Here Is How Much Cash the Finalists of the WSOP Main Event 2025 Will Keep After Tax

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Big money

The Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) always attracts huge attention from players and fans alike. This year’s rendition came to a close on Wednesday, with Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi taking home the $10m first prize.

Federally licensed tax professional Russell Fox took a deep dive into the numbers on his website named ‘Taxable Talk’ to see what taxes the nine people who made the final table will have to pay.

purse for the finalists was $31m, with the after-tax prizes totaling just under $21m

The purse for the finalists was $31m, with the after-tax prizes totaling just under $21m. The impact of taxes in different jurisdictions or professions means that some finishers actually took home more money than those who beat them.

Differing situations

According to Fox, Mizrachi will need to forfeit almost $4m of the $10m he won between self-employment and US income tax, with no state tax applying as he lives in Florida.

neither of them being professional gamblers so they don’t have to pay self-employment tax

The second and third place finishers were John Wasnock and Braxton Dunaway. Since neither of them are official professional gamblers, they don’t have to pay self-employment tax on the winnings. This means the runner-up prize of $6m for Wasnock will be hit with a $2.2m tax bill.

Both the fourth and fifth place finishers reside in other countries that have tax treaties with the US. Kenny Hallaert lives in England and Luka Bojovic in Austria, two countries that don’t tax gambling winnings, so the pair will keep all of their prize money.

No luck for state governments

Not all nations exempt residents from paying tax on gambling winnings. Leo Margets became the first female in 30 years to reach the final table in the Main Event, and the Barcelona resident will have to pay about 47% of her $1.5m prize to the Spanish tax authorities.

professionals often choose to reside in the likes of Nevada, Texas, Washington, and Florida

None of the nine finalists live in US states where income tax is required, so it’s only the IRS who’ll be seeing any of the money. US-based poker professionals often choose to reside in the likes of Nevada, Texas, Washington, and Florida for these exact reasons.

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