The battle for poker supremacy between the World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker reached a high pitch in 2025, spilling out onto the floor of the summer series and onto the streets of social media throughout the rest of the year. And, like last year, the WPT Championship is squaring off against WSOP Paradise for the season's final assessment in December.
After months of proxy fights in what has become poker's Cold War, WPT has set up at Wynn for a schedule of 78 events. The giant Main Event guarantee and the $5M freeroll are gone, but several seven-figure guarantees and this weekend's ClubWPT Gold Mystery Quest are featured on the very full schedule. Meanwhile, WSOP Paradise is turning heads with huge fields for its $60M Super Main Event.
Prime tops last year
What sometimes seems like a winner-take-all battle for the future of large poker tournaments is probably anything but, as poker players are buzzing throughout both Las Vegas and The Bahamas with big, satisfying turnouts.
As the numbers shake out, it's not a battle of annihilation. This year's Prime Championship brought 9,876 entries, nearly doubling its $5 million guarantee with a prize pool that spilled over the $9.5 million mark. That's a slight improvement over last year, when 9,670 entries went through the window, and a larger drop-off from the 2023 edition with its 10,512 entries.
The Bahamas has also drawn a lot of star power with its $25,000 Super Main Event and the WSOP Circuit Championship, which handed out prize packages to ring winners throughout the second half of 2025. Still, plenty of Las Vegas regulars and traveling recreational players stayed in the USA to fill up the Encore's ballrooms. Among them were WPT Champions Club member Mike Leah and 2023 GPI Mid-Major Player of the Year Nick Pupillo, who bagged the chip lead in the first and third flights, respectively.
Also bagging a big stack was Stephen Song, the winner of the very first WPT Prime Championship in 2022, when he beat a field of more 5,430 entries. Song is a frequent flyer at the top of Day 2 chip counts in large Las Vegas tournaments, and it will be no surprise to see him at the televised final table next weekend.
Win a cold plunge tub?
The field of 1,231 returnees will draw swords on Thursday at noon, playing down to a Day 3 field that will fight for one of the spots at the aforementioned televised final table on Dec. 20. Prime's Day 2 is the beginning of what first marquee weekend at the WPT Championships, with the battle for a spot at the final table happening along side ClubWPT Gold's Mystery Quest.
Players have been playing online for a spot at this weekend's live since early November, with several Day 1 flights spread throughout last month. They moved on to Tuesday's online Day 2, where players like Nick "Dirty Diaper" Rigby secured a spot for a live Day 3 on Friday in Las Vegas where everyone starts with the same stack. The live event will give away $2,000,000 in added Mystery Bounty prizes, including:
- $100,000 in cash
- Rolex watch
- Japanese PSA10 Charizard Pokemon Card
- $13,500 Massage Chair
- Gibson custom 1954 Les Paul guitar
- Cold plunge tub
- Trip to Costa Rica
- A miniature horse
Meanwhile, the WPT Championship will push off on Saturday, offering a $10,400 buy-in over three flights. Players will fight all week for one of the final table spots on Sunday, December 21, the final day of the series. There is no guarantee this year, same as 2024 when Scott Stewart beat 2,392 entries to win over $2.5 million. That event had a prize pool over $23 million. It looks like this year is likely to be similar, despite the huge numbers coming out of Paradise. Maybe there is plenty to go around?
Images courtesy of World Poker Tour.
