A restaurant employee from Thornhill, Ont., has become over CAD $500,000 wealthier after winning the Main Event at a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event hosted at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto.
The event, held from April 10-22, attracted 8,203 total entries across 11 WSOP Circuit Ring Events – a 35.9% rise compared to last year's first event.
Great Canadian Ontario is the sole venue in the province that holds WSOP events, featuring both ring and bracelet competitions.
The overall prize pool increased to CAD $7.56 million, reflecting a 35.4% rise compared to the previous year. A total of 11 WSOP rings were presented.
The major attraction was the $2,000 Main Event, which attracted 2,139 participants, featuring a record $3.74 million prize pool, an increase from last year’s $2.8 million. There were 413 Main Event online qualifiers from GGPoker, marking another rise from 2024. Great Canadian Casino Resorts partners with GGPoker to sponsor the event.
The main highlight was Pengxiang Ruan, a restaurant employee from Thornhill, just north of Toronto, who won the Main Event title, earning $510,245 as the first-place prize. Ryan, a poker player for a decade, states he intends to use his earnings to start his own restaurant.
WSOP is the biggest and wealthiest gaming event and poker brand globally, having distributed more than $4 billion in prize money in the last sixty years.
"The record-breaking turnout, amazing competition, and incredible stories like Pengxiang Ruan’s are exactly what make the WSOP Circuit such a special experience,” said Michael Kim, Executive Vice President, Great Canadian Entertainment. “We are proud to exclusively bring the magic of the WSOP to Toronto and look forward to building on this incredible momentum.”
Participants also competed in the $3,500 High Roller Event, which attracted 291 entries and had a prize pool of $906,465, along with the $1,000 No Limit Hold'em that saw a total of 847 entries with a prize pool of $719,950.
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