24 Jul 2025 The World Series of Poker Main Event has a new winner every year. However, there is one individual who never speaks up but consistently wins big, even if they only participate in a single hand: the Tax Collector. The poker world saw Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi win the 2025 WSOP Main Event epically. It made many people wonder: How much do the players get after the IRS and other tax offices have their say? The Final Table in Numbers: Gross vs. Net Total Final Table Prize Pool: $31.25 million Total Taxes Paid: $10.05 million IRS Share: $9.13 million Average Tax Rate Across Finalists: 32.37% Rank Player Country Gross Winnings After-Tax Winnings Tax Paid Tax Rate 1 Michael Mizrachi United States (Florida) $10,000,000 $6,032,745 $3,967,255 39.67% 2 John Wasnock United States (California) $6,000,000 $3,790,106 $2,209,894 36.83% 3 Braxton Dunaway United States (Texas) $4,000,000 $2,524,527 $1,475,473 36.89% 4 Kenny Hallaert Belgium $3,000,000 $3,000,000 $0 0.00% 5 Luka Bojović Serbia $2,400,000 $2,400,000 $0 0.00% 6 Adam Hendrix United States (Alaska) $1,900,000 $1,202,000 $698,000 36.74% 7 Leo Margets Spain $1,500,000 $795,000 $705,000 47.00% 8 Jarod Minghini United States (West Virginia) $1,250,000 $768,447 $481,553 38.52% 9 Daehyung Lee South Korea $1,000,000 $482,788 $517,212 Hallaert and Bojović Dodge the IRS The United Kingdom and Austria have tax agreements with the United States that exempt gambling winnings from taxation. It means that Kenny Hallaert, who lives in London, and Luka Bojović, who lives in Vienna, hit the tax jackpot. In other words, the IRS didn't touch any of their earnings. Both players, Kenny and Luka, received their full payouts untaxed. In reality, Kenny moved to third place in real take-home pay, passing players who finished ahead of him on paper. Margets and Lee felt the Taxman Pinch It's a disappointing day when you lose almost half of your win. Leo Margets had to give up 47% of her $1.5 million because she lives in Spain, a country known for having strict poker rules. The tax collector took $705,000 from her. Things didn't get much better for Daehyung Lee. The U.S. and South Korea don't have a tax deal, so the IRS took $300,000 right away. Lee has to pay more taxes at home, which could make his total bill more than 50%. From his $1 million prize, he's likely to lose about $517,212. The Champion Pays the Most Michael Mizrachi, who lives in Florida, had the biggest tax payment: $3,967,255. This amount includes government taxes on income and self-employment taxes. He still won a little more than $6 million, but it's hard to ignore that the government took almost 40% of his winnings. Who exactly won the Main Event? If we only consider the total earnings, the U.S. government collected over $10 million from all nine finalists. Poker Community Reacts: “The IRS is the Real Final Boss” Following the public release of the tax breakdown, individuals in online poker forums engaged in lively discussions about the implications of these taxes. Here are some insights from a few players and fans: SpelunkyJunky: Comment byu/David_Slaughter from discussion inpoker Striking_Marzipan_15: Comment byu/David_Slaughter from discussion inpoker CashgrassorNopass: Comment byu/David_Slaughter from discussion inpoker RJwhores: Comment byu/David_Slaughter from discussion inpoker
