Updated on 23 Feb 26 by
Barry carter
Poker Expert

Satellite winner takes down the biggest ever WSOPE Main Event

Despite COVID restrictions the WSOPE Main Event broke all records and awarded €1,276,712 to a €250 satellite winner.





Leon
Image courtesy of Kings Casino

It wasn't looking promising for the WSOPE Main Event after COVID restrictions were introduced during the series. The schedule had to be altered and most travelling players stayed at home. 

Yet amazingly it broke the record for the largest ever WSOPE Main Event with a staggering 688 entries. Proof that while COVID is by no means gone, the demand for live poker could not be stronger. 

It also had a fairy tale ending for Josef Gulas Jr, a 24-year-old local car salesman. He won a €250 satellite to play in this event and took it down for €1,276,712

He said he plans to build a house with the winnings and save the rest. 

You can watch the whole final table as it was given away for free courtesy of PokerGO. It also featured the debut of The Muck, a new analysis show featuring Daniel Negreanu, David Williams, Ali Nejad and Brent Hanks: 

Position Player Prize
1st Josef Gulas Jr €1,276,712
2nd Johan Guilbert €789,031
3rd Alexander Tkatschew €558,505
4th Athanasios Kidas €401,344
5th Stanislav Koleno €292,862
6th Aleksandar Trajkovski €217,854
7th Thomas Denie €163,434
8th Ilija Savevski €125,052

That was the last bracelet awarded in 2021 but if you still have WSOP fever, GGPoker have just announced a WSOP Circuit series starting this weekend. 

Did you watch the final table? 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.