It’s been an exciting week of tournament poker action in South Korea with the World Poker Tour (WPT) Korea stop taking place at Jeju Shinhwa World. In the KRW 3,400,000 (USD $2,643) buy-in WPT Korea Main Event, China’s Yin Tao who walked away with the trophy and $232,667 in an event that drew 758 entrants.

https://twitter.com/WPT/status/1682796288067215360

Meanwhile, high-stakes crusher Steve O’Dwyer got his second seven-figure score of the year by taking down the KRW 17,000,000 buy-in WPT Alpha8 One Drop for just over $1 million.

“What an incredible experience Jeju has been, from the player turnout to the celebrations and all-around atmosphere,” WPT CEO Adam Pliska said in a press release. “Thank you to our partner Jeju Shinhwa World for the exceptional hospitality and for putting on a world class event. And congratulations to Yin Tao for becoming our WPT Korea champion.”

Read About Jonathan Jaffe’s Victory In the WPT Alpha8 for One Drop at Wynn!

An Emotional Victory

The WPT Korea Main Event paid out the top 95 finishers with a prize pool of KRW 2,246,947,400, or USD $1,746,343. Tao played for the victory after a three-handed ICM deal with Valeriy Pak (2nd – $197,332), who previously won the 2018 edition of WPT Korea in Incheon for $56,893, as well as Chao Ting Cheng (3rd – $251,595), who had the chip lead when the deal was made to take home the largest sum.

Tao’s victory was an emotional one as the final cards were dealt against Pak during heads-up play.

“It is a dream come true,” Tao told WPT, speaking in Chinese. “It’s really a dream. It was very difficult to be Main Event champion. It’s really a dream come true.”

Other players who made the six-handed final table include fourth-place finisher Jian Guo Shu ($115,545), Chun Hao Zhang (5th place – $86,994) and Toshihide Sawada (6th place – $64,673). The full final table action can be viewed on WPT’s YouTube channel.

WPT Korea Main Event Final Table Results

_{*Denotes three-handed ICM deal.}

There were a few notables who ran deep in the WPT Korea Main Event, including Teen Wolf star Arden Cho (80th – $4,858), and O’Dwyer, who finished 29th for a relatively small sum of $9,470 before his seven-figure score in the One Drop event.

O’Dwyer, who had $36.7 million in Hendon Mob earnings headed into the WPT Alpha8 One Drop, got through the select field of 18 entrants for his second seven-figure score of the year after a third-place finish in the Triton Cyprus $100,000 Super High Roller in May for $1.2 million.

“I’m just really happy,” O’Dwyer told WPT. “I haven’t played much poker this summer and I’ve got to win the ones that I do play. So it’s nice to win.”

“It’s a great cause and once I busted the Main Event … I went right on in and registered (the One Drop) and it was a rough start, but the last few hours of the tournament I ran really, really hot.”

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

Did You Know the World Poker Tour is Online?

The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories around the world.

WPT Global also offers new players matched deposit bonus of 100% up to a maximum of $1,200. Any new player who deposits $20 or more will automatically receive this deposit bonus.

The playthrough requirements for this bonus is fairly straightforward with each $2.50 increment of the bonus being unlocked every time you generate $10 of rake. This rake can come from either tournaments or cash games. The bonus expires after 90 days starting from the date of your first deposit.

To further sweeten the deal, WPT Global will also award you some tournament tickets. The exact reward depends on whether you are a new player and how big your deposit was.

The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is currently at Thunder Valley in Northern California to wrap up its Checkpoint season. While there, the three-time GPI Award winner for “Best Mid-Major Poker Tour” announced a new theme, new dates, and new rings for the second half of 2023.

“We’re prepping for a massively fun upcoming season as we continue to qualify players to the Dream Seat Invitational,” said Tana Karn, President at RunGood. “Our team is ready to deliver a best mid-major experience to close out the year!”

The 2023 RunGood Dream Seat™ Invitational is an invite-only event at Thunder Valley Casino Resort on November 29th. 2023 RunGood Poker Series ring winners will be eligible to buy in to the $300 No Limit Hold’em event where PokerGO will be awarding an added entry to the PGT Championship $1,000,000 Freeroll to first place.

