The Bahamas Super Main saw 2,891 entries.
The total number of reentries is not disclosed by the organizers, but it is known that on Day 2B, 178 people entered at the very last moment, when the starting stack was 12.5bb. The individual leaders by number of entries were:
Michael Monchek – 14
James Hopkins, Stephen Chidwick – 13
Jesse Lonis – 12
These statistics made a big impression on Jeremy Ausmus :
Not gonna lie it’s pretty brutal to watch people bust over and over in this Bahamas super main 26k. Just saw a guy bust bullet 14. Others I’ve seen over and over again. $26,000 is a lot of money. We all knew it’d be like this but damn….maybe I’m just getting old 😆
"I’ve never felt more normal in an unlimited reentry!" wrote entry leader Monchek. "Superpros in for double digits 😍"
Jason Koon praised Jean-Noël Thorel, who took second place and received $6 million:
Can we take a moment to appreciate how legendary Jean-Noël Thorel is? A pharmacist-biologist who founded the extremely successful beauty company NAOS (Bioderma). He's currently leading the 3k runner WSOP 25k Super Main with 19 people left. At 78 years old with significantly diminished vision, he shows up to Tritons and other SHR's and battles for days on end with the best in the world. Go get'em JNT, you're an inspiration!
Jean-Noel's Hendon Mob total sits at over $27 million now, and he also performed exceptionally well in the $100,000 Main Event that Aleks Ponakovs won. The win of $597,000 for 8th place in the event came just a day before his $6,000,000 score (the biggest of his career).
Superman treated viewers to a number of eye-catching hands. One of the most talked about was Jesse Lonis's check with a set of kings.
OH MY GOD
— Rob Kuhn (@RobKuhn_) December 16, 2025
MADNESS pic.twitter.com/EXo2GutFiZ
Jesse raised preflop and three-barreled, and on the river he gave up on the raise, the opponent showed .
"This giveaway is probably going to get more likes than Abby Merck's photos," Shaun Deeb couldn't resist teasing. "Congratulations, Jesse, you've finally made it."
"Great players make bad folds sometimes," Jesse replied. "You wouldn’t understand. You still in? Let’s crossbook."
"Bad players also make bad folds we can run back last years bet as much as you want."
Jesse later wrote a lengthy post in which he tried to justify his game:
I don’t usually comment on hands I play whether good or bad but let me break down my thoughts for you guys, and take a trip down memory lane a little bit.
I’ve played against my opponent at a few stops recently. Every spot we played he was super cautious. Even in most spots undervaluing hands because of his style. After I raise pre, down bet flop, full pot turn and full pot river. My hands are gonna contain AA,KK, and some AK/QQ. This particular opponent I really didn’t think he would go for value with 88. So now we’re left with the chances he is bluffing. I’m getting 4/1 on a call. So I need to be right 20% of the time. I don’t know about you guys, but in these spots, my mind starts running numbers in my head and computes pretty quickly. So the numbers 9-11% is the conclusion I came up with of percentage he is bluffing. So in my head I thought my call would still be losing a lot of money.
Now at this particular stage if I was wrong, I would be left with 5.5 million when the big blind was 300 K I believe. If I fold, I still had 11 million. The way my style is I know I can spin 11 million up at that blind depth with pressure way more than I could, if I only have 5.5 in front of me. That being said within the next hour, I did spin it back up to 23 million only seeing one showdown.
