I was not one of the 10,112 entrants (a record field) in the 2024 Main Event of the World Series of Poker. Yesterday saw the winner being crowned. He received a cool $10 Million, but how much of the winnings would he keep? For the record, 1,517 of the entrants (about 15% of the field) received part of the $94,041,600 prize pool with a minimum cash being $15,000.
One important note: I do need to point out that many of the players in the tournament were “backed.” Poker tournaments have a high variance (luck factor). Thus, many tournament players sell portions of their action to investors to lower their risk (and/or “swap” action with other entrants). It is quite likely that most (if not all) of the winners were backed (or had swaps) and will, in the end, only enjoy a portion of their winnings. I ignore backing and swaps in this analysis (because the full details are rarely publicized). Now, on to the winners.
Congratulations to long-time professional poker player Jonathan Tamayo of Humble, Texas (suburban Houston). Mr. Tamayo’s ten days of grinding poker culminated when his eight-three outflopped Jordan Griff’s nine-six on a nine-eight-three flop. The turn and river didn’t change anything, and Mr. Tamayo walked away with a cool $10 million…before taxes. As a resident of Texas he avoids state income tax; however, he does owe both federal income tax and self-employment tax. Overall, he’ll pay an estimated $3,992,302 to the IRS (just under 40% of his winnings).
The second place winner is the aforementioned Jordan Griff. Mr. Griff, a resident of Schaumburg, Illinois (suburban Chicago) and his wife are expecting their first child soon. An amateur gambler, Mr. Griff avoids self-employment tax; however, as a resident of Illinois he will be paying state income tax on his winnings. I estimate he will owe $2,210,808 to the IRS and $297,000 to Illinois (an estimated total of $2,507,808).
Niklas Astedt of Goteborg, Sweden is widely considered one of the best (if not the best) online poker player in the world. His third place finish showed he’s no slouch at live poker. The US-Sweden tax treaty exempts Mr. Astedt’s winnings from US withholding (and taxation). Sweden does not tax gambling winnings in Sweden (the companies offering poker in Sweden do pay tax, of course). It appears that Mr. Astedt’s US winnings of $4,000,000 will be subject to about 35% taxation in Sweden (or $1,400,000 lost to tax).
Jason Sagle of Sudbury, Ontario was unlucky to finish in fourth place; his pocket jacks were cracked by the Ace-three of Niklas Astedt. Mr. Sagle, a former paramedic and insurance salesman, received $3,000,000 for his finish. Canadians with gambling winnings in the United States face 30% withholding (but can file a tax return to recover part of the withholding based on gambling losses). Professional gamblers in Canada may (in the future) be facing taxation on their winnings (court cases are working their way through the Canadian judicial system on this, with decisions expected late this year). For now, Mr. Sagle gets to enjoy $2,100,000.
Finishing in fifth place for $2,500,000 was Boris Angelov of Sofia, Bulgaria. The professional gambler benefits from the US-Bulgaria tax treaty (there is no withholding on his winnings). Mr. Angelov also benefits from the Bulgarian tax regime; his gambling activity in Bulgaria is not taxed (the online and live cardrooms in Bulgaria do pay taxes). Bulgaria has a flat 10% income tax rate, so he gets to keep 90% of his winnings ($2,250,000).
Andres Gonzalez, a professional poker player from Cartagena, Spain, finished in sixth; he was another victim of Niklas Astedt. Mr. Gonzalez was unlucky when his pocket jacks lost (what poker players call) a race to Mr. Astedt’s Ace-Queen. Like Mr. Angelov and Mr. Astedt, he won’t be paying any US taxes (the US-Spain tax treaty exempts gambling winnings). However, Spain is not a low tax environment; he’s facing an estimated 47% income tax rate on his $2,000,000 of winnings (losing $940,000 to tax).
Noted high-stakes professional player Brian Kim (a regular on the Triton Series) finished in seventh place for $1,500,000. A resident of Las Vegas, Mr. Kim avoids state income tax but does have to pay self-employment tax. He’s estimated to pay 39.41% in tax (about $908,874).
Joe Serock, another professional poker player from Las Vegas, was the eighth place finisher for $1,250,000. Mr. Serock’s Ace-Jack fell to Niklas Astedt’s pcket queens. I estimate that Mr. Serock will lose just over 39% of his winnings to tax ($491,091).
Malo Latinois, a native of France but a resident of the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, was the first player knocked out at the final table of nine when his Ace-King fell to Jordan Griff’s pocket threes. France does not tax its citizens residing outside France (unlike the United States), so Mr. Latinois will only be paying US income tax. He faces an estimated tax bite of just over 39% ($391,057).
Here’s a table summarizing the tax bite:
| Amount won at Final Table |
$31,250,000 |
| Tax to IRS |
$8,576,384 |
| Tax to Skatteverekt (Sweden) |
$1,400,000 |
| Tax to Agencia Tributeria (Spain) |
$940,000 |
| Tax to Illinois Department of Revenue |
$297,000 |
| Tax to National Revenue Agency of Bulgaria |
$250,000 |
| Total Tax |
$11,463,384 |
That means 36.68% of the winnings at the final table goes toward taxes.
Here’s a second table with the winners sorted by their estimated take-home winnings:
| Winner |
Before-Tax Prize |
After-Tax Prize |
| 1. Jonathan Tamayo |
$10,000,000 |
$6,007,698 |
| 2. Jordan Griff |
$6,000,000 |
$3,492,192 |
| 3. Niklas Astedt |
$4,000,000 |
$2,600,000 |
| 5. Boris Angelov |
$2,500,000 |
$2,250,000 |
| 4. Jason Sagle |
$3,000,000 |
$2,100,000 |
| 6. Andres Gonzalez |
$2,000,000 |
$1,060,000 |
| 7. Brian Kim |
$1,500,000 |
$908,874 |
| 8. Joe Serock |
$1,250,000 |
$758,909 |
| 9. Malo Latinois |
$1,000,000 |
$608,943 |
| Totals |
$31,250,000 |
$19,786,616 |
Once again, a player ended up placing higher than his actual finish based on after-tax results. This year, Mr. Angelov of Bulgaria effectively finished in fourth place because of Bulgaria’s flat 10% income tax rate.
The Internal Revenue Service did not end up with taxes that exceeded the first place winnings; the agency will have to be content with finishing in second place (based on pre-tax prizes) with a haul of just $8,576,384. Still, you can’t say that the IRS didn’t do poorly because the house always wins.