The PGT Championship $1,000,000 Freeroll will be open to the top 40 players on the PGT leaderboard, along with a select group of “Dream Seat” winners to be awarded in special events throughout the year. Last year, only the top 21 ranked players were eligible to compete.

On top of returning to many beloved stops for the remainder of 2023 in the new “Road Trip” season, the tour will expand to new stops in Baltimore, Maryland and St. Louis, Missouri.

Each tour stop will host signature RunGood events and giveaway items celebrating the season’s theme. With buy-ins designed to suit all budgets, the RGPS offers an inclusive environment to experience the world of tournament poker.

Check out the RGPS Hub on PokerNews here!

The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is currently at Thunder Valley in Northern California to wrap up its Checkpoint season, and before this weekend’s $600 buy-in, $500K GTD The HendonMob Mid-Major Championship, a special event was held.

On Thursday, the three-time GPI Award winner for “Best Mid-Major Poker Tour” – which recently announced a new theme and new dates for their upcoming season – hosted a special beer release party in conjunction with Thunder Valley and Jackrabbit Brewing Company.

Ben Erwin, the Director of Poker Operations, organized a bus to take guests from Thunder Valley approximately 35 minutes into Sacramento for the “RunGood Railbird Release Party.” The RunGood Railbird Hazy IPA is an exclusive release that’ll be sold not only at the brewery – located at 1323 Terminal St. West Sacramento, CA 95691 – but also inside the Thunder Valley Poker Room.

Established in 2013 by Erle Mankin, a known poker player at Thunder Valley, Jackrabbit Brewery worked fast to craft a summer shandy-like beer for the final stop of RGPS’s “Checkpoint” Season.

“Crisp, light, and full of positive vibes. The RunGood Railbird delivers on all fronts to make it the perfect first-level beer or last-level beer in any poker room,” said RGPS President Tana Karn.

Among those to attend the RunGood Railbird Release Party were World Poker Tour (WPT) champ and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Tyler Patterson, WPT DeepStacks champ and vlogger Kyle Kitagawa, industry veterans Justin Hammer and Jordan Cutter, poker player Marty Gorenc, and poker media members Dan Ross and TJ Reid, among many others.

In addition to seemingly endless flights of beer, attendees were able to enjoy birria tacos, quesadillas, and more from an accompanying taco stand. Before everyone left, there was a run on Jackrabbit Brewery apparel, and on the bus ride back to the casino an impromptu sing-a-long broke out to such hits as “Country Roads” and “The Gambler.”

The RunGood Railbird Hazy IPA proved a big hit during the weekend’s poker tournament with the first keg being tapped almost immediately. That said, it’s slated to be on tap all month long at Thunder Valley, including during the upcoming $2,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Checkpoint Million Dollar Main from July 28-31.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) makes its way to the capital of Taiwan for two weeks of exciting WPT Prime Taiwan action from August 8–21.

The series is poised for a huge turnout and will be held at the newly established Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan. The state-of-the-art venue features 50 poker tables and is primed to be the perfect locale to set new records.

“With the help of the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association, we are presenting our first-ever one-million-dollar guarantee in Asia,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “WPT Prime continues to hit milestone numbers this season, so we are eager to witness the turnout in Taiwan.”

Variety of Exciting Events

The WPT Prime Taiwan schedule is packed with a variety of events, including a Mystery Bounty event and a Supersonic NLHE/Liar’s Dice event, as well as plenty of satellites to move up to bigger tournaments.

The marquee event of the poker festival is the TWD 33,000 buy-in WPT Prime Taiwan Main Event, featuring a USD $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

The Main Event gets underway on August 17 and has three starting flights. The survivors of each flight will combine for Day 2 on August 20, and Day 3 will take place on August 21 when a champion will be crowned.

Big Prize Pools Expected

This is the second-annual edition of the WPT Prime Taiwan with the first having occurred in November 2022. The inaugural Main Event title went to France’s Marc Inizan, who took home TWD 4,326,600, equivalent to $138,851 USD.

That event attracted 877 entrants to generate a prize pool of $808,623 USD, and that number is sure to be smashed this time around with a seven-figure USD prize pool guaranteed for the marquee event of this year’s WPT Prime Taiwan.

