Yinan Zhou Wins WSOP Paradise Super Main Event For $6 Million

Yinan Zhou took down 2024 World Series of Poker Paradise $25,000 tremendous fundamental occasion, which featured the biggest assure in event poker historical past: $50,000,000. The 24-year-old Chinese participant topped a discipline of 1,978 complete entries within the no-limit maintain’em affair that ran from Dec. 12-19 at Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas, incomes his first WSOP gold bracelet and the large $6,000,000 high prize.

Prior to this multi-million-dollar triumph, Zhou’s high reside rating was the $72,200 he earned because the Twenty eighth-place finisher within the inaugural WSOP Paradise $5,000 fundamental occasion final 12 months. The primarily online-focused participant had one recorded six-figure money to his identify, which fittingly got here along with his runner-up exhibiting in a $1,000 buy-in WSOP Online occasion final fall.

“I have no plan [for the money]… it is big money. Now I feel good. I decide to play more, practice more, study more to become better and better, to fight against the best and become the best,” Zhou stated in his post-win interview on WSOP’s streaming broadcast.

In addition to the cash and the {hardware}, Zhou was additionally awarded an enormous haul of Card Player Player of the Year factors. Despite not having any prior POY-qualified scores, the three,780 he earned with this victory catapulted him into 54th place within the 2024 POY standings offered by Global Poker.

There have been 1,124 entries made throughout the 4 reside beginning flights for this event, with one other 254 day 2 late registrants and 600 on-line entrants, bringing the whole to 1,978. The high 299 finishers earned a bit of the large prize pool, with none aside from 17-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth being the final to be eradicated exterior of the cash.

Plenty of massive names ran deep on this occasion, together with Super High Roller Bowl winners Christoph Vogelsang (thirty second) and Rainer Kempe (thirty first), two-time bracelet winner Chris Klodnicki (twenty sixth), bracelet winner Roland Rokita (twenty second), bracelet winner Nick Maimone (18th), Sorel Mizzi (sixteenth), POY contender Ren Lin (eleventh), and 2003 WSOP fundamental occasion champion Chris Moneymaker (tenth), who ran pocket nines into the pocket jacks of bracelet winner and 2010 European Poker Tour San Remo champion Liv Boeree.

The ultimate day started with four-time bracelet winner Michael Addamo out in entrance and Zhou in sixth chip place.

The first knockout of on the ultimate desk noticed brief stack Georg Lehmann run A-9 into the A-J of Addamo, additional including to the Australian’s lead. The German walked away with $750,000 for his ninth-place exhibiting, guaranteeing seven-figure paydays for the remaining contenders.

The first participant to say such a payout was Belarus’ Vadzim Lipauka. He referred to as off his final 14 massive blinds with A8 from the massive blind going through a small-blind shove from Mustapha Kanit, who rolled over Q4. Kanit spiked high pair and held from there on a Q953J board to eradicate Lipauka in eighth place ($1,000,000).

Justin Bonomo made headlines when he claimed on social media that he was requested to take away a Palestinian keffiyeh or face disqualification on the penultimate day of this occasion. The American poker professional got here near including to his assortment of three bracelets, however was in the end knocked out in seventh place when his pocket threes bumped into the pocket jacks of Yinan Zhou. Bonomo picked up a gutshot straight draw on the flop to go along with his outs to a set, however was unable to enhance any additional and accept $1,300,000. He stays in second on poker’s all-time cash listing, with this newest deep run growing his lifetime haul to $67.7 million.

