Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry Carter
Poker Expert

Stoyan Madanzhiev wins the GGPoker WSOP Main Event

The biggest prize in online poker history, as well as a Main Event bracelet, was won over the weekend at GGPoker.

Stoyan Madanzhiev
Stoyan Madanzhiev

You may or may not consider it a 'real WSOP Main Event' but a the very least it was the biggest online MTT in poker history and over the weekend Stoyan Madanzhiev of Bulgaria took it down for the biggest online MTT prize of all time.  

5,802 entries in total for the $5,000 event, making for a record first prize of $3,904,686.

Poker was deprived of a female world champion as Wenling Gao of China came second for a prize of $2,748,605 (the second biggest online prize in tournament history). 

Not much is known about Madanzhiev, he has around $30,000 in live cashes and identifies as a professional player. We may learn more if the poker world decides he is the reigning Main Event champion after this win, or if that is still Hossein Ensan.

That ends the first ever online WSOP at WSOP.com and GGPoker. It started out in a bumpy manner but the Main Event went off without a hitch and GGPoker appear to have established themself as a force on the world stage. 

The big question now is whether we will see a live version of the World Series of Poker in 2020? The World Series of Poker Europe looks set to be announced as tickets to that event were prizes during this festival, but a Vegas WSOP does not look like it is on the cards at the moment.

$5,000 GGPoker WSOP Main Event
Position Player Prize
1st Stoyan Madanzhiev $3,904,686
2nd Wenling Gao $2,748,605
3rd Tyler Rueger $1,928,887
4th Thomas Ward $1,353,634
5th Satoshi Isomae $949,937
6th Joao Santos $666,637
7th Stefan Schillhabel $467,825
8th Tyler Cornell $328,305
9th Samuel Taylor $230,395
5,802 entrants

Do you want to see an online WSOP next year? Let us know in the comments:

Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.