Win a WPT Prime Passport on WPT Global

Even if you’re not planning on traveling to East Asia for this highly anticipated series, there are still multiple ways to get in on the action at WPT Prime future stops.

Online Poker Room WPT Global gives players the chance to secure their seats to various events around the world with the $1,500 WPT Prime Passport, which allows them to play at a live event of their choice.

The Passport Qualifiers have a $110 buy-in and run every Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and Sunday and 6 p.m. ET., while you can even satellite your way into a qualifier for as low as $5.

The next WPT Prime stops include:

• Aix-en-Provence, France – August 3-6
• Liechtenstein – September 8-11
• Madrid, Spain – September 28-October 1
• Las Vegas, USA – December 7-12
• And watch for many more WPT live events

Join WPT Global Today

The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories worldwide.

WPT Global also offers new players matched deposit bonus of 100% up to a maximum of $1,200. Any new player who deposits $20 or more will automatically receive this deposit bonus.

The playthrough requirements for this bonus is fairly straightforward, with each $2.50 increment of the bonus being unlocked every time you generate $10 of rake. This rake can come from either tournaments or cash games. The bonus expires after 90 days starting from the date of your first deposit.

To further sweeten the deal, WPT Global will also award you some tournament tickets. The exact reward depends on whether you are a new player and how big your deposit was.

Check out the WPT Hub on PokerNews here!

WPT Prime Taiwan Schedule

PokerStars are thrilled to announce that they are bringing epic Oracle Red Bull Racing promotions, rewards, and experiences overseas to Michigan and New Jersey.

The global partnership sees the two worlds of entertainment come together to bring fans and players on an epic ride, filled with promotions, rewards, new turbo-charged content and unforgettable experiences.

The most desired PokerStars experience, the Red Spade Pass, will be make a pit-stop in the US for the first time later this year. The PokerStars Red Spade Pass launched last year for PokerStars’ European audiences and saw members of the PokerStars community win experiences to some of the most iconic locations on the racing calendar, including Monaco and Brazil.

The Red Spade Passes awarded winners with an unrivaled experience, including a personal meet and greet with key players in the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, such as driver Sergio Perez and Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner. The Red Spade Pass will now be available to PokerStars’ US audience and racing fans via a series of Oracle Red Bull Racing themed games.

Casino Races also got a makeover back on July 13 with the introduction of Weekend Races prizes of $5k MI/PA, $2.5K NJ and Weekly Leaderboard prizes of ($1k MI/PA, $500 PA). Players can opt- in and register for Casino Races at any time via the Casino Races lobby. Registration is free and without any buy-in or entry fee.

As racing fever spreads across the globe, players in the US will also be able to take part in PokerStars Spin & Go Races now through August 26 with weekly prizes of $5,000 to be won. Spin & Go Races will bring a fun, fast and accessible game where players can win in just a matter of minutes for as little as $1.

Fans can also get closer to the action by taking a look at a new four-part creative YouTube series ‘Between the Lines’, produced by the world’s most popular online poker site, PokerStars, which highlights the importance of strategy in both motor racing and poker play. It gives fans of the racing and poker communities insight into the thought processes and crucial real-time decision-making that comes with being at the top of your game.

To thrill racing and poker audiences alike, the series compare strategic and bold moves from key races during the 2022 racing season to nail biting final table moments from one of the most prestigious live tours in the poker world, the European Poker Tour. You can catch up on the episodes here.

“There is much crossover between the interests of our players and general racing fans, and we want to feed those passions with exciting promotions and memorable moments,” said Rebecca McAdam Willetts, Director of Partnerships & PR, PokerStars. “Racing has grown hugely in popularity across North America, and with so much attention on our partner’s efforts this season, we’re very excited our community in the US will get a slice of the action as the season reaches boiling point. The partnership has been a perfect fit for us to date, and now we get to take it home, to the heart of the action… Vegas!”

It’s starting to feel like the old High Stakes Poker days all over again. Tom Dwan can’t seem to lose when the cameras are rolling and has absolutely crushed three straight days of Hustler Casino Live’s epic pot-limit Omaha games.

Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot, on the other hand, has been on quite a roller coaster ride. But the young polarizing high roller has rallied quite nicely from a brutal start to the week and is almost even.