I have played spots like this probably 40 times this year. I would like to think I was wrong maybe 3 or 4 times including this one. What I do wanna say is congrats to my opponent such a sick play at a sick time. People thought it would tilt me actually did quite the opposite. Made me smile and I gave thanks to him for the humility. Over the last four years, I would like to think I concreted myself as one of the best big field players there is. As Daniel said there is a reason I make deep runs when I play these things. The most important one is the spot where 95% of these
@shaundeeb
are just gonna shrug there shoulders and call so he can go in his room and eat Little Debbie’s and tweet about people he’s obviously been jealous about for years.If people really wanna know the truth about why Shaun Deeb has a hard on for me. Me and Shaun grew up about 40 minutes down the road from each other. Even when I was young and had no money and was trying to shot take in bigger games. I would sit and have to deal with this insufferable human being. Someone who I idolized at the time. Tried acting like this egomaniac bully. In my mind though he is part of the reason I am here today I played with him and I said if this guy can be one of the best I will dominate this game. I also wanted to get enough money so I could play him heads up and bankrupt him. He knows better though and knows I would eat him alive in no limit Holdem or anything else in life besides a few random mix games. My interaction with any young or new player I ever played with is me trying to be supportive and positive and nice. Now with all my success, he has to hear all the time how he’s not the best player from that area anymore and how I passed his 20 year poker career in 4 years. I even have people from our home area message me and tell me that they are trolling him about it and he is getting all mad. So that is the truth behind that.
In my closing thoughts, I would like to thank everyone who has followed this journey and always been supportive of me. My biggest tip I can give any new player out there is to always be in the moment and think things through and follow your gut. Sometimes you will be wrong but when you’re collecting millions over and over, you will know it’s because of what you did not some computer. Gorilla out. 🦍
"Everyone's really being harsh with Lonis's KK fold," Kostya gambler14 commented on the hand.
"It's official, people are put on a specific hand, especially since he's an American; they're in their own bubble, with their own unique ideas about the game. He folded and folded, but then he wrote a whole bunch of text about how good he was, because he'd played that particular opponent for a couple of rounds before that. How many hands is that? 70? I wonder how many showdowns there were during that time. Is it really that humiliating for a pro? To fold a strong hand on TV? 😅 It must be cool to live life with the feeling that you're always right and never make mistakes."
Daniel Negreanu also folded a set of kings the other day, but he was proven right.
SET OF KINGS for @RealKidPoker in a HUGE spot!
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) December 21, 2025
Watch Super High Roller Bowl X on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/43skRTftmR
After the fold, Daniel fist-bumped Boivin and proclaimed, "Hey Jesse! I did what you did! I don't know, I'm an idiot too, probably."
Another hand that caused quite a stir on social media was Eric Wasserson's slowroll with aces on the final table bubble.
🚨 SLOWROLL ALERT! 🚨$25,000 Super Main Event!
— PokerNews (@PokerNews) December 18, 2025
ON THE FT BUBBLE! It's @BennyGlaser Vs @EWassPoker! BUT WHOS SLOWROLLING!? 👀
Would you ever slow roll someone? 👀 pic.twitter.com/x0kGYALLx2
A visibly upset Benny admitted after his departure that he'd expected something like this, as he and Eric had had a conflict over the summer, but he didn't go into detail. Eric awkwardly tried to justify it by citing a large page jump.
"I’ve been slow rolled countless times, a couple fun ones on camera," Garrett Adelstein said . "I didn’t give a shit. And if I did, that would’ve said plenty about my tableside emotional control.
That said, it makes you an asshole. I’ve never met a guy who was both a slow roller and a decent dude."
WSOP organizers announced that the Player of the Year leaderboard will have a prize pool of $1 million in 2026.
Three WSOP series are included in the standings: the spring one in Prague, the summer one in Las Vegas, and the winter one in the Bahamas.
"I'm not a big fan of new features," admitted Michael Monchek. "I love to dive headfirst into the grind for the leaderboards in the summer, but going to Europe to play a few kilofields for $1k? 🙄🙄🙄 Right now, I'm giving it a 50/50 chance of going. How do people even get to Prague 😂
Sam Greenwood conducted a poll:
"When people list the the best poker players in the world, the players who are picked are players running hot. So I want people to call their shot for 2026. Who are great poker talents that are currently in poor form that will have great results in 2026?"
"Bernhard Binder," wrote Mario Mosbock a week before his Super Main victory.
“Nice try. I said 'next year,'” Sam replied after the Austrian’s triumph.
