A rare gathering of poker royalty took place on Tuesday at WSOP Paradise, where every living WSOP Main Event champion was invited to a special freeroll awarding four $26,000 seats to this year’s Super Main Event. It's no stretch to call this the most star-studded satellite tournament in history.
Here are the 16 champions that took the seats in this special event.
- 1989: Phil Hellmuth
- 1996: Huck Seed
- 1998: Scotty Nguyen
- 2003: Chris Moneymaker
- 2004: Greg Raymer
- 2006: Jamie Gold
- 2009: Joe Cada
- 2012: Greg Merson
- 2013: Ryan Riess
- 2014: Martin Jacobson
- 2017: Scott Blumstein
- 2019: Hossein Ensan
- 2021: Koray Aldemir
- 2022: Espen Jorstad
- 2023: Daniel Weinman
- 2025: Michael Mizrachi
The roster spanned five decades of world champions, but there were obviously some gaps in the lineup.
Jonathan Tamayo wasn't there, perhaps because Dominik Nitsche was busy on that day. Damian Salas (2020), John Cynn (2018), Qui Nguyen (2016), Joe McKeehen (2015), Pius Heinz (2011), and Jonathan Duhamel (2010) were also absent.
Either way, it was a tough crew of players that assembled at the WSOP Paradise.
Opening Ceremony with Lon McEachern
Before cards were in the air, longtime WSOP commentator Lon McEachern welcomed the champions with introductions. Then, from Hellmuth to Mizrachi, each player received a quick spotlight, reminding everyone just how much history sat around the felt.
“I'm really having some long-ago emotions bubble up seeing these guys,” McEachern said. “They're part of the whole poker boom. For them to all be together, and for me to play the small part I did, I'm excited to be here.”
McEachern noted that he had called nearly all of their victories over the years, missing only the wins by Huck Seed, Scotty Nguyen, and Phil Hellmuth.
"I was pleased to see this many guys show up. We had five decades of winners represented, from the 1980s to the 2020s.”
If you want to see what the WSOP chips looked like for the past two decades ago, we've stacked up the perfect page:
Four $26,000 Seats Go to Four Champions
With 15-minute levels and a satellite structure, the action moved quickly.
After a couple of hours, the four seat-winners emerged: Ryan Riess, Scott Blumstein, Scotty Nguyen, and Greg Raymer. Hossein Ensan became the bubble finisher after a tough flip ended his run.
But then, instead of wrapping the event up, the WSOP asked the players to keep going and determine a real winner.
And when you've got 5 decades of WSOP champions present, it would be a crime not to see who came out on top.
Who's the Best of the Four?
At WSOP’s request, the four continued playing to determine a “champion of champions,” which all were happy to do. A sort of poker royalty 4-max continued on.
Riess exited first after his lost to .
Blumstein did something incredibly un-GTO next. He ceded the stage to Nguyen and Raymer by open-raising down to a single chip and folding to Nguyen’s shove.
“I wouldn't be here without these two guys,” Blumstein said. “I want to let these two legends of the game battle it out.”
His final chip disappeared one hand later, setting up a heads-up duel between two iconic personalities.
You'd think that the event would be over relatively quickly, like a home game with a $2 buy-in. After all, there were no prizes to play for at this point.
For even lower buy-ins (free actually) and large real money prize pools, check our list of freerolls. We update the schedule daily, highlight the biggest events, and give you a risk free way to earn cash from poker.
An Hour-Long Heads Up Between Raymer and Scotty Nguyen
Despite fewer than 25 combined big blinds in play and no prize money on the line, Nguyen and Raymer approached the match as if a bracelet were at stake.
They traded pots for nearly an hour, neither willing to concede even a small edge.
“I can't play badly on purpose,” Raymer said. “I may make mistakes, but I'll always try my best no matter what.”
Eventually, the 2004 world champion closed it out, securing the unofficial title of Main Event champion of champions.
“It was a lot of fun,” Raymer said afterward. “The last time I played against this many Main Event champions was 2009. They put on a smaller freeroll, and Tom McEvoy won a classic car that ended up selling for less than the price of one of these seats.”
Raymer appreciated competing alongside the only group of people who understand exactly what winning the Main Event feels like.
“It's funny, there are several I met for the first time today,” Raymer said. “The WSOP is so big now, spread across so many different rooms. Some of these guys you just never run into anymore.”
Raymer, Nguyen, Blumstein, and Riess all now hold seats in the $60 million guaranteed Super Main Event beginning Wednesday. Last year, the winner (Yinan Zhou) took home $6 million from the event.