Thursday night’s stream became a Friday morning affair as it ran for 14 hours. The action will resume at 4 p.m. PT from Hustler Casino in Los Angeles on Friday, giving the returning players barely enough time to catch some z’s. That’s especially true for Dwan, who hopped in a lower-stakes game following the marathon stream.

https://twitter.com/TheRyanFeldman/status/1682383979956289536

Somebody clearly loves poker. One player who might not love it so much right about now is “Pav,” a high-stakes player on the show who went from up nearly $1 million to ending the session up only around $50,000.

Does He Ever Lose?

Dwan, a future Poker Hall of Famer and online poker legend, has won all three nights during the heavily watched PLO games on Hustler Casino Live. On Thursday, he booked a $197,000 profit and was up for most of the session.

The high-stakes game was quite bonkers and has been throughout the week. There hasn’t been much play on the turn or river as the hands have mostly been all in preflop or on the flop. Dwan won $318,500 during Wednesday’s show and $160,000 the night prior. In total, he’s up $675,000 this week. He also won $1.6 million during the historic $1 million game in June, which included scooping the largest pot in live-streamed poker history ($3.1 million).

Dwan, however, isn’t the biggest winner or the only player to profit all three nights. Anthony has also booked three straight winning sessions for a total profit of $932,000, including winning just under $500k on Thursday after having been down around $450,000 earlier in the stream.

Perhaps the greatest hand of the week — and maybe the best PLO hand ever shown on stream — didn’t involve Anthony or “durrrr.” With J♣10♥10♦10♣, “Professor” was nearly all in preflop with $111,000 in the pot. In PLO, trips in the hole is typically a weak hand given you only play two hole cards. But in this game, there was a $5,000-per-player bounty on at the table if a player hit a set with trips in the hole.

Professor went with it and the flop came out 4♠Q♣6♠, not exactly what he was looking for. Both Professor and Tan would put in their last $16,000, each heavy underdogs against Dwan who flopped middle pair and had straight and flush draws to boot.

Technically, Professor was out in front with a pair of 10’s but was only 20% to win the hand. The three players agreed to run it twice for the $160,000 pot. We’ll let you watch the video for yourself to find out how it all played out.

https://twitter.com/HCLPokerShow/status/1682239316498739200

Unfortunately, for the Professor, he ended up down over $500,000 for the session and is nearly $1 million in the hole for the week.

Roller Coaster Week for Nik Airball

After Tuesday’s half-a-million-dollar defeat, Nik Airball wasn’t thrilled that PokerNews had written an article about his misfortunes. On Wednesday, he bounced back nicely with a $420,000 win. Even “the great game” ambassador Joey Ingram, who has commentated all three nights, called us out.

https://twitter.com/nikairball/status/1681916624050470912

Here’s your article, Nik. Well, half an article. We hope that will suffice. On Thursday, after having been down more than $200,000 at one point, the Hustler Casino Live regular battled back to finish the day up $34,000, bringing his weekly totals to a net loss of just $65,000, which he could easily make up in one hand Friday night.

Earlier this month, Michigan’s Tom “Penny & A Dream” Danko had some luck on PokerStars when he beat out over 1,800 players in the Half Price Sunday Mini Special to turn a $5 buy-in into a $1,170 payday during PokerStars Half Price Sunday, which wound up being the largest $5 buy-in tournament by field size in the history of the shared Michigan/New Jersey liquidity market.

As a whole, the PokerStars Half Price Sunday was comprised of 10 events catering to 8,185 combined entries and awarding $262,000 in prize money. The largest tournament was the Sunday Special with 1,859 entries and a $84,500 prize pool.

Married with two young children, the 41-year-old Danko has worked in human resources for the last 15 years for large multinational organizations.

“When I’m not with the family I enjoy playing ice hockey and playing online poker about once a week currently, but more when I’m able to do so,” he told PokerNews. “And talking and studying poker with poker friends also once a week.”

Check out Michigan’s top online poker rooms here!

Danko’s Poker Origin Story

Danko first learned to play poker as a kid during family games with his grandpa and uncles.

“I started playing poker competitively once poker became legalized online in Michigan a few years ago, as the appeal of competitive play drove me to study the game so that I could be competitive,” he shared. “I started with sit & goes and played those for about a year before moving to MTTs.”

