The WSOP Main Event is the biggest live tournament in poker. Each year, thousands of poker players undergo the pilgrimage to Las Vegas, hoping to return with millions of dollars, the iconic WSOP Main Event bracelet, and permanent poker glory.
Though many of these players are dedicated professionals, others are fulfilling a lifelong bucket list dream. In the end, only one person can come out on top in fields that have recently exceeded 10,000 players.
But what do they do once it’s all over?
Here, we take a look at the current and former WSOP Main Event champions and find out what they did next.
Jonathan Tamayo (2024) – $10 million
Unbelievably, it wasn’t Tamayo’s first time making it to the final few tables of the WSOP Main Event, as he finished 21st in 2019. Five years later, up against a record-breaking field of 10,112 players, he went all the way – although not without controversy.
The Texas poker pro was chastised online for a multitude of reasons, first and foremost for being overly passive folding pocket queens pre-flop on the final table bubble. While that talk went away after he binked the Main Event, he took some major heat for continuously consulting his rail, who were accessing poker solvers, which he wouldn’t be legally able to access himself on the poker room floor. A matter of poker etiquette, or outright cheating?
While most people would completely change their lifestyle with $10 million, Tamayo had simpler plans. Speaking on the LOLz podcast, the fantasy sports enthusiast stated he would continue to play at the same stakes, stick with his current house and car, and even keep refereeing local high school football games. It shouldn’t come as a surprise – he does literally come from Humble, Texas.
Daniel Weinman (2023) – $12.1 million
2024 may have had a bigger field, but Daniel Weinman took down the biggest first-place prize of any WSOP Main Event in history, locking up over $12 million. It was probably made all the sweeter after he hit a two-outer for his tournament life against two opponents on Day 8. Sometimes, you just run good.
Since the big win, Weinman has been investing resources into his poker company, RF Labs, which tracks data in live games. He also bought a house and splashed out on a mega summer 2024 wedding (including an African safari honeymoon), while investing the majority into his portfolio. Oh, and he also squeezed in a round of golf with Donald Trump.
Espen Jørstad (2022) – $10 million
In 2022, Jørstad topped a field of 8,663 players to become the first Norwegian to win the WSOP Main Event. After calling his mum to share the news that he was now $10 million richer, the poker pro announced his intention to invest in crypto and hit the high roller scene by entering more $25,000 buy-in events.
This is exactly what most of us would probably imagine a WSOP champ would do with the cash. And he’s stuck to his word, racking up a number of fantastic scores, including:
- $2,766,191 for 3rd place in the 2023 Triton London $212,000 8-Max Hold’em Event
- $639,000 + bounties for 1st place in the 2023 Triton London $44,400 Mystery Bounty
- $277,500 for 7th place in the 2023 Triton London $63,600 7-Max Hold’em Event
Koray Aldemir (2021) – $8 million
Everyone loves rooting for the amateur at the final table, and the truth is that most viewers were likely cheering for Koray Aldemir’s heads-up opponent, George Holmes, dubbed ‘Home Game Holmes’.
That didn’t faze Aldemir, who overcame Holmes’ sometimes unorthodox style to take home $8 million and the bracelet.
Aldemir revealed in 2024 that he’s not driven just by money but also “titles, rankings, and [becoming] Player of the Year”. Like a true pro, he was back and defending his title at the next World Series of Poker Main Event, making another deep run and finishing in 75th place. A valiant effort at the most unlikely of back-to-back triumphs.
Damian Salas (2020) – $2.55 million
The 2020 WSOP Main Event was a little different.
With world events shutting down everything from airports to lemonade stands, the iconic series was pushed back to the end of the year and largely played online. The international online leg was held on GG Poker, which Salas won, and the US leg took place over on WSOP.com, won by Joseph Herbert. They each netted about $1.5 million before the heads-up match, live in Las Vegas, for an extra $1 million.
Before winning the WSOP, Salas already had a successful career as a lawyer – but it was as early as 2008 when he realized he could make more money from poker. His $2.5 million in winnings was significantly lower than recent years, so perhaps it’s just as well that Salas had no real plans for the cash, as we revealed in 2021.
