Top 10 takeaways from the 2025 World Series of Poker

The 2025 World Series of Poker has concluded, delivering an epic two months filled with dozens of incredible stories. From Martin Kabrhel and William Kassouf’s table antics, to historical performances by the likes of Michael Mizrachi, Shaun Deeb, and Benny Glaser, it was a WSOP that will be remembered for years to come. As the staff at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas clear out the rooms and pack up the tables, we take a look at the 10 things we learned from this year’s WSOP and how they might affect the future of the event and the game itself. 10. The WSOP vs. WPT rivalry is strong Throughout this year’s WSOP, the name of the WPT (World Poker Tour) kept coming up, as the rival series did its best to stay in the headlines. WPT offered special awards to players who could win select WSOP events, awarding a cool million dollars on two separate occasions and giving out more $50,000 last-longer rewards in other tournaments, including the Main Event. One of these prizes even caused great controversy, with two players banned from playing the WSOP and the champion of the Millionaire Maker forfeiting his WSOP bracelet. Both sides have remained adamant that they were doing the right thing for poker, and it seems like the rivalry between these two major poker powerhouses will keep going for a long time. 9. WSOP+ is a true revelation For years, registration lines at the WSOP have been incredibly long, and players have had to wait for hours to enter major events, such as the Main Event or the Colossus. That’s all changed in 2025, as the WSOP+ app made it possible for players to buy in and get their seats through the app, without waiting in any lines. The app truly revolutionized the Series, making the 2025 edition cleaner, faster, and simply better in every way. Moving forward, we can expect WSOP+ to become even better, allowing the tournament to run more smoothly than ever before. 8. Logistics matter in poker Another big story of this year’s WSOP had to do with the pure logistics of it. Namely, the air conditioning and the parking situations were in focus for much of the last few months. When it came to room temperature, many players had complaints about it being too cold in some sections of the rooms, with air conditioning devices blowing straight into some players’ faces. When you have paid thousands of dollars to play a poker tournament, you rightfully expect to be comfortable in the room you play in, which means the WSOP should do better in the years to come. The parking situation was another notable complaint for many players, as the parking garages at the WSOP properties were not organized well enough, leading to bottlenecks and players waiting for up to an hour to leave the premises. The WSOP should make sure that such mistakes don’t happen again if they are to make the Series better for the coming years. 7. Main Event attendance record may stand for a while Many in the poker world expected the 2025 WSOP Main Event to break the attendance record once again, but it simply wasn’t meant to be. The event got 9,735 entries, and wasn’t even able to break the 10,000 mark, let alone reach the 10,112 needed to break the 2024 record. While the momentum of live poker is certainly still strong, getting more than 10,000 people to post the $10,000 buy-in needed to play in the Main Event is simply a big ask with odds stacked against us. We have been spoiled with incredible numbers in recent years, but it may be some time before the Main Event record is broken once again.

WSOP 2024 Day 42 Recap: Main Event Breaks Attendance Record, as 10,112 play the World Championship.

Read more: https://t.co/MCuslissPh pic.twitter.com/IB9qCgqdIb
— PGT (@PokerGOTour) July 10, 2024

6. Poker Hall of Fame is more open-ended than we thought The Poker Hall of Fame has been reduced to one entry per year since 2020, and that’s meant some very deserving candidates have had to wait for their time. This year, the debate was on whether to induct Nick Schulman or Scott Seiver, both very deserving candidates. Schulman won the 2-7 Single Draw Championship, which may have swayed the voters slightly, and he ultimately was inducted. Yet, one player who wasn’t even shortlisted was Michael Mizrachi, who would end up making his historic run and showing everyone they were crazy not to nominate him. The voting committee ultimately changed the rules and inducted Mizrachi without a vote, thereby modifying the “one per year” rule to accommodate their decision. If this has taught us anything, it is that the poker world is willing to celebrate its heroes, and that players may have a chance to make it into the HOF without waiting if they are capable of truly great performances. 5. Player of the Year formula needs rehashing The 2025 WSOP Player of the Year title went to Shaun Deeb, a player who has been competing for it for years, and certainly a deserving champion. Yet, a quick look at the results shows us that the likes of Benny Glaser and Michael Mizrachi may have been snubbed in some sense. Glaser won three separate events this year, while Mizrachi achieved an incredible result in winning both the Poker Players Championship and the Main Event, two of the most coveted bracelets in all of poker. Yet, the POY formula was relentless, and it ultimately awarded Deeb, who won the $100k PLO High Roller and made several other deep runs. The truth is it’s impossible to make the perfect POY formula, but the one used at the WSOP has often left us scratching our heads and asking whether the right player was named as POY.