Nowadays, Danko plays exclusively online, as the time commitment of live poker doesn’t work for his schedule.

“I stick with MTTs as, for me, it’s the best way to experience poker due to the changing dynamics of a tournament and the excitement and adaptations required as well as the variety offered by different tournaments (variation in speed/structure, PKO vs non PKO, etc).”

He continued: “I play on all of the Michigan regulated sites since they launched, essentially trying out what was available. I found PokerStars definitely leads the way in most aspects – lots of interesting tournament series, MTT structures, number of active players, software, eliciting player feedback and implementing updates, etc. – and with multistate play, I look forward to the future of additional states joining the multistate compact and the continued evolution of PokerStars to help grow the poker community.

Half Price Sunday Success

Amazingly, Danko found success on just one $5 bullet!

“For the first half to two-thirds of the $5 Half Price Sunday tourney I was pretty much in line with the average stack,” Danko explained. “The fun and roller coaster ride really began around the final 50 players. It was then I got up to 67 big blinds, then for the next hour, it was a straight decline down to <6bbs with 15 players remaining and me being in or near last. I shoved twice from late position winning two flips in a row to get to 28bb and maintained a healthy stack until the final table. I started the final table third in chips but by the time we were at six players I was in last with the chip leader having 2.5x my stack.”

He continued: “The biggest hand that changed the dynamics was when we were five-handed. The cutoff raised first in and I was button and flatted behind with aces hoping to trap or for a squeeze jam behind. The blinds folded and the board ran out 8x9xKx3x with a double flush draw. The cutoff flopped a strong top pair and then did a 125% overbet on the turn. I held and that gave me a commanding lead. From there I used my stack to apply pressure and won some flips to end up taking it down.”

For more on how you can play online poker in the United States, click here!

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) hosted 20 online bracelets awarded on WSOP.com in the merged network of New Jersey and Nevada. WSOP.com also awarded seven bracelets for players located in segregated markets of Pennsylvania and Michigan over the summer.

Here’s a look at the last winners from WSOP MI and WSOP PA.

Morris Claims Michigan Online Bracelet

On Sunday, July 16, the seventh and final Michigan online bracelet of the summer was awarded in Online Event #7: $500 NL Hold’em Summer Saver. The tournament saw 260 entries create a prize pool of $117,000 paid to the top 30 finishers.

Among those to finish in the money were Samuel Phillips (23rd – $1,346), three-time bracelet winner Dash Dudley (24th – $1,346), and Carter Myers (27th – $1,334). Following a day of battling on the virtual felt, Nicolai Morris (lead picture) of Oak Park, MI took home the bracelet and the $26,231 top prize after defeating Randy Bullen in heads-up play.

Morris secured his first recorded victory and his second-biggest recorded cash. His top cash was for $31,086 in the 2018 WSOP $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship in the Round of 8, and now Morris adds a gold bracelet to his WSOP résumé.

WSOP Online MI Event #7 Final Table Results

Garney Snags Pennsylvania Online Bracelet

On Sunday, July 16, the seventh and final Pennsylvania online bracelet of the summer was awarded in Online Event #7: $500 NL Hold’em Summer Saver. The tournament saw 231 entries generate a prize pool of $103,850 paid to the top 29 finishers.

Some of the players to cash include three-time Circuit ring winner Christopher
Rodriguez (14th – $1,216), Zachary Gruneberg (17th – $1,206), and WSOP PA Bracelet Event #3 winner Justin Vaysman (18th -$1,206).

At the end of the tournament, Elias Garney of White Haven, PA held all the chips after he defeated Justin Koniuk in heads-up play to secure his highest recorded cash of $23,306 and the coveted gold bracelet.

WSOP Online PA Event #7 Final Table Results

Michigan and Pennsylvania Online Bracelet Series Results

Time Topic

00:35 Welcome to the show

00:43 Guest Phil Hellmuth joins the show

01:03 Advising all the companies

02:50 Capturing record-extending 17th gold bracelet

06:18 Heads-up lasted just one hand

08:50 Who did you give your bracelet to?

11:32 Playing Triton Poker for the first time?

12:17 Big hand against Nick Rigby

14:54 Getting tired at the poker table

15:58 Will you be at the WSOP Paradise?

