Schuyler Thornton Wins 2025 WPT® World Championship for $2,258,856

WPT® World Championship 2025: Results at a Glance

Final table results and selected payouts

Here are the key numbers, players and results.

Official Final Table

*Includes $10,400 seat for 2026.

Selected payouts beyond the final table

This ladder shows how deep the money ran. Six-figure payouts started well before the official final table.

How the final table played out

What does a “World Championship” final table look like when the script flips mid-way? 

Here, the early favourite started in front, then saw Thornton run him down.

Soheb starts in control

Day 5 ended with Soheb Porbandarwala holding a clear chip lead and the only WPT® Champions Club title at the table, thanks to his 2020 WPT® Online Poker Open win.

He also arrived with a WSOP bracelet and several Circuit rings, so most coverage framed him as the favourite. All six players returned with at least 26 big blinds, so stacks were deep enough for a real battle.

Thornton busts Maxx Coleman in 6th

The first big step for Thornton came when Maxx Coleman was first to fall. Coleman moved in short and lost to a better hand held by Thornton, exiting in sixth place for $540,000.

That pot closed the gap on Soheb’s lead and set the tone for the rest of the night.

Local hero Jeremy Becker bows out in 5th

Jeremy Becker, a Wynn regular known for crushing daily events and mid-stakes series, was one of the fan favourites in the room. 

He could not fade another dominated spot with an ace and left in fifth for $710,000, a career best but a tough result for the local rail.

ICM pressure and Chad Lipton’s exit in 4th

Four-handed, the pay jumps got brutal.Chad Lipton lost a large pot in a value-versus-value clash and went out in fourth for $940,000.

His bust pushed Thornton and Jeremy Brown closer to Soheb and turned every preflop all-in into a huge ICM test.

Jeremy Brown’s surge and fall in 3rd

Brown stayed alive by winning a key all-in against Porbandarwala. For a short stretch it looked like he might steal the headlines.

Then came the cooler. 

Brown raised the small blind with J♦8♣ and fired three streets on an 8♥4♣3♥5♠3♠ board. Thornton called down with 4♠4♥ for a full house and picked off the river shove to end Brown’s run in third for $1,250,000.

3rd place finisher Jeremy Brown.

Heads-up deal and the Thornton heater

Heads-up started deep, with both players holding more than 100 big blinds. 

During a break they agreed to an ICM deal worth $2,258,856 for Thornton and $1,969,344 for Porbandarwala, with the title and Champions Club seat still on the line.

From there Thornton took over.

He won a huge pot when he 3-bet preflop with A♠A♦, then value-bet all three streets on a K♣8♥6♣A♦9♦ board against Brown to drag an 86.2-million-chip pot.

Once play was down to two, live updates recorded stretches where he won six hands in a row, then twelve in a row.

The match ended in Hand #84.

Porbandarwala held A♥6♥ against Thornton’s A♦K♠ on a board of K♣5♥4♥10♠10♦.

The missed flush draw left Soheb drawing dead on the river, and kings and tens locked up the title for Thornton.

Three hands that defined the title

1. Brown’s full house cooler in third place

Three-handed, Brown raised from the small blind with J♦8♣ and saw Thornton defend.

On 8♥4♣3♥ he bet small and got called.

The 5♠ turn and 3♠ river brought more chips into the middle until Brown shoved and Thornton tank-called.

Brown tabled top pair that had turned into eights and threes.

Thornton showed pocket fours for a full house and sent Brown to the rail in third. That pot guaranteed Thornton at least $1,969,344 after the deal and set up his heads-up shot. 

2. Hand #74: flopped set of aces for 86.2 million

In Hand #74, Brown opened to 1,600,000 from early position. 

Thornton 3-bet the button to 5,000,000 with A♠A♦, and Brown called.

The board ran out K♣8♥6♣A♦9♦. They both checked the flop, then Brown led 2,500,000 on the turn.