"My opinion has nothing to do with recent events 😄," Mario added. "I consider Bernhard one of the strongest tournament players in the world! And he only started playing poker in 2021 🤯"
Matt Salsberg called for the elimination of lunch breaks at tournaments:
"I hate a dinner break. They're annoying. They're unhealthy. They make a long day longer. They derail momentum. They encourage bad beat stories on walks out. It's 2025, order on apps, on QR codes. It's time to end them."
"I agree with you, many do not," replied Matt Savage, one of the most experienced tournament directors.
Eric Seidel does not rule out the possibility that he will soon have to retire:
"Very concerned about the tax change next year. It’ll put me in semi-retirement. Open to any opportunities, especially if it involves traveling to new spots. DM here or on IG."
"I agree with you," agreed Jeremy Ausmus. "My high stakes volume will likely be way down or non existent next year. Sad times for US poker players."
"How can WSOP save itself next summer with the new tax laws?" Patrick Leonard confirms. "I think high rollers will struggle & the 10k championship mix events that are mostly comprised of American professionally over 35 who want to do things by the book. Can they be changed to $5k with single reentry?
I've spoken to a lot of people, I expect 30%+ to stop this year, 50%+ to stop the year after (assuming no tax changes)."
Phil Nagy reflects on the future of poker:
"OK let’s talk.
As someone with a lot of miles in the game, I’m wondering: is my “old dog” experience still gold, or is it time for new tricks? Some say we need slower structures, no re-entries. Others want bigger prize pools and more action. Let’s debate it! What’s the future of poker in your eyes?"
Dominic Nitsche dropped a comment with a detailed response:
– "Cut off reentry at 30bb. People know by now that the early stages don't matter if you can just buy in with 30% of the field remaining and sub 20bb.
Faster structures yes but only early on.
No one needs to play 200bb deep in tournaments. But playing with an average of 40-50bb deep in the late game is pretty much ideal.
Poker tournaments are a huge time commitment and If we want to keep it fun and entertaining we should minimise the amount of time spent playing for effectively pennies.
Amount of rebuys allowed is just noise ultimately. What truly ruins the experience is people buying in with sub 20. It's less fun and profitable for anyone who's bought in early. Not only due to icm but also due to the strategic advantage a shortstack has.
TLDR: Speed up the game by removing early levels because very few people care.
Cut off late reg early so people who show up on time do not get punished by short stacks.
Unlimited reentry is a good thing for everyone. Generally the people who put in 5 bullets + are fish.
And pros/operators and especially semi regs should be glad when someone inflates the price pool.
It's literally win win win.People complaining about unlimited reentries are hurting their own bottom line. They are also generally not winners or serious players.
Tombos21, whose theoretical insights we've already translated, continues to share his poker wisdom:
– An interesting side effect of rake in cash games is that it make player's EVs non-zero-sum. This means that it's possible to construct a strategy that lower's a GTO player's EV, without losing EV yourself.
For example, always calling hands that are mixed fold/calls. This pumps up the rake without lowering your own EV, so it ends up coming out of the GTO player's pockets.
Patrick Leonard debunks a big myth:
"BTW let’s just correct one of the biggest poker myths.
Mystery bounties are not good for amateurs.
The skill gap between pros-> amateurs in mysteries is a lot higher than in traditional vanilla tournaments."
"You're only thinking in terms of ROI," one commentator noted, "but you're not taking into account the fun recreational players get. In these tournaments, they have the opportunity to hit the jackpot without ever reaching the final table."
"On the surface they seem amazing/fun etc, but the actual experience is shitty," Leonard replied. "Online initially had huge #s and then massively decreased. Guy on my table today said along the lines “WTF I grinded all day yesterday to get donk called by 86o? I’m not playing this again.” PokerStars went from 765 or 459 in their mystery bounty WCOOP this year vs last when it first came in btw."
"Well firstly, the day 2 strategy in mystery bounties are extremely sophisticated and delicate based on stacks. There’s a lot of limping, all sorts of sizings. Amateurs already don’t have enough time to study and master traditional tournaments, never mind compete with professionals who will have infinite more brain storage on this game type."