Hossein Ensan (2019) – $10 million
Not everybody has the luxury of time to play poker. Hossein Ensan had worked as a taxi driver, waiter, painter, you name it – anything to make ends meet. At the age of 39, he’d managed to set up a small business which gave him enough time to explore his passion for poker. And at 55, he won the WSOP Main Event for $10 million.
Ensan became the oldest champion since Noel Furlong in 1999, but he wasn’t done there. The Iranian-German has continually flexed his poker strategy with four- and five-figure buy-ins since his victory. He even enters some events at mega stakes, like the $125,000 buy-in Triton Main Event in May 2024, where he finished 22nd for $235,000.
But in his own words, poker only makes up 25% of his life. That life-changing win has afforded him plenty of time to focus on what’s most important – his wife, his daughter, and his trusty dog.
John Cynn (2018) – $8.8 million
After being eliminated 11th in 2016, just two spots shy of the final table, you’d forgive John Cynn for giving up on the World Series of Poker Main Event. Instead, he took the $650,000 he’d won and threw it back into poker buy-ins – and what a genius idea that turned out to be, as he won the 2018 WSOP for a prize 13 times bigger than his previous victory.
These days, you might catch Cynn on the odd Live At The Bike (LATB) YouTube stream, and he’ll still show up to late reg the Main Event now and then. However, he’s only cashed in a handful of live tourneys since his WSOP victory.
Instead, he’s living out his dream of traveling the world and focusing on high-stakes cash games. He’s been working on that backpacker’s beard, too.
Scott Blumstein (2017) – $8.15 million
When Chris Moneymaker helped start the poker boom by turning an $86 satellite win into a $2.5 million windfall at the WSOP Main Event in 2003, it was like his story was pulled straight from a Hollywood script – right down to his job as an accountant. But he’s not the only one. Scott Blumstein also left the glamorous world of accounting behind after tying up more than $8.1 million in the 2017 Main Event.
Unlike Moneymaker, Blumstein already had a few big wins under his belt, including just under $200,000 in the 2016 $1 Million Deepstack Kick Off at the Borgata Summer Poker Open. He’s continued to play both live and at the best US poker sites since his big win, with a range of three- to five-figure cashes.
Poker aside, he’s been living his best life – catching the Oakland A’s live, rubbing shoulders with celebs like the late, great Norm Macdonald, and embarking on a personal health journey where he’s shedded around 100lbs. Well played.
Qui Nguyen (2016) – $8 million
The Vietnamese-American poker pro claimed $8 million after taking down the 2016 Main Event with K♣10♣ against Gordon Vayo’s J♠10♠. Nguyen is the most common surname in Vietnam, so he shares no direct relation to other poker pros, like Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen. Or 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen, who famously won the final hand of the Main Event after confidently stating, “You call it’s gonna be all over, baby!” – beer in hand.
It was less beer and more books for this Nguyen, who teamed up with poker software engineer Steve Blay to publish his autobiography From Vietnam to Vegas! How I Won the World Series of Poker Main Event. He also wound down poker a little to spend more time with his son in the brand new house he’d bought them, complete with pool. After all, it’s Vegas, baby!
Joe McKeehen (2015) – $7.68 million
With a degree in mathematics from Arcadia University and a world championship in the board game Risk, this guy was designed to dominate poker. That’s exactly what the Pennsylvania native did in 2015, besting a field of 6,420 in the WSOP Main Event 2015 to walk away more than $7.6 million.
Most WSOP champs stick around to play more poker, but few have done so as successfully as McKeehen. Just months after taking down the Main, he finished 2nd for over $1.2 million in the $100,000 Super High Roller at the 2016 PCA. He also achieved a resounding five six-figure tournament cashes that calendar year.
He also entered the spotlight at the WSOP Main Event final table 2024, although perhaps not for the right reasons: McKeehen was one of the two poker pros on Tamayo’s rail feeding him information from solvers en route to his win. Guess there’s no substitute for experience.
Resources:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkBA88oH4rA&t=3s (LOLz Podcast)
- https://www.spadepoker.tv/en/news/detail/hossein-ensan-it-is-important-to-always-be-a-gentleman-at-the-table (Spade Poker)
- https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/ (Hendon Mob)
- https://www.worldpokertour.com/news/late-reg-surge-on-day-2d-pushes-2023-wsop-main-event-field-to-10k/ (WPT)