Despite beginning the day because the chip chief, Addamo was in the end the following to fall. He misplaced a giant pot with two pair towards the turned broadway straight of Yinan Zhou to slip down the leaderboard and continued to pattern downward from there. He finally received all-in with QJ trailing the Ok8 of Boeree, The group playing cards that rolled off the deck have been 109396, which ended Addamo’s run in sixth place ($1,650,000). He now has greater than $29 million in lifetime earnings after this, his eighth seven-figure rating.

sixth place and $1,650,000 for Michael Addamo within the Super Main Event. A implausible efficiency! He began the day because the chip chief, however after working into some powerful spots all through the day, he completed in sixth place. #GG #wsopPARADISE pic.twitter.com/kGB70bggmS

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 19, 2024

Christopher Nguyen ran A-7 suited into the A-10 of Boeree to lose a piece of his stack. He then received his final handful of massive blinds in with J-10 trailing the pocket queens of Kanit. Nguyen flopped a gutshot, however was unable to hit on the flip or river and was eradicated in fifth place ($2,100,000). This was by far the biggest reside event rating but for the German, who’s at the moment among the many high contenders within the ongoing CoinPoker Cash Game World Championship.

A traditional preflop race spelled the top of Boeree’s run on this occasion. She open shoved for simply over six massive blinds with 44 from the cutoff. Marcelo Aziz, who gained his method into this occasion without spending a dime through a web-based satellite tv for pc on GGPoker, referred to as from the button with A8 and the 963AQ runout noticed Boeree head to the payout desk to gather a career-high payday of $2,800,000. This sum additionally set the document as the biggest single payout ever earned by a feminine participant, surpassing the $2,748,605 that Wenling Gao earned because the runner-up within the 2020 WSOP Online fundamental occasion. Boeree advised Poker.org’s Tiffany Michelle in a post-bustout interview that she plans to donate 20 p.c of her earnings from this occasion to charity.

Thanks to this record-setting windfall, the previous poker professional turned host of the Win-Win podcast now has greater than $6.5 million in profession cashes. That’s good for fourth place on the feminine all-time event earnings leaderboard, trailing solely Vanessa Selbst ($10,899,027), Kristen Foxen ($9,348,349), and Kathy Liebert ($7,113,052).

Liv Boeree shares her ideas on her wonderful run within the Super Main Event! Catch her interview with @JeffPlatt now. #wsopPARADISE #Poker pic.twitter.com/v7OdFm6Us1

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 19, 2024

Three-handed play lasted for roughly two hours. After loads of back-and-forth maneuvering, Kanit was in the end the following to be eradicated. Shortly after successful a race to double into the chip lead, he tried a multi-street bluff with seven excessive that was seemed up by Zhou’s full home. While that value him the lead, he was removed from brief stacked after that hand. He then ran sevens and fives into the queens and jacks of Zhou, although, to fall to round 15 massive blinds. In his ultimate hand he received all-in with A3 going through 98 of Aziz. Both gamers picked up flush attracts by the flip, however Aziz rivered a pair of eights on a OkQ268 board to win the hand. Kanit now has almost $16.4 million in lifetime cashes, placing him simply over one million away from surpassing Italy’s all-time cash chief Dario Sammartino ($17.4 million).

Heads-up play started with Aziz holding 578,000,000 to Zhou’s 412,000,000. Zhou managed to edge his method in entrance after which started to drag away, just for Aziz to double up with A-7 besting A-8 in a preflop all-in showdown. The two took a dinner break not lengthy after that, and returned after an hour to proceed their battle for the bracelet.

By the time the ultimate hand arose, Zhou held greater than a 2:1 benefit. Zhou limped in from the button for 12,000,000 complete with A6 and Aziz shoved for 285,000,000 holding Ok6. Zhou shortly referred to as and was in a dominant place with 5 to come back. Both gamers ended up with journeys after the J7566 board was dealt, with Zhou’s ace kicker being the deciding issue. Aziz earned $4,600,000 because the runner-up, an unbelievable payday in any context, however all of the sweater provided that he gained his method into this occasion through a freeroll.

“I’m feeling so grateful for this moment,” Aziz advised WSOP’s Jeff Platt after his cinderella story on this event got here to an finish.

An enormous congratulations to Yinan Zhou, the Super Main Event winner, claiming $6,000,000! Hats off to Marcelo Aziz Junior for ending 2nd in an unbelievable efficiency. #wsopPARADISE #Poker pic.twitter.com/lBEuuBWEmD

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 20, 2024

Here is a have a look at the payouts and POY factors awarded on the ultimate desk:

Photo credit: WSOP Live stream / X account.