The 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event is down to its final table of eight, from a field of 2,891 entries in a tournament that built the eighth-largest prize pool in poker history.
The bulk of that $72,275,000 is set to be awarded on Thursday, with each of the final eight guaranteed at least $1,100,000.
The winner will leave The Bahamas with an incredible $10,000,000.
Let's look at the final contenders for that incredible prize.
Jean-Noel Thorel (chip leader: 567,000,000 – 141bb)
Jean-Noel ThorelFrance’s all-time leading money winner is a regular on the high roller scene with career earnings just under $23,000,000, including his $1,100,000 guaranteed payday for reaching the final table of the Super Main Event.
Besides playing the highest buy-ins in the world, the 78-year-old from Paris made his name in the field of science as a biologist, pharmacist, and entrepreneur.
While Thorel has five seven-figure cashes on his Hendon Mob page, his largest score in a win was for $568,712 in a $30,000 buy-in event at the 2024 EPT Barcelona festival.
Bernhard Binder (2nd: 211,000,000 – 52bb)
Bernhard BinderA million-dollar tournament score is something many strive for, but few achieve. 27-year-old Austrian Bernhard Binder has now done it twice this month.
Binder took down the $10,300 buy-in, $10,000,000 guaranteed GG Millions online earlier this year for $1,832,484, and now looks to top that number in the Super Main Event.
Binder’s live accomplishments are relatively modest, with a previous career-best $64,500 score this September in a $25,000 Triton Event and a Hendon Mob total of just under $330,000 before the Super Main Event final table, across three years' worth of results.
Natasha Mercier (3rd: 165,000,000 – 41bb)
Natasha MercierAlong with husband Jason Mercier, Natasha Mercier is half of one of poker’s original power couples. Playing mostly in their home state of Florida and a few events at the World Series of Poker in the summer, the couple has prioritized raising a family over playing poker in recent years.
But while Natasha has built an already impressive resume totaling over $1,500,000 in career tournament earnings, this final table and the $1,100,000 it comes with is by far her biggest career score. With a ladder up to 7th at the final table, a higher score than her multi-time bracelet-winning husband also awaits.
Belarmino De Souza (4th: 150,000,000 – 37bb)
Belarmino De SouzaThe final table's Brazilian representative almost didn't make it to Thursday, sitting with just four big blinds as the players merged for the unofficial final table.
A series of incredibly timely double-ups turned his stack from fumes to fire, and he now enters the last day of play extremely healthy.
The $1,100,000 that he's guaranteed himself is more than double his total previous career tournament earnings of $419,118, with a $52,504 cash his previous best result.
Eric Wasserson (5th: 130,500,000 – 32bb)
Eric WassersonFans of Daniel Negreanu’s vlog may remember him as 'Popcorn’, but after an incredible 2025, Eric Wasserson is now the fire that pops that popcorn.
The 36-year-old has hit the High Roller scene in a major way in 2025, first earning a career-best $2,287,000 in a Triton High Roller in Montenegro, then earning over another million before reaching the Super Main Event final table.
Wasserson had already scored a $403,500 cash in the $250,000 buy-in Triton Invitational last week here in Paradise, but he’s now just a few more eliminations away from adding $10,000,000 to the best year of his career.
Terrance Reid (6th: 114,500,000 – 28bb)
Terrance ReidPokerOrg’s own Terrance Reid was already thrilled by his run in the Super Main Event when he realized his end-of-Day 3 guarantee of $335,000 had sent him over the $1,000,000 mark in career tournament earnings, but now he’s just gone and earned more than that number alone with his run to the final table.
38-year-old Reid had already been having an incredible year, with a recent runner-up finish at NAPT Las Vegas adding $99,090 to his career tournament earnings, which had a previous best $192,755 score from a 2024 win at Thunder Valley.
We’re not going to lie – we hope he doesn’t leave his job with us for a life as a professional tournament player, but we wouldn't blame him.
Wow. What a run for one of our own.
Peter Chien (7th: 76,000,000 – 19bb)
Peter ChienChien's run to the final table is a great tale, as the 32-year-old Canadian is playing just his second live tournament since 2020.
With his main focus on sports betting, Chien says he only plays around 100 hours of online poker per year now. He used some of that time a few weeks back to win the GG Poker Ontario Main Event for $180,000 CAD. That win also came with a WSOP Paradise package into the Super Main Event.
He needed a second bullet to get to this point, but $1,100,000 later, he's back in a big way with potentially a lot more to come Thursday.
Franco Spitale (8th: 33,000,000 – 8bb)
Franco SpitaleFranco Spitale’s final table appearance in the Super Main Event has vaulted him to 7th on his country’s all-time tournament earnings list, while a win would launch him to third place behind only Nacho Barbero and Alejandro Lococo, two of the best-known players in all of poker.
The 36-year-old’s previous career highlight came last year at the 2024 World Series of Poker, when he won the prestigious Millionaire Maker event for $1,250,125. He’s now clinched his second career seven-figure score with his eyes on much more Thursday.
Time to crown a champion
The Super Main Event final table will begin on Thursday at noon ET and will be streaming on all WSOP channels beginning at 1pm ET.
Play will resume with 10:51 remaining in Level 34, with blinds at 2,000,000/4,000,000 and a 4,000,000 big blind ante.
The first player to 1.445 billion chips wins.
