A historic bracelet, a strong field, and memorable appearances by poker's biggest names and sports legends highlight the first winter series of the World Series of Poker on Paradise Island, Bahamas (Dec. 14, 2023). Starting on Dec. 3, WSOP Paradise hosted some of the biggest poker tournaments of 2023 at a variety of buy-in levels and exceeded the $50 million guaranteed prize pool to achieve more than $70 million in total prize money.
A classic Phil Hellmuth entrance to the Main Event and a hall of famer winning bracelets made WSOP Paradise the final highlight of an incredible year, according to Ty Stewart, SVP and Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. We thank every player for coming out to the Bahamas to be part of the action and launch our newest tradition, Winter in Paradise.
Poker in paradise action kicked off with Event #1 Mystery Millions, which broke the record for the largest poker tournament in the Bahamas ever held. During the winter series, the high roller events saw exceptionally strong turnouts, and many of them were the strongest of the year at their buy-in levels. This includes Event #3: GGMillion$ High Roller Championship, which was larger than its $25k counterpart at the WSOP in Las Vegas this summer.
The following is a list of all high roller event entrants and prize pools:
The third event is the GGMillion$ High Roller Championship ($25k buy-in)
A total of 533 entries were received.
Prize pool of $13,325,000
No-Limit Hold'em Super High Roller ($50k buy-in)
A total of 137 entries were received
Prize pool of $6,850,000
No-Limit Hold'em Ultra High Roller ($100k buy-in)
A total of 111 entries were received
Prize pool of $11,100,000
With 3,010 entrants battling for the top prize, the inaugural WSOP Paradise No-Limit Hold'em World Championship has proven to be the largest $5k buy-in poker tournament in 2023. The first WSOP Paradise Main Event champion will soon take home a $2 million first-place prize along with the highly coveted Main Event bracelet, weighing nearly 95 grams with 494 round blue topaz stones, handcrafted by Jostens.
Following is the full payout breakdown for the WSOP Paradise Main Event Final Table:
The first prize is $2,000,000
The second prize is $1,200,000
Third: $900,000
The fourth place is $685,000.
$510,000 on the 5th
The sixth: $400,000.
$300,000 on the 7th
$250,000 on the 8th
200 000 dollars on the 9th
Although this is the inaugural edition of WSOP Paradise, players and fans at Atlantis were treated to a familiar sight on Dec. 9, as Phil Hellmuth made a grand entrance into the Atlantis Ballroom in his Poseidon attire. He was accompanied by a lively group of dancers, mermaids, and a marching band. Other notable moments from the series include Hall of Famer Erik Seidel earning his tenth WSOP bracelet in Event #7: Super High-Roller No-Limit Hold'em, and Japan's Masashi Oya securing his first-ever WSOP bracelet and an impressive $2.9 million prize in Event #9: Ultra High-Roller No-Limit Hold'em.
WSOP Paradise also featured familiar faces from the sports world, including NBA Hall of Fame inductee Tony Parker, Las Vegas Aces' head coach Becky Hammon, Manchester City legend Sergio Agüero, Nick Wright of FS1, and others. During Event #4: Mini Main Event No-Limit Hold’em, Parker reached the money for the first time, while Agüero was seated next to Daniel Negreanu at the feature table of the Main Event.
The excitement surrounding WSOP Paradise builds on a banner year for the WSOP, after the series shattered its all-time attendance record for its Main Event this summer in Las Vegas, 17 years after Jamie Gold won the prestigious WSOP Main Event Bracelet in 2006 against a crowd of 8,773 players.
The Main Event continues to be livestreamed on GGPoker's YouTube channel, and CBS Sports Network will air three post-produced TV episodes with commentary from Lon McEachern and Norman Chad. |