Thornton raised to 7,500,000, got called, and fired 17,000,000 on the river. Brown paid it off and watched Thornton drag an 86.2-million-chip pot.

That hand turned Thornton into the clear chip leader and changed the shape of the final table.

3. Hand #84: kings and tens for the WPT® World Championship

The last hand started with Soheb holding A♥6♥ and Thornton holding A♦K♠. On K♣5♥4♥10♠10♦, Porbandarwala missed his nut-flush draw and finished with just ace-high. Thornton’s hand improved to kings and tens and stayed best through showdown.

One standard preflop spot, one missed draw, and the title stayed in front of Thornton.

Thornton and runner-up Soheb Porbandarwala agree to an ICM deal. 

Who is Schuyler Thornton?

Schuyler Thornton is an American professional with years of results in tough mid-high stakes fields.

Before this win he already had a strong live record, with deep runs in mixed games and no-limit hold’em, but no title at this level.

WPT® reports that this victory more than doubled his lifetime earnings and pushed his career total past four million dollars.

It also gave him:

• His first WPT® title and a place in the WPT® Champions Club
• His biggest cash by a wide margin
• A marquee win that will lead every future broadcast bio

In the WPT® press release he said he “ran better than anyone could ever dream” and called the win “kind of surreal” for a stage of this size.

For many mid-stakes grinders, he is now the proof that steady volume and patience can still translate into a seven-figure December.

WPT® World Championship 2022–2025: fields and prize pools

The modern WPT® World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas now has four completed editions.

• 2022: Eliot Hudon wins from 2,960 entries for $4,136,000. Prize pool $29,008,000.
• 2023: Dan Sepiol wins a record 3,835-entry field for $5,678,000.
• 2024: Scott Stewart wins from 2,392 entries for $2,563,900.
• 2025: Schuyler Thornton wins from 1,865 entries for $2,258,856. Prize pool $18,277,000.
   

The 2025 field sits below the 2023 peak but still keeps the event near the top of the global $10k calendar. 

It remains one of the only tournaments where a five-figure buy-in leads to a mid-eight-figure prize pool and a seven-figure first prize.

The player mix backs that up.

You see elite names like Phil Ivey, multiple WPT® champions such as Jared Jaffee and Konstantin Held, and recent WPT® Prime winners including Nicholas Teeuwen and Zak VanKeuren in the same field.

Festival context and the path from online to Wynn

The WPT® World Championship sits on top of a three-week December festival at Wynn Las Vegas that ran from December 2 to 22, 2025.
The schedule included:

• The $1,100 WPT® Prime Championship with 9,876 entries and a $9,579,720 prize pool
• The WPT® Ladies Championship and Seniors events
• Mixed-game and PLO championships
• A $25,800 high roller
• A dense grid of live satellites feeding both Prime and the $10,400 World Championship

Players reached the main event through three main paths:

• Step and milestone satellites at Wynn starting from a few hundred dollars
• Online routes on WPT® Global, where festival promos offered $12,400 packages that covered buy-in plus travel
• ClubWPT and partner promotions for U.S. and international markets

For mid-stakes grinders, that creates a clear ladder. 

Qualify online or live, bag a stack in one of the biggest $10,400s of the year, and play for life-changing money without needing a super high roller bankroll.

Why this title matters

What does this result tell you about the WPT® World Championship right now?

The festival has settled into a reliable December anchor at Wynn Las Vegas with big fields across every buy-in tier.

The main event still draws a mix of elite pros, local heroes, and online qualifiers, not just a closed group of nose-bleed regulars.

It also shows that a player like Schuyler Thornton can still break through. He did not come from the super high roller circuit.
He came from years of grinding mid-high stakes, then used this stage to double his career totals in a single week.

If a 1,865-player, $18.3-million prize pool feels like the dream target, the message for 2026 is simple. 

Build your path to Wynn early, use WPT® Global satellites and live steps, and treat the next WPT® World Championship as the main goal on your calendar.