WSOP obliterates $60M guarantee to claim new prize pool record in Paradise

They said $60 million would be tough to reach. The WSOP said, 'To heck with that, we’ll do 72!'

After three final levels of registration (which saw Phil Hellmuth finally join the field) and a wild flurry of over 100 max-late registrants, spending $25,000 on 12 big blinds and a dream, the ridiculous totals for the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event prize pool are official. 2,891 entries and a record-breaking $72,275,000 prize pool.

In fact, more players registered on Day 2B (357) than began the day having advanced from Days 1C and 1D (316).

WSOP Paradise 8-game champion and 2021 WSOP Main Event champ Koray Aldemir was among a flood of max late-registrants

The 2025 Super Main Event now claims the record for largest non-WSOP Main Event prize pool of all time, passing the 2019 Triton Million by nearly $7 million.

Largest non-WSOP Main Event prize pools all-time

1. 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event - $72,275,000
2. 2019 Triton Million - $65,660,000 (10th largest overall)
3. 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event - $48,500,000 (23rd largest overall)
4. 2024 WSOP Paradise Triton Million - $44,603,000 (24th largest overall)
5. 2012 Big One for One Drop - $42,666,672 (25th largest overall)

The 2025 Super Main Event now becomes the only non-WSOP Main Event to crack the all-time top ten, sitting eighth overall.

Espen Jorstad's 2022 WSOP Main Event run was during the fifth-largest tournament prize pool all-time.

Largest tournament prize pools all-time

1. 2024 WSOP Main Event - $94,041,600 (won by Jonathan Tamayo - $10,000,000)
2. 2023 WSOP Main Event - $93,399,900 (won by Daniel Weinman - $12,100,000)
3. 2025 WSOP Main Event - $90,535,500 (won by Michael Mizrachi – 10,000,000)
4. 2006 WSOP Main Event - $82,512,162 (won by Jamie Gold - $10,000,000)
5. 2022 WSOP Main Event - $80,782,475 (won by Espen Jorstad - $10,000,000)
6. 2019 WSOP Main Event - $80,548,600 (won by Hossein Ensan - $10,000,000)
7. 2018 WSOP Main Event - $74,015,600 (won by John Cynn - $8,800,000)
8. 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event - $72,275,000 (winner TBD)
9. 2010 WSOP Main Event - $68,799,059 (won by Jonathan Duhamel - $8,944,310)
10. 2017 WSOP Main Event - $67,877,400 (won by Scott Blumstein - $8,150,000)

The $60 million guarantee also crushes the previous biggest guarantee to be hit – $15 million at the 2022 WPT Championship. 

Both the $40 million guarantee at the 2023 WPT Championship and the $50 million at the 2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event missed their marks.

The field can now focus on making the money, not spending it.

As for what the players still alive in this year’s event are playing for, step one will be the $50,000 min-cash for the final 202 players in today’s field. Payouts of $50,000 up to $60,000 were awarded on Day 2A on Friday.

The complete payouts will not be made available until Tuesday, but for reference, last year's winner, Yinan Zhou earned $6,000,000 for his victory over that field of 1,978 entries with a $50,000,000 prize pool. We can only eagerly anticipate what this year's champion will receive.

2024 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event champion Yinan Zhou.

And now, onward!

Play will continue tonight until the final 7% of the field remains (94 players), who will join the 108 survivors from Day 2A on Tuesday to begin the chase for the biggest payouts. The plan for Day 3 is to play down to the final 24 players.

Day 4 on Wednesday will play to a final table of nine, and a champion will be crowned on Thursday.