Aaron Johnson has won the 2025 WPT Prime Championship, claiming a first-place prize of $1,010,400. After outlasting a field of 9,876 entries, Johnson and Fernando Del Campo made a heads-up deal that assured both players a life-changing sum, with Johnson ultimately coming out on top in the heads-up battle.
What makes this particular achievement so impressive is that it isn’t Johnson’s first time navigating a massive, high profile, mid-stakes no-limit hold’em event. In 2024, Johnson got heads up in the WSOP Monster Stack event, only to fall one spot short of the title. That $732,329 cash stood head and shoulders above all of his other live tournament results, until his WPT Prime victory.
“This means everything to me,” said Johnson, following his win. “I’ve had good runs, good years, and good results, but this one tops everything by far. Being a WPT event, being a gigantic event, it’s truly everything to me.”
This event ran for nearly two full weeks, from the first card in the air on Dec. 7 through the final hand on Dec. 20. After four starting flights, and three additional days of poker to reach the final six, there was a five-day hiatus before those six players returned to play out the tournament on a televised stage.
Johnson made it worth the wait. In addition to his first seven-figure cash, and a $10,400 seat to the 2026 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, Johnson also earned 1,320 Card Player Player of the Year points. That nearly doubled Johnson’s total for the year, putting him in 134th place in the yearlong race presented by CoinPoker.
A Long Road To Success
The WPT Prime Championship stood as the first signature event during the early days of the WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas. The number of entries climbed with each successive starting flight. There were 1,110 entries on day 1A, 1,720 on day 1B, 3,101 on day 1C, and 3,945 on day 1D.
Johnson bagged up during that final starting flight to become one of 1,231 players to reach day 2 and a guaranteed payday. It took an additional three days of poker for the field to be whittled down to the final six players. Along the way, there were deep runs by several notables, including dual WPT and WSOP champions Mike Leah (103rd) and Asher Conniff (70th), Angela Jordison (51st), and two-time bracelet winners Barry Shulman (48th), Bryan Piccioli (43rd), and Luis Velador (40th).
Other big names that came close to the final table included WPT champion Kharlin Sued (41st), bracelet winner Aram Zobian (37th), WPT and EPT champion Maxim Lykov (36th), Esther Taylor (26th), Jeremy Becker (19th), and 2022 WPT Prime Championship winner Stephen Song (18th).
In the playdown from nine to the televised final table, bracelet winner William Givens went out on the TV bubble, finishing seventh.
The final six featured a mix of players with significant big final table experience and those enjoying their first time in that environment. Qing Liu won a WPT title back in 2021, and had also played heads-up for a WSOP bracelet. Safiya Umerova won a WSOP bracelet in 2016. Uri Foox and Timothy Burden had regional successes, and Del Campo’s previous best live result was $6,601. Just by making the final six, he was guaranteed $250,000.
Down To A Winner
On the third hand of the final table, Johnson made a massive river call to double through Liu, into the chip lead. On a board of K♦Q♥J♣J♠K♠, with 59 million chips in the middle, Liu put Johnson all in for his last 31.4 million. Despite the board double pairing with kings, Johnson snapped it off with pocket queens, and he was right, as Liu held A♥5♥.
THIS HAPPENS JUST THREE HANDS IN to the @WPT Prime Championship Final Table 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gZnEKSGfDo
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 21, 2025
The first elimination happened on the 18th hand of the day. Del Campo’s pocket kings held off Fox’s A♥8♦ to eliminate Fox in sixth ($250,000). That’s when the whirlwind really kicked up. Five hands later, Del Campo utilized his own A♣8♥ to run out an eight-high straight and crack Burden’s pocket tens, sending Burden to the rail in fifth place ($325,000).
Del Campo continued his onslaught by taking out Liu in a massive pot. His A♦K♣ was up against Liu’s A♣Q♥, and found a K♠ on the flop to secure the pot, the elimination, and a considerable chip lead. On the very next hand, Johnson picked up pocket aces and beat Umerova’s K♦10♠. After a wild stretch of 12 hands, it was down to just Johnson and Del Campo.
Johnson pulled even several times, only for Del Campo to re-establish his lead. At one point, Del Campo won seven pots in a row and extended his advantage to 3:1. Johnson essentially doubled up, shy of a few chips, with a six-high straight, and when the players went off on a scheduled break, they ultimately decided to flatten the payouts.
From that point on, Johnson was virtually unstoppable. He whittled Del Campo down to his last three big blinds, and on the final hand, his Q♣10♠ nailed the river of a 9♦7♦5♥K♥10♥ runout to beat Del Campo’s 7♣4♦ to seal the deal.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | Points |
| 1 | Aaron Johnson | $1,010,400 | 1,320 |
| 2 | Fernando Del Campo | $942,480 | 1,100 |
| 3 | Safiya Umerova | $575,000 | 880 |
| 4 | Qing Liu | $430,000 | 660 |
| 5 | Timothy Burden | $325,000 | 550 |
| 6 | Uri Foox | $250,000 | 440 |
Photo credit: World Poker Tour.
