When the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise was announced earlier this year, many in the poker world were skeptical it could be a success given it would be going up against two previously-announced stops in the WPT World Championship and EPT Prague. However, with the help of GGPoker, the 15-bracelet-event stop proved to be a success awarding more than $70 million in prize money, well ahead of its promised $50 million in guarantees.
The series, which kicked off on December 3 at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, only missed one guarantee as the final tournament of the series – Event #14: $2,000 The Closer Turbo Bounty – drew only 406 entries, which failed to meet the $1,000,000 guarantee.
“From hall of famers winning bracelets to celebrity sightings and a classic Phil Hellmuth entrance to the Main Event, WSOP Paradise exceeded even our own lofty expectations and became the final highlight of an incredible year,” said Ty Stewart, SVP and Executive Director of the World Series of Poker. “We thank every player who made the trip to the Bahamas to be part of the action and launch our newest tradition, Winter in Paradise.”
2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Dates Confirmed; Main Event to Run July 3-17
Event #1 Mystery Millions kicked off the poker in paradise action by breaking the record for the largest poker event ever hosted in the Bahamas and things only heated up from there. The winter series saw exceptional turnouts for its high roller events, with many of the tournaments becoming the strongest of the year at their buy-in level.
That included Event #3: GGMillion$ High Roller Championship, which was larger than its $25k counterpart at the WSOP in Las Vegas this summer.
What’s more, the $5,300 buy-in WSOP Paradise Main Event became the largest $5k buy-in poker tournament of 2023, with 3,010 entrants battling for a $2 million first-place prize in addition to the highly-coveted Main Event bracelet hand-crafted by Jostens from yellow gold, weighing nearly 95 grams and 494 genuine blue topaz round stones. GGPoker qualifier Stanislav Zegal ultimately won that tournament.
The Main Event was live streamed daily on GGPoker’s YouTube channel, and three post-produced TV episodes will air in the future on CBS Sports Network with commentary from legendary poker analysts Lon McEachern and Norman Chad.
Other highlights included Hellmuth making a grand entrance as Poseidon, Hall of Famer Erik Seidel taking home his tenth career WSOP bracelet after winning Event #7: Super High-Roller No-Limit Hold’em, and Japan’s Masashi Oya breaking through to claim his first-ever WSOP bracelet to go along with a massive $2.9 million first-place prize in Event #9: Ultra High-Roller No-Limit Hold’em.
Seidel spoke about his victory with Connor Richards, which you can hear on the latest episode of the PokerNews Podcast:
Among the celebrities to attend the inaugural WSOP Paradise were 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Tony Parker, two-time WNBA Champion and Las Vegas Aces’ Head Coach Becky Hammon, Manchester City legend Sergio Agüero, FS1’s Nick Wright, and more.
2023 WSOP Paradise Winners
| *Date | Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | County | Prize |
| Dec. 3-6 | Event #1: $1,500 Mystery Millions | 3,446 | $5,169,000 | Jin Hoon Lee | South Korea | $420,000 |
| Dec. 4-5 | Event #2: $1,500 Millionaire Maker | 3,496 | $5,233,000 | Allan Mello | Brazil | $1,000,000 |
| Dec. 5-8 | Event #3: $25,000 GGMillion$ High Rollers Championship | 533 | $13,325,000 | Samuel Mullur | Austria | $2,726,300 |
| Dec. 5-8 | Event #4: $1,000 Mini Main Event | 2,234 | $2,234,000 | Martin Raus | Canada | $334,380 |
| Dec. 7-8 | Event #5: $25,000 High Roller PLO | 140 | $3,500,000 | Nikolaos Lampropoulos | Greece | $871,600 |
| Dec. 7-8 | Event #6: $3,000 6-Handed | 755 | $2,265,000 | Boris Kolev | Bulgaria | $424,550 |
| Dec. 8-9 | Event #7: $50,000 Super High Roller | 137 | $6,850,000 | Erik Seidel | USA | $1,704,400 |
| Dec. 8 | Event #8: $2,200 Mystery Bounty PLO Online | 668 | $1,336,000 | Ben Wilinofsky | Canada | $139,379 |
| Dec. 9-11 | Event #9: $100,000 Ultra High Roller | 111 | $11,100,000 | Masashi Oya | Japan | $2,940,000 |
| Dec. 9-14 | Event #10: $5,000 Main Event Championship | 3,010 | $15,050,000 | Stanislav Zegal | Germany | $2,000,000 |
| Dec. 12-13 | Event #11: $800 Flip & Go | 767 | $567,580 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | $110,591 |
| Dec. 13 | Event #12: $1,050 NLH Freezeout Online | 1,336 | $1,366,000 | Anton “BrigitteBardot” Bardziyan | Belarus | $178,261 |
| Dec. 13-14 | Event #13: $10,000 PLO Championship | 104 | $1,040,000 | Dante Goya | Brazil | $277,700 |
| Dec. 13-14 | Event #14: $2,000 The Closer Turbo Bounty | 406 | $1,000,000 | Bernardo Neves | Portugal | $166,000 |
| Dec. 12-14 | Event #15: $10,000 High Roller 6-Handed | 169 | $1,690,000 | Dong Chen | China | $411,659 |
Executive Editor U.S.
Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.