Today, 24-year-old Yinan Zhou bluffed poker's toughest opponent, busted his poker idol and became the first-ever World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise Super Main Event champion as he won the $25,000 buy-in event in the Bahamas for $6,000,000 and his first bracelet.
The Super Main Event, a $50 million guaranteed event that fell short of that lofty and historic goal by $550,000, drew 1,978 runners across four live starting flights and three online flights.
China's Zhou grew up watching clips of Justin Bonomo and even modeled his table posture after poker's second-most-winning player. Zhou got to play with Bonomo at the final table today and halted his pursuit to inch closer to all-time money leader Bryn Kenney.
"I played at the final table with my idol and busted him," Zhou told PokerNews in a winner's interview. "That's awesome."
He also pulled off an impressive bluff against chip leader and sixth-place finisher Michael Addamo, who a few years ago was nominated for "Players Choice for Toughest Opponent" at the GPI awards.
"I'm feeling calm, to be honest," Zhou said. "When I started the final table nine-handed ... I (felt) very nervous, especially the big river bluff against Addamo. But when we got down to six, I (felt) very calm ... I just enjoy(ed) this final table."
WSOP Paradise Super Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yinan Zhou | China | $6,000,000 |
| 2 | Marcelo Aziz | Brazil | $4,600,000 |
| 3 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | $3,600,000 |
| 4 | Liv Boeree | United Kingdom | $2,800,000 |
| 5 | Christopher Nguyen | Austria | $2,100,000 |
| 6 | Michael Addamo | Australia | $1,650,000 |
| 7 | Justin Bonomo | United States | $1,300,000 |
| 8 | Vadzim Lipauka | Belarus | $1,000,000 |
| 9 | Georg Lehmann | Germany | $750,000 |
Boeree Makes History on Day 5
Despite rarely playing tournaments, science communicator, and podcaster Liv Boeree made the final table and even had the support of the world's richest person behind her.
The 2017 Tag Team bracelet winner ultimately finished fourth for a career-best $2,800,000, which is the biggest cash for a woman in tournament history after Wenling Gao's runner-up finish in the 2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Main Event for $2,748,605. Boeree's payout is about 1/165,714th of Elon Musk's net worth, or enough for 23 years of Burning Man Ultra VIP Experience tickets.
Some 2,300 miles away, Boeree's other half, former Musk aide Igor Kurganov, made a run at the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas and spoke to PokerNews' Calum Grant about his relationship with the highly powerful tech entrepreneur.
All eyes were on Bonomo he was threatened with disqualification on Day 4 over his Palestinian keffiyeh. Bonomo didn't bring a Palestinian flag to the final table like he had teased, but he did say "free Palestine" into the camera after falling in seventh place for $1,300,000.
Earlier on X, Bonomo promised to donate a portion of his winnings to Palestinian causes. When asked if he knew how much of his seven-figure score he planned to donate, he told PokerNews he didn't know yet and still had some accounting to do.
A win for Italy's Mustapha Kanit would've put him at the top of the country's money list, but the eccentric pro fell in third before a heads-up battle between Zhou and Brazil's Marcelo Aziz, who had a story for the ages as he freerolled into the event online before earning a $4,600,000 payout for a runner-up finish.
"I Take Pride in My Country"
Zhou, who started playing poker in 2018 as an 18-year-old and has played "millions of hands online, both cash games and tournaments," was the second Chinese bracelet winner of the series. Lei Yu, who Zhou described as a "Chinese super pro," took down Event #6: $5,000 Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em for $293,050.
Ren Lin even paused his heads-up match against Nick Schulman in The Closer to congratulate Zhou and hop in a few winner's photos.
"I take pride in my country," Zhou said. "Maybe this year is very good for us Chinese players."
On Streets We Call the Zhou
Zhou's bluff against Addamo, who is usually the one doing the bluffing, took place with seven players remaining and saw Addamo leading out on the turn with top pair as Zhou raised the Australian with just ace-high. Addamo called and checked on the overcard river, only to fold the best hand when faced with another bet.
How did Zhou have the courage to make such a move? "Because I come here for (the) win. I'm not (coming) here to fold."
That wraps up the first-ever WSOP Super Main Event at the tail-end of an exciting stop in Paradise. Check out the live reporting hub in the meantime as the last tables are broken down in the Atlantis convention center.
