It has been a long year on the tournament poker circuit. There have been some tremendous highlights (here’s looking at you, Michael Mizrachi!) and some questionable conduct by others (the less “table talk,” the better). But now it comes down to three different tournaments battling for the eyes – and wallets – of the tournament poker world. One of those festivals, the World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOP Paradise) in the Bahamas, will kick off action on Wednesday with fifteen WSOP bracelets up for grabs.
All Roads Lead to $60M Guaranteed Main Event
Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas will be the focus of the tournament poker world over the next fortnight, as the WSOP brings its iconic brand to the sun and fun of the Caribbean. In partnership with GGPoker and the Triton Poker Series, the WSOP has put together a fifteen-event schedule with bracelets available for each tournament. That action begins on Wednesday with the WSOP Circuit Championship, featuring a $5 million guaranteed prize pool for a $2,500 buy-in.
If you’re looking for a “cheap” way to win a bracelet, the 2025 WSOP Paradise is not for you. That Circuit Championship tournament is the lowest buy-in on the entire schedule, meaning that the pros will be flocking to the Bahamas for the action. They are also going to bring (or wire) boatloads of cash to Atlantis so they can take part in the “big money” tournaments on the roster of events.
If the Triton Poker Series is involved, you know you are going to be seeing some high-dollar action, and the 2025 WSOP Paradise is holding up that reputation. Eight of the fifteen events have buy-ins north of $50,000, with the Triton Invitational boasting a $250,000 buy-in and two tournaments, the Triton Pot Limit Omaha Main Event and the Triton No Limit Hold’em Main Event, each sporting a $100,000 entry fee. An eight-handed No Limit Hold’em is also on the Triton board, with a $150,000 buy-in.
The highlight of the schedule is the Super Main Event, a No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $25,000 buy-in. That is not the most significant buy-in of an event on the 2025 WSOP Paradise schedule, but it does feature the biggest guarantee in poker history. The 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event has a $60 million guarantee, meaning they need 2,400 entries to meet it.
Building a History of Success
The WSOP Paradise may not have been around for long, but it is indeed building a history of success. The inaugural WSOP Paradise was in 2023, and it was an actual international event, with fourteen different nations represented among the fifteen winners (only the U.S. had two champions). First-time winners were also the norm, with ten of the tournaments being won by first-time bracelet recipients. That first Main Event was a $5,000 affair with a $15 million guaranteed prize pool; they drew 3,010 entries to beat that guarantee, with Stanislav Zegal winning the championship and the $2 million first-place prize.
Last year, there were the same fifteen tournaments, but the stakes certainly were upped. The Super Main Event featured a $50 million guarantee, which was NOT reached by the 1,978 entries that were at Atlantis for the party. GGPoker and the WSOP ate the overlay (it would have taken 2,000 to make it, so they were roughly $500K short) as Yinan Zhou of China outlasted Brazil’s Marcelo Aziz to pick up the $6 million first-place bounty and the second WSOP Paradise Main Event title.
The players are already beginning to flood into Atlantis to take part in the action. Confirmed to this point are GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth (looking to add to his record eighteen WSOP bracelets), Phil Laak and his paramour, former WSOP Women’s Champion Jennifer Tilly, and the two-time reigning WSOP Women’s Champion, Shiina Okamoto. The action begins tomorrow with the WSOP Circuit Championship and runs through the conclusion of the 2025 WSOP Paradise on December 16, with coverage from Triton Poker on its YouTube channel and a variety of other outlets.
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