Aaron Johnson Wins 2025 WPT® Prime Championship | Full Payouts

Results at a glance

Original first prize: $1,177,880 including a $10,400 WPT® World Championship seat

Final result after heads-up deal:

1. Aaron Johnson – $1,010,400*
2. Fernando Martin Del Campo – $942,480

*Includes a $10,400 seat into the Season 24 WPT® World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

Final table results

After a heads-up deal at the TV final table, the payouts were:

Hand #87 decided it. 

On a 9♦ 7♦ 5♥ K♥ 10♥ board, Johnson’s rivered ten beat Del Campo’s pair of sevens and secured the title plus the World Championship seat.

Event snapshot: a mid-stakes giant at Wynn

Inside the December festival at Wynn Las Vegas, the WPT® Prime Championship again drew the biggest field on the Season 23 schedule.

Four starting flights ran from December 7–10:

Total: 9,876 entries and a $9,579,720 prize pool, almost double the $5,000,000 guarantee and officially the largest field of any Season 23 WPT® event.

The top 1,233 finishers earned at least $1,940, turning a $1.1k buy-in into a genuine seven-figure sweat for anyone who reached the final day.

On field size, prize pool, and TV coverage, you can make a strong case that this is the key $1k live no-limit event outside the WSOP for 2025.

How the final table played out

The televised final table on December 20 started six-handed with the big blind at 2,000,000. Qing Liu arrived as chip leader. Aaron Johnson sat in the middle of the pack.

Six to two in 29 hands

Eliminations came fast. The table went from six players to heads-up in 29 hands. Short stacks had almost no room. Every all-in carried real ICM pressure with pay jumps already huge.

Liu’s lead disappears

Liu, already a WPT® champion, never managed to pull away. A run of medium pots went against him. He lost traction, then chips, and went out in fourth for $430,000.

Umerova’s deep run

Safiya Umerova, the only woman at the table and a WSOP bracelet winner, climbed as high as second. She could not survive the final ICM clashes and exited in third for $575,000, one of the biggest open-field scores of her career.

A long, tense heads-up and a deal

Once Del Campo and Johnson reached heads-up, the match slowed. Stacks stayed close. They traded small pots and the chip lead across almost an hour of play. 

During a break, they agreed to flatten the payouts with a deal, leaving the title, the seat, and a slice of money still in the middle.

They came back, and Johnson finished the job in Hand #87 with the river ten.

A heads-up deal was struck between Johnson and Del Campo.

Three hands fans will rewatch

1. Tim Burden’s bustout to a river straight

Tim Burden’s exit was a classic festival cooler. 

Holding pocket tens, he faced heavy pressure from Del Campo on a runout that brought a river card completing Del Campo’s straight. Burden could not get away and fell in fifth for $325,000. The pot pushed Del Campo into real title contention and fired up the Mexican rail.

Why does this stand out? 

Even mid-strength overpairs can become bluff-catchers when the board shifts, and big festival spots rarely give you a cheap decision.

2. The long heads-up stalemate

After four quick eliminations, the table turned into a two-handed grind. Johnson and Del Campo circled each other for roughly three hours. 

Neither wanted to be the first to blink in a pot that risked the entire stack. Most hands ended preflop or on the flop. The occasional medium pot swung the lead back and forth.

The eventual deal made sense. Both had locked up life-changing money and were playing deep into the festival schedule.

This is what modern big-field finales look like. Less set-up shove, more small edges and stamina.

3. Hand #87: river ten for the title

The final board ran out 9♦ 7♦ 5♥ K♥ 10♥. 

Del Campo arrived at the river with a pair of sevens and a short stack. Johnson bet again. Del Campo called off and saw the bad news. Johnson tabled a ten, rivering the better pair and closing the match.

While the last hand is simple, the story behind it is not. The deal reduced the financial pressure, yet both still had to pull the trigger under TV lights in a seven-figure pot.

Who is Aaron Johnson?

Aaron Johnson is the exact mid-stakes grinder this event is built for.

Key points from his résumé:

• Long-time MSPT Hall of Famer and one of that tour’s most consistent winners. 
• Player of the Year on both the Mid-States Poker Tour and the Heartland Poker Tour in 2018.
• Came into Wynn with roughly $2.8–$2.9 million in live earnings, including a $732,329 runner-up in the 2024 WSOP $1,500 Monster Stack.
• Won the MSPT Ameristar East Chicago Main Event for around $92,000 only weeks before this WPT® title.

This win pushes his lifetime cashes beyond $3.5 million and gives him a WPT® title plus a seven-figure score on global TV. 

In his winner interview he said he felt “due for something big” and talked about how years of grinding smaller events led to this moment at Wynn.

The rest of the cast: Del Campo, Umerova, Liu, Burden, Foox

A strong Prime recap also gives a quick look at the other finalists.

• Fernando Martin Del Campo came in with a modest live résumé and a stronger online background. A $942,480 second-place finish and a composed TV performance turn him into a name to watch.
• Safiya Umerova adds $575,000 to a record that already includes a WSOP Shootout bracelet and several deep runs. This third-place result is one of the festival’s standout open-field performances by a woman.
• Qing Liu already owned a WPT® title from his 2021 Venetian win. He started the final as chip leader and finished fourth. His WPT® résumé stays strong despite the near miss.
• Tim Burden and Uri Foox played the role of regional heroes stepping into the spotlight. Burden’s $325,000 and Foox’s $250,000 both crush their previous best live results and should change their career arcs.

Runner up Fernando Martin Del Campo 

How 2025 stacks up against past WPT® Prime Championships

The Wynn Prime Championship now has a four-year history as a December pillar.

The pattern is clear. Prime has settled into a 9–10k entry band with prize pools around $9.5–10.2 million and a seven-figure top payout from a $1,100 buy-in. 

That puts it in a unique mid-stakes tier: bigger than almost any regional $1k, cheaper and more accessible than a $10k championship.

Prime inside the Wynn festival and the WPT® Global path

The WPT® World Championship festival at Wynn now runs more than 70 events each December. It spans $600 side events, the $1,100 Prime and $1,100 Ladies Championship, plus the $10,400 WPT® World Championship itself.

For many players, the Prime Championship is the natural entry point into this schedule.

• Live step satellites at Wynn start around the low hundreds.
• Online sites, including WPT® Global partners, run qualifiers that feed players into Prime and other Wynn events.

The path is simple in concept. Turn a three-figure online or live satellite score into a $1,100 seat. Run well for four long days. 

If everything lines up, you sit under the lights in the Encore Ballroom playing for seven figures, just like Johnson did.

Quick FAQ

Who won the 2025 WPT® Prime Championship?

Aaron Johnson won the 2025 WPT® Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, earning $1,010,400 plus a seat into the Season 24 WPT® World Championship.

What was the buy-in and prize pool?

The event cost $1,100 to enter and drew 9,876 entries for a $9,579,720 prize pool, almost double the $5,000,000 guarantee.

How many players made the money and what was the min-cash?

The top 1,233 finishers were paid. Min-cash was $1,940.

Was there a heads-up deal?

Yes. About an hour into heads-up play, Johnson and Fernando Martin Del Campo agreed to a deal that flattened the remaining payouts before Johnson went on to win the title.

How does the 2025 field compare with past years?

Only the 2023 edition had more entries, with 10,512. The 2025 Prime still ranks among the largest WPT® fields ever and was the biggest Season 23 event by entries.

How can I play a future WPT® Prime Championship?

Most players come in through direct buy-in at Wynn or via live step satellites and online qualifiers that award festival seats. Keep an eye on the WPT® World Championship festival schedule and WPT® Global qualifier announcements each year.