It’s official! Shaun Deeb ( @shaundeeb ) has won the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year! ??

??During the 2025 series he cashed in eighteen live bracelet events, six online bracelet events, reached five final tables, and won his seventh career WSOP bracelet in the $100,000 Pot Limit… pic.twitter.com/t4PMYyVcsi
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 19, 2025

4. Drama is good for the game There were several major incidents recorded at this year’s WSOP Main Event. One included players potentially colluding heads up in the Millionaire Maker to ensure they get an extra million-dollar prize from WPT, while others revolved around “villains” like Will Kassouf and Kartin Kabrhel. Whatever the cause of the drama, it sparked people's interest in poker and led to debates on social media, ultimately resulting in increased exposure for the game as a whole. The reporting on the Millionaire Maker incident made it into the mainstream media, and thousands of people from outside of poker got involved. While regular programming may be great for the hardcore fans of the game, it seems that it’s drama and circus that gets the masses talking about poker, making it an overall positive for the game. The lesson here is simple. We need more big characters around if poker is going to grow further, whether the mask-wearing super pros like it or not. 3. Women can compete in poker Not that there was ever any doubt in this department, as evidenced by the likes of Jen Harman, Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Anette Oberstad, and Kristen Foxen in the past, but Spaniard Leo Margets has now showed that women definitely have what it takes to go all the way in tournaments like the Main Event. Margets was able to make the WSOP Main Event final table, becoming the first lady to do so in the post-Moneymaker era, and made history in more ways than one. Her incredible performance ended in a coin flip, as so many tournament runs do. If the cards had come another way, she could have gone on to win the whole thing. Leo’s deep run and eventual demise showed us once again that it isn’t the lack of skill that prevents women from winning big in poker, but simply the lack of their numbers at the green felt. If her final table performance can inspire more young ladies to get into the game, don’t be surprised to see a female Main Event champion in due time.

After Leo Margets (@LeoMargets) made history in the 2025 Main Event, she reflects on the moment, its significance for women in poker, and what she’s carrying forward from it all. #WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/EQplLudG9J
— WSOP - World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 16, 2025

2. Poker rules need to be more clear Another story that really stood out during the 2025 WSOP Main Event was the story of Will Kassouf, a trash-talker from the U.K. who made virtually all the headlines. The poker world got familiar with Kassouf’s table antics back in 2016, when he also made a deep run in the Main Event, but this year was even worse. The entire Kassouf drama concluded with the WSOP staff scrambling to make decisions, issuing him random penalties, forcing him to make all his decisions within just 10 seconds, and ultimately banning him from the properties when he was finally eliminated. The Will Kassouf debacle taught us that the WSOP, and tournament poker in general, needs clearer rules on how to deal with players who stall for time or “talk too much.” While the kind of behavior Kassouf exhibited can’t possibly be tolerated, it is also important to treat each player fairly, which did not happen this time around. Moving forward, WSOP should experiment with giving players who take too long a reasonable shot clock of their own, so as to ensure players aren’t punished beyond reason, but also to protect the integrity of the tournament. 1. The ‘old guard’ still has it While many big stories emerged during the 2025 WSOP, one stood out from all the rest. It was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi winning both the Poker Players Championship and the Main Event in a single year. This may be the greatest feat in the history of the game, and it was achieved by a player considered part of the “old guard,” a group of players often dismissed by younger players. By his own admission, the Grinder is primarily a feel player, rather than one who studies solvers and poker combinations. Yet, he was able to steamroll through the biggest event of them all, while also showcasing his mixed game skills and winning the PPC for an incredible fourth time. Mizrachi wasn’t the only old-school player to do well either, as the likes of Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and even Mike Matusow all showed they still have what it takes to compete at the World Series. While the younger generations certainly have more stamina and a lot of technical skills as well, the old school is not done with poker just yet.