China’s Yinan Zhou Makes History, Wins Gold Bracelet in $25K WSOP Paradise Super Main Event

The second edition of the World Series of Poker – WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas has come to a thrilling conclusion and the Asia-Pacific poker community had reason to celebrate a huge result. Yinan Zhou has claimed the largest prize in a live poker tournament for a player of the region outside of the high-stakes Triton Poker events after taking down Event $25,000 WSOP Super Main Event for $6 million.

Yinan Zhou Wins WSOP Paradise Super Main Event

One year ago, Yinan Zhou had already visited the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas Resort and ran deep in the WSOP Paradise $5,300 Main Event Championship. His 28th place from back then for $72,200 pales in comparison to the enormous top prize after he came out on top of a stacked final table line-up. Out of a field of 1,978 entries – 1,378 from the live portion on the Bahamas and 600 online entries on GGPoker, he defeated Marcelo Aziz in heads-up play.

The largest live poker event with such a price tag had come short of the $50 million guarantee by $550,000, but will certainly enter the history books of live poker. Aziz’s journey is one for the ages, too, as the Brazilian qualified through a Freeroll and earned a consolation prize of $4.6 million. That both would be the ones to fight for the title seemed unlikely at first glance, after big names such as Justin Bonomo, Michael Addamo, and Mustapha Kanit had also reached the nine-handed final table.

And then, there was also the return of Liv Boeree to the live poker arena. The former EPT Main Event champion and Tag Team bracelet winner with her partner Igor Kurganov made a rare occurrence and knocked out none other than 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker in tenth place to set up the final table.

Bonomo would be the first big name to bust in seventh for $1,300,000 and Addamo, who had entered the final table as the chip leader was next to fall. Eventual champion had gotten through a big bluff against the Aussie en route to his fearless victory run. Boeree’s exit in fourth place for $2,800,000 was the largest for any female player in the history of poker, surpassing China’s Wenling Gao score of $2,748,605 in the 2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Main Event.

The always jovial Kanit then bowed out in third place before the fairytale of Aziz came up one spot shy of victory. Zhou is China’s second bracelet winner of the WSOP Paradise festival after the triumph for Lei Yu in Event #6: $5,000 Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em.

WSOP Paradise Super Main Event Review

• Date:  December 13 to 20, 2024
• Buy in: $25,000
• Guarantee: $50,000,000
• Entries: 1,978
• Prize pool: $50,000,000
• ITM: 297 places

Final Table Result

Fellow countryman Ren “Tony” Lin was also there for the winner shots while he was in pursuit of the gold bracelet himself in Event #15: $5,000 The Closer NLH Bounty Turbo, asking to pause the clock to jump over. There was no happy end, for Lin, though, as he once again finished as the runner-up in a WSOP bracelet event.

Santhosh Suvarna was on this final table too, along with several other big names. Kiwi Sosia Jiang finished in ninth place for $18,100, while Shaun Deeb fell in sixth for $39,400 before Suvarna’s bid for a third bracelet came up short in fifth place ($50,800).

Daniel Negreanu was in pursuit of his second gold bracelet of 2024 but had to settle for fourth place and $65,200. Arkadiy Tsinis finished in third for $84,600 before Lin was the bridesmaid once more, taking home $110,000. But out of a field of 238 entries, it was Nick Schulman who claimed the largest piece of the $1,190,000 prize pool for his sixth bracelet and the top prize of $145,000.

Numerous Asians Run Deep At GGMillion$

In Event #12: $10,000 GGMillion$ NLH Championship, a huge field of 532 entries generated a prize pool of $5,320,000. The Asian Poker Tour co-owner Michael Soyza finished in 33^rd place for $26,920, while Hong Kong’s Wayne Heung made it to 27^th place for $32,660.

Japan’s Tetsuro Tomita earned $48,060 for 16^th place and Marc Rivera of the Philippines found success on the Bahamas once more after his third place in the inaugural $25,000 PokerStars NL Hold’em Players Championship back in 2019. This time, he finished in ninth place for $100,800, followed to the payout desk by 17 time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth ($130,830).

South Korea’s Wookuk Lee reached the fifth position for $285,340 and was the highest-placed Asian player in this event. Jon Ander Vallinas from Spain finished in second place for $622,340, while Dutch player Johannes Straver was crowned the champion and took home $807,430.

This concludes the gold bracelet hunt for 2024 but the WSOP has already announced the key dates for the 2025 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, more on that later.