Three New Champions Crowned During Poker’s Busy December

by Roy Brindley, 27 December 2025

Poker’s hectic December saw new champions crowned and a host of millionaires made in major EPT, WSOP and WPT tournaments.

Thousands of players took their shot at a major poker prize during December. ©WSOP

Key Facts:

• Several new poker millionaires were created following the hectic high-stakes December.
• Austria’s Bernhard Binder wins $10 million in WSOP Paradise Super Main at Atlantis Paradise Bahamas.
• Texan Schuyler Thornton lands the World Poker Tour Championship in Vegas.
• An Israeli poker manager wins big in PokerStars’ European Poker Tour Prague.

Schuyler Thornton landed the $10,400 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship at Wynn Las Vegas over the weekend. Victory, over 1,864 rival entries, landed the Texan $2,258,856 and the title won by Eliot Hudon, Dan Sepiol and Scott Stewart during the past three years.

This year’s championship created an $18,277,000 prize pool. The winner was slated to receive $2.5 million. A heads-up deal with the runner-up resulted in adjusted payouts, and as a result, Soheb Porbandarwala collected $1,969,344.

Porbandarwala, another American, started the six-player final table with a dominant chip lead. His 81 million stack represented almost half the chips in play. The eventual winner sat second in the standings with 36.5 million chips.

“I ran hotter than anyone could ever dream of running,” said the new champion after collecting his trophy. And this was the story of his final table as Schuyler Thornton eliminated each and every rival despite a bright start for Porbandarwala.

Schuyler Thornton’s good fortune was best demonstrated in his head-to-head battle. The World Poker Tour’s newest star won the biggest pot of the tournament when heads-up, holding pocket Aces. He proceeded to win the next 12 hands, completing his demolition of the final table.

Israeli Wins Multinational EPT Final Table in Prague

Thornton was the final big winner in a chaotic major tournament December when three new champions were crowned, and several players collected life-changing sums. The PokerStars European Poker Tour Prague 2025 kicked off the month’s high-stakes proceedings.

While a three-way deal was done, Matan Krakow was the official winner of the €5,300 Main Event in the Czech capital. The Israeli, best known as a poker manager for 888Casino, collected €778,225 in addition to his trophy.

Runner-up, Turkey’s Bora Kurtulus, earned €757,400, and a Greek player, Dimitrios Gkatzas, took home €574,600 for third place. The eight-man final table featured players from eight different countries, with additional representatives from Romania, India, Ireland, China, and the Czech Republic.

Binder is Poker’s Latest $10 Million Man

Matching the $10 million won by Michael Mizrachi at this summer’s Las Vegas World Series of Poker Main Event, Austria’s Bernhard Binder took the biggest Christmas present of all by landing the WSOP Paradise Super Main at Atlantis Paradise Bahamas a week before Christmas truly began.

Once again, one player, 78-year-old French biologist Jean-Noel Thorel, reached the final table holding a massive chip lead. The verified billionaire began the concluding day with almost 40 per cent of the chips in circulation.

Costing $26,000 to play, 2,891 total entries – many made by players that took several ‘bullets’, including Michael Moncek, who made 14 entries costing $364,400 – meant Thorel and all final table finishers were guaranteed at least $1 million of the $72,275,000 prize-pool.

Four Hours Heads-up to Bridge 50 Year Gap

Bernhard Binder, 27 years old, did not emulate Schuyler Thornton’s final table antics by eliminating every player and steamrolling his heads-up rival. Instead, he and Thorel shared the killer blows.

The last remaining female player, Natasha Mercier, fell in sixth for $1,800,000. Americans Eric Wasserson ($2,350,000) and Terrance “TJ” Reid ($3,000,000) departed in fifth and fourth. And when Brazil’s Belarmino De Souza fell in third (for $4,000,000), a heads-up between two players, 50 years apart, began.

It took almost four hours for the decisive hand to happen. With blinds making play shallow, the final confrontation was King-Queen versus Ace-8 in an all-in pre-flop situation. No picture card meant the younger player took his year’s live and online winnings beyond $12 million and etched his name in the record books.