With the end of the NFL regular season, the Circa Survivor NFL sports betting contest also wrapped up over the weekend, with poker players dominating the competition.
Five teams survived the season, picking 20 games correctly and will split $18.7 million. In other words, each winning entry takes home more than $3.7 million.
The annual competition charges a $1,000 entry fee. Entrants must pick one NFL team to win each week and can pick that team only once in the season. The contest adds special holiday games as weeks in the competition.
#CircaSurvivor 2025🏈🏆
Congratulations to our five 20-0 Winners!
They will split 💰$18,718,000💰, giving them each a total of 💰$3,743,600💰!
What a Great Season… see you all next year!
📄https://t.co/FP61WnzaHF pic.twitter.com/7pg5mK0QCI— Circa Sports (@CircaSports) January 5, 2026
Poker Players Shine In Competition
Several poker players were part of the teams that cashed in. According to a social media post from David “ODB” Baker, poker players were a part of four of the final five teams splitting the prize pool
Two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Shannon Shorr was one of those, as was Galen Hall, winner of the 2018 Crazy Eights event at the WSOP. Hall said he was a part of two of the winning teams.
When you get 2 entries across the finish line in @CircaSports Survivor. pic.twitter.com/k2EGc1VCxB
— Galen Hall (@galenhall) January 5, 2026
Poker pro and one of the game’s first successful streamers, Jason Somerville, was part of the “JUICY KEWCHI” winning team. The leader of the group included Gabe Patgorski, who has $7.8 million in tournament winnings, including winning a Triton title in 2019 for $5.8 million.
Former online pro and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Matt Graham was also part of a team. The “REAL BRO” team included poker players Casey Diener and Joey Michael. Both are from Austin. Diener has almost $500,000 in tournament winnings. He said the Thanksgiving/Black Friday week was crucial in reaching the finish line.
“We knew a lot of people would be on the Eagles, and our entry would have a lot of equity if the Bears pulled the upset,” he told VSIN. The Bears won and eliminated 489 entries that selected the Eagles. “It was a great opportunity to take a shot and it would put us in a great position.”
The “DYLAN W-10” team was led by Dylan Wilkerson, a poker player from San Francisco with $4.1 million in tournament winnings. That included winning a WSOP Circuit event in 2017 and scoring another championship ring in 2018.
As part of the final week of action, Circa owner Derek Stevens hosted a viewing party for those still in the competition at the casino’s sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas. This year’s contest featured 18,718 entries and easily surpassed the $10 million guarantee.
This isn’t the only year poker players have performed well in pro football handicapping contests. In 2021, David “ODB” Baker and Mark Gregorich won the Westgate SuperContest and finished second in the Circa Million.
One Team Falls On Bengals Loss
Going into the final weekend, each entry had an implied value of more than $3.1 million. However, one of those entries went down when the Browns topped the Bengals 18-17 after a last-second field goal. In hindsight, the field goal was worth $620,000 for the five winning teams.
In the final week, “JUICY KEWCHI-7” and “KICK YOUR KNEES UP-1” selected the Vikings, who scored a 16-3 home win over the Packers.
“REAL BRO-3” picked the Jaguars, who came up with a 41-7 blowout win over the Titans. The Falcons’ 19-17 home victory over the Saints paid off for “DYLAN W-10.” Lastly, “GaryA-10” took the Patriots in a 38-10 win over the Dolphins.
Dan Martin Wins Heaps In Circa Sports Betting Contests
In addition to the survivor pool, Circa also runs its annual sports betting contest. Like the survivor competition, it features a $1,000 buy-in. Then, each team picks five games against Circa’s point spreads.
The winner of the contest nets $1 million. However, Circa also awards money to the last-place finisher and quarterly awards for both the top and bottom of the leaderboard.
Poker player Dan Martin, nicknamed “Wretchy” from his online poker days, won $400,000 from two of his entries in the contest.
Finished with two entries into the top 10, LFG!!! Great contest and super excited to support circa next year in the same format.
Also finished with the 1st QTR winner split a few ways, ended up winning around 400k from the contest! LETS GO! https://t.co/e9PcNFL7kk— wretchy (@Wretchy) January 5, 2026