17:40 Don’t be jealous of Phil Ivey

19:20 Sponsor: Global Poker

20:00 Announcing the winner of a signed WSOP cushion

21:23 Mike Gorodinsky’s empty Bellagio lockbox

23:23 WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas

25:09 The Jeff Platt Curse

27:09 Weinman’s jacks-versus-queens-versus-kings key hand

29:09 Daniel Weinman wins 2023 WSOP Main Event

31:09 WSOP Player of the Year race

33:09 Final 2023 WSOP updates on Phil Hellmuth & Daniel Negreanu

35:27 Guest Brian Rast joins the show

36:05 How has your summer been as a whole?

38:06 How did you feel when you were nominated for Poker Hall of Fame?

42:06 Who would you like to see join you in the PHoF?

45:00 Not all bracelets are created equal

47:20 What keeps you motivated?

52:00 Remembering your first WSOP cash

54:42 DJ Rast’s song mixing

55:50 What $50,000 Poker Players Championship titles mean the most?

59:13 Do you have any memorable Doyle Brunson stories?

1:02:50 Where are all your bracelets?

1:04:15 July PokerNews Freerolls

Daniel Weinman took his winner’s photo for the 2023 World Series of Poker Main Event in front of a stack of cash that was $12,100,000 tall.

However, Weinman’s bank account will never see that much lettuce. As an American, gambling winnings are taxed as income, meaning that by the time the WSOP cut him his cheque, the company would have withheld around 37% and sent it to the IRS as federal income tax.

Then, when Weinman returns to his home state of Georgia, he has a further 5.75% of the full amount to pay as Georgia state income tax.

This makes Weinman’s apparent $12,100,000 windfall into something closer to an estimated* $6,969,679 windfall.

Every player at the final table was subject to similar calculations. Some of the overseas players pay nothing, while others have it even rougher than the Yanks.

Within the US, each state charges a different state income tax. So, the top three finishers are also all Americans from different states so Weinman, Steven Jones (2nd – $6,500,000), and Adam Walton (3rd – $4,000,000) all receive tax bills that differ only slightly. The differences are such that they do not affect the players’ positions in the 2023 Main Event money rankings.

*All the figures in this article are estimates using online tax calculators and assuming no other income and no deductions. For non-US players, a double taxation treaty is also assumed.

The Taxman Cometh

For Jan-Peter Jachtmann (4th – $3,000,000), his bill is particularly galling. Professional poker players in Germany are taxed as self-employed businessmen, which means they pay income tax (though they can deduct expenses). Hobbyists, on the other hand, do not pay tax on offline poker winnings.

Unfortunately, Jachtmann, a resident of Hamburg, describes himself on Twitter as a semi-professional. This fact will probably cost him around $1,405,678 of his $3,000,000 win. That takes his fourth place down to $1,594,321.

This is rather less than the $1,850,000 prize that Dean Hutchison gets to keep, two places below Jachtmann in sixth. Both Hutchinson and Toby Lewis, being from the UK, do not pay tax on their gambling winnings. This leaves them with their full amounts of $1,850,000 and $1,425,000, respectively.

Check out the 2022 WSOP Main Event tax breakdown here!

Ruslan Prydryk is from Ukraine, which charges nothing on the first UAH480,000 ($13,057) in poker winnings and then a flat 18% thereafter. Prydryk will also probably have to pay a 1.5% military levy.

This means his remaining $1,934,546 for fifth is also higher than Jachtmann’s prize for fourth.

Just this year, Spain opted to start treating poker players as professionals meaning that, like Jachtmann, Juan Maceiras (8th – $1,125,000) will have to pay income tax on his win. For Macieras, that means a 43% pay cut from $1,125,000 to $642,525.

Italy, on the other hand, has heavy gambling taxes, but they fall entirely on operators, not the players. So, Daniel Holzner (9th – $900,000) might avoid paying anything on his winnings when he returns home to the Apennine Penisula. This creates another reversal, where ninth place will take home much more than eighth.

In total, the final table at this year’s WSOP Main Event won $33,300,000 and paid an estimated $11,575,951 in taxes to four national and three state governments. Three of the players probably paid nothing in taxes.

Table of 2023 WSOP Main Event Final Table Payouts After Taxes*