invitational in Triton’s history for $4,190,000.
He wasn’t done there, notching another second place in Montenegro before heading to the WSOP where he got his career-best score of $4,752,551 in the $250K Super High Roller. Talking to PokerOrg immediately afterward, he said, “I’m absolutely blown away and so fortunate I can’t even begin to describe it.” Incredibly, that was also his first-ever WSOP bracelet.
2nd: Michael Mizrachi (US) — $11,377,233
- Career winnings: $29,013,562
Davies pipped Mizrachi to second place but he might well swap his trophies for Mizrachi’s. The Grinder won the two most prestigious bracelets at this summer’s WSOP — the $50K Poker Players Championship and the Main Event. Before the WSOP, Mizrachi had just one cash — $5K for winning the $300 buy-in All-In for Saint Jude Charity tournament in January. Mizrachi talked to us after he won the Main Event and $10 million (see video above).
3rd: Benjamin Tollerene (US) — $10,660,151
- Career winnings: $31,066,702
Ask the pros who the best player in the world is, and many will say Benjamin Tollerene, but he consistently flies under the radar. We’d say he’s the end boss of ‘getting it quietly,’ but get it he does, and 2025 has been no different so far. Tollerene boasts 23 cashes already this year, and he plays the highest of stakes. By April, he’d already notched six six-figure scores, the best being $686,000 for finishing sixth in a $125K at Triton Jeju.
It was Triton Montenegro when he went into overdrive, finishing second in the $150K for $3,437,344 and then, two days later, winning the PLO Main Event for $2,390,000 — not bad for a week’s work. Tollerene completed his 2025 work so far at the WSOP where he placed third in the $50K High Roller for $914,634 and eighth in the $250K Super High Roller for $581,411.
4th: Joao Vieira (Portugal) — $9,119,339
- Career winnings: $21,358,886
Vieira is the player who’s moved up the all-time money list the furthest in 2025, with winnings that make up almost 50% of his entire career earnings. He ended 2024 with a bang as well, finishing second in the $100K Triton at WSOP Paradise for $2,590,000. He didn’t skip a beat in 2025, winning the $150K at Triton Jeju for $4,610,000 — his biggest ever score — before winning the $100K WSOP High Roller this summer for his fourth bracelet and $2,649,158. Talking to PokerOrg after his WSOP triumph, he said, “I just try and keep myself in the present and treat every day as the most important."
5th: Alex Foxen (US) — $8,619,989
- Career winnings: $51,420,715
High rollers don’t tend to put in the same volume as other poker players but Foxen is cut from a different cloth. He’s cashed 36 times in 2025 already, and 14 of these came at the 2025 WSOP. His biggest win came at the WSOP when he finished second to Seth Davies in the $250K Super High Roller for $3,060,314.
Two rec players make the list
Two names stand out in the rest of the top 10 — you’d expect to see high-stakes crushers Artur Martirosyan, Jesse Lonis and Jason Koon. You might not have heard of Aleksa Pavicevic, though. The 29-year-old hospitality and real estate professional only has six cashes in his life and none more than $20K before he won the largest ever Triton Invitational — and in his home country to boot. He pipped Seth Davies to the title and banked an incredible $6,180,000 to finish ninth on our list.
Talking afterward, he said, “It’s been a surreal experience. I decided a week ago I was going to play this thing. I didn’t expect much, just to come and have a good time. I honestly expected to bust within the first four levels. It was an incredible experience."
He’s followed in 10th by John Wasnock, who finished second to Mizrachi in the Main Event. Mizrachi tore through the four-handed final table, eliminating two players in the first two hands of play, laddering Wasnock up $3 million. He quipped to PokerOrg afterward, “I came over to my rail and I was like, ‘You ever make three million dollars in two minutes?’ It's pretty surreal.”
- 6th: Artur Martirosyan (Russia) — $8,008,864 ($26,471,291 career earnings)
- 7th: Jesse Lonis (US) — $7,654,915 ($21,640,883 career earnings)
- 8th: Jason Koon (US) — $6,906,404 ($66,082,381 career earnings)
- 9th: Aleksa Pavicevic (Montenegro) — $6,180,000 ($6,227,105 career earnings)
- 10th: John Wasnock (US) — $6,082,340 ($6,143,463 career earnings)
With almost half of 2025 still to play, the question isn’t whether this top 10 will change — it’s by how much. With WSOP Paradise, the WPT World Championship and a Triton stop in Jeju to come, the top 10 for 2025 could look very different come Christmas.
With thanks to The Hendon Mob for tournament results and money list data.
