2025’s World Series of Poker – Just Part of the Vegas Summer
The 2025 World Series of Poker is the biggest but not the only game in town. Plenty is happening in Vegas this summer.
Festival time: Most Las Vegas poker rooms will be bustling in the coming weeks. © Getty Images
Key Facts:
- The 2025 World Series of Poker has produced its first bracelet winner.
- Wynn Casino’s annual Summer Classic returns with more than $40 million in guarantees.
- The Venetian’s valuable DeepStack Championship Poker Series will run until the end of July.
- Resorts World Las Vegas, Golden Nugget, and The Orleans provides safe haven for low rollers.
At the start of the week, JD Vance told ‘Bitcoin 2025’ delegates at the Las Vegas Venetian Convention Centre that “Crypto can help everyday Americans.” A stone’s throw away, inside Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, a different type of speculator was beginning ambitious plans for a self-help solution.
Poker players have now descended on Nevada’s gaming Mecca to contest the 2025 World Series of Poker. It is the biggest gambling event in the world. Day 1 was a relatively gentle introduction to proceedings, with a pair of reasonably priced tournaments getting underway.
First WSOP Bracelet Has Been Awarded
The traditional curtain-raising $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold’em competition attracted 914 entries, a figure that was 275 down on the corresponding event in 2024. The fast, structured tournament fell to American Phovieng Keokham, who collected a $64,369 prize.
Phovieng Keokham 🇺🇸 wins Event #2: $500 Industry Employees No-Limit Hold'em for $64,369 & his first #WSOP bracelet! 👏 #WSOP2025 #Poker pic.twitter.com/RAr7r4p1hV
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) May 29, 2025
Day 1 of the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Millions attracted 1,329 entries. With five starting days, the second of which garnered 1,833 entries, this competition will run for a week. It is guaranteed to pay its outright winner, and a mystery bounty winner, $1 million.
Guaranteed Poker Action Across Las Vegas
The 2025 World Series of Poker comprises 100 bracelet events and will run until mid-July. Many other Las Vegas casinos are prepared to cash in on the early summer boom, with festivals running concurrently with poker’s most famous event.
Wynn Casino’s annual Summer Classic returns with more than $40 Million in guaranteed prize pools. The highlight of its 90 tournament/event festival is the $10 Million guaranteed Summer Championship.
The Venetian’s ongoing The DeepStack Championship Poker Series concludes on July 31. It features two events most days and boasts $21 million in guaranteed prize pools. Its buy-ins range from $200 to $5,000.
May 26 to July 15 are the dates set aside for The Aria Poker Classic when one tournament is scheduled daily. The bulk of entry fees range between $800 and $1,600 (and guarantees range between $100,000 and $200,000). Its headline event is the $3,500 Bet MGM Championship, which carries a $3 million guarantee.
The MGM Grand Summer Poker Festival – staged in one of the world’s biggest hotels – began on May 23 and will conclude on July 6, following 152 events. Its tournament buy-ins range from $150 to $1,700 with many poker variants and $4.5 million in guaranteed prize money on offer.
Affordable Entry with Big Prizes
The famous Golden Nugget downtown Las Vegas casino has its Grand Poker Series scheduled from May 27 to July 2.
Buy-ins range from $200 to $1,000. Nevertheless, all tournaments carry a guaranteed purse and almost $5 million in total underwritten prizes.
The Grand Ballroom will have 60 Tables this year, plus 9 tables fitted for cash games bringing us to 22 Live Action tables for the duration of the 2025 Grand Poker Series.
Earn $2/hr in comps when you use your 24K Players card in cash games. Parking Validation for all Poker… pic.twitter.com/K8wYupYt8p
— GNLV Poker (@GNLVpoker) May 3, 2025
Lower stakes players can head to Resorts World Las Vegas where two tournaments will get underway every day between June 5 and July 14. Most of its competitions demand a $200 entry fee (the biggest is $400), and each is guaranteed to feature a prize fund between $5,000 and $20,000.
Shangri-la, for small entry big-prize merchants, is probably found in The Orleans. Its 2025 Orleans Summer Open, running between May 23 and July 13, sees four tournaments start daily (three on Sundays). The bulk of its competitions are priced between $125 and $200. All have guarantees – in most cases, five figures – and its $800 Championship Event is underwritten for $500.000.
