Daniel Rezaei
Coming into 2025, Daniel Rezaei had never cashed for more than a million dollars in a single event. Now the Austrian poker pro has three such tournament poker scores, with his latest being the largest yet. On Dec. 6 he raced through a field of 151 entries in the World Series of Poker Paradise $50,000 no-limit hold’em turbo event to earn a career-best score of $1,900,000 and his first WSOP gold bracelet.
Rezaei’s first seven-figure windfall came with a third-place showing in the massive Wynn Summer Classic main event for nearly $1.2 million this July. Roughly six weeks later he took down a $50,000 buy-in at the Onyx Club Super High Roller Series in Cyprus for another $1,043,530.
With this latest triumph at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Rezaei has increased his career earnings to nearly $10.6 million. More than $5.7 million of that comes from his four final-table showings this year. In addition to his three million-dollar paydays, he also finished fourth in a €25,000 high roller at the European Poker Tour Malta for another $120,000.
This career-best year on the circuit has seen Rezaei climb to 18th in the Card Player Player of the Year race with 5,844 total points. His triumph at the WSOPP added 1,224 to that total.
Sprinting To The Gold
This fast-paced affair played out over the course of a single day, needing just 12 hours to go from 151 entries to a winner. The strong turnout made for a prize pool of nearly $7.5 million, with the top 23 finishers earning a share. Among the many big names to cash were Talal Shakerchi (22nd), Viktor Blom (19th), Michael Soyza (15th), Kristen Foxen (14th), Georgios Sotiropoulos (12th), and Nick Petrangelo (11th).
Two-time bracelet winner Michael Moncek (9th) and his brother, Tyler Moncek (8th), both made the final table and were eliminated back-to-back.
Belgian crusher Thomas Boivin finished seventh for $235,000 and his 16th POY-qualified final table of the year. He now sits one spot behind Rezai in the 2025 standings presented by CoinPoker.
With the eliminations of Matthew Wakeman (6th – $300,000) and Hui Chen (5th – $405,000), the final four had guaranteed themselves at least $570,000.
Brazilian two-time bracelet winner Joao Simao, who won two titles in November, made his 10th final-table appearance of 2025 with a deep run in this event. He has now cashed for nearly $4.5 million across those scores, and is ranked 29th on the POY leaderboard.
Bracelet winner and Triton Poker co-founder Paul Phua fell just a couple of spots short of his second WSOP title, finishing third for $815,000. He now has nearly $34 million in recorded scores to his name.
😬 3 handed in the $50,000 High Roller Turbo and Phua is all in vs Daniel Rezaei. KQo vs A9o.
♦️Who will win this crucial pot?
➡️ Follow along on the WSOP+ app! pic.twitter.com/aYoPJvt1hn
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) December 7, 2025
That left Rezaei heads-up against Italy’s Mustapha Kanit. The 2024 WSOPP Super Main Event third-place finisher ultimately finished second, earning $1,215,000 for the third-largest score of his career. He now boasts more than $18.9 million in overall earnings on the circuit.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Daniel Rezaei | $1,900,000 | 1224 |
| 2 | Mustapha Kanit | $1,215,000 | 1020 |
| 3 | Paul Phua | $815,000 | 816 |
| 4 | Joao Simao | $570,000 | 612 |
| 5 | Hui Chen | $405,000 | 510 |
| 6 | Matthew Wakeman | $300,000 | 408 |
| 7 | Thomas Boivin | $235,000 | 306 |
| 8 | Tyler Moncek | $189,000 | 204 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | $157,500 | 102 |
Photo credit: official WSOP X account.
