The WSOP Paradise Super Main Event drew 1,978 entries to The Bahamas, all hoping for a shot at the $50 million prize pool. In the end, it was Yinan Zhou who took the grand prize of $6 million, beating Marcelo Aziz in heads-up play to close out a world class final table.

The surviving nine entered the finale after 36 players worked their way down to a final table on Day 4. Michael Addamo stood tall with the big stack and a healthy lead over second-running Christopher Nguyen, while Mustapha Kanit and Liv Boeree rounded out the top four chip stacks. Aziz, Zhou, Vadzim Lipauka, Justin Bonomo, and Georg Lehmann were ready to play chase to the top stacks with their eyes on the $6 million top prize. 

The final nine were guaranteed at least $750,000 each.

Bonomo, who entered the final table with $64 million in lifetime earnings, dodged a disqualification near the end of the penultimate day after WSOP officials required him to remove a traditional keffiyeh worn in support of Palestine. The three-time WSOP champ complied and made the final table with a chance to move above $70 million and closer to Bryn Kenney at the top of the all-time money leaders list. 

'I bluffed him.'

"I feel very calm. Very calm," Zhou said after he finished up taking pictures with his new WSOP bracelet and his loyal army of friends from the rail. 

Zhou came into the day in the middle of the leaderboard and fought his way to the top — frequently celebrating with a rail that could be considered anything but calm. The turning point, Zhou says, came when he bluffed Day 4 chip leader Addamo out of a big pot — a gutsy move on someone he calls "the most loose-aggressive player in the world."

"And he's such a legend in poker history. I succeeded, I bluffed him and took the pot. Then everything runs good too. And during the heads-up, I still got some good cards. My strategy is to play for money, but I play to win too. Play for money and win. I came here for the win."

Read the full recap on the PokerOrg front page.

Nick Schulman - $5K Closer Bounty Turbo Champion

Nick Schulman has one of the most recognizable faces and voices in the game today. You'd be hard-pressed to find many people who have accomplished as much as he has, including being one of the most beloved and charismatic commentators in the game. 

In fact, he's so good in the booth that if you didn't know any better, you might forget that he's got some serious game at the table as well.

If you've been around poker long enough, though, it's probably hard to forget the accolades and accomplishments that Schulman carries with him everytime he walks into the poker room.

For starters, he debatably has the second sickest first Hendon Mob live tournament result entry in all of poker (after Chris Moneymaker) – a monstrous World Poker Tour victory for $2,167,500 almost two months to the day after turning 21. That win put him on the map early in his career, a fact made all the more evident by CardPlayer magazine slapping him on the cover with a hard-to-forget headline where they refer to him by his old online screenname, "The Takeover."

Further proof of his enormous presence in the poker world, Nick will fly home from The Bahamas with $145,000 and a sixth WSOP gold bracelet to add to his trophy case, his second of the 2024 calendar year.

When talking to Nick after the victory, it was clear that even with all the insane accomplishments on his resume (including a $1,667,842 bracelet win this summer in the $25K NLH High Roller), this one might be the most special as his family was here the whole time to root him on, even jumping in a winner's photo taken on his phone.

Right after the last card fell.

When asked what was different about the 40-year-old Nick (his birthday was this past September) and the fresh-faced 21-year-old kid who took down that massive score all those years ago, he said, "With time, you hopefully mature a little bit and I just feel that with being a dad, it's helped me to... I dunno, man. I'm just doin' my best and I think I'm a lot different than that guy but the same in a lot of ways, too. I can still get all the chips in the tournament from time to time, so let's go!"

Touching on the gratitude he has for his life and what he's built through the beautiful game of poker, he spoke of the things in his life that he keeps present in his mind that make him most happy.

"It's nice to have things that you really are just truly grateful for, especially when the goin' gets tough."

Twenty years on from that first big score, it's now just a blip on the radar of a career that boasts total live earnings of well over $21,000,000, a number that's a full 10x beyond that first fateful title all those years ago.

Schulman, having turned 40 years old this year, is now eligible for a nomination to the Poker Hall of Fame and if you were to ask me what I thought about his chances of getting in, I'd only have two words to give in response: first ballot.

The Closer – results

• 1st: Nick Schulman - $145,000
• 2nd: Ren Lin - $110,000
• 3rd: Askadiy Tsinis - $84,600
• 4th: Daniel Negreanu - $65,200
• 5th: Santhosh Suvarna - $50,800
• 6th: Shaun Deeb - $39,400
• 7th: Samuel Mullur - $30,500
• 8th: Meir Meystel - $23,400
• 9th: Sosia Jiang - $18,100
• 10th: Ebony Kenney - $14,100

After nearly two and a half hours of heads up play, China's Yinan Zhou has triumphed over his opponent, Brazil's Marcelo Aziz, to lay claim to the $6,000,000 top prize and the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event bracelet. 

The two players put on quite a show, embracing the street poker play style throughout the battle and putting one another to the test. The final hand saw Zhou lay the trap by limping in with from the button. Aziz pounced on the perceived weakness, jamming in his remaining 23 big blinds with . Seconds after Aziz verbalized his all-in, Zhou threw a chip across the betting line and flipped over his cards, exclaiming, "Lets' go!"

The two players took to their feet, awaiting what could be the final runout of the tournament. The dealer spread the flop to leave Aziz still drawing to his three immediate outs. On the turn , both players made a pair, but Zhou still held the lead. The unlikely river improved both players to trips and Zhou's ace-high kicker was his saving grace. 

Yinan Zhou Super Main Event winner

As the virtual confetti rained down on the screens behind him, Zhou celebrated his $6,000,000 victory with his rail. 

Check out the full recap on the PokerOrg front page . 

Daniel Negreanu's Paradise is over after he finished fourth in The Closer. 

He lost his chips across a few hands, first doubling up Nick Schulman and then Ren Lin, before he was forced all-in and lost his remaining half big blind to Lin.

Arkadiy Tsinis followed him shortly after in third, leaving Schulman and Lin heads-up for the bracelet.