More Than $7.56 Million Awarded As Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto Hosts The Largest International WSOP® Circuit Main Event Of The Season
Thornhill Restaurant Worker Takes Home Top Prize
Pengxiang Ruan, a restaurant worker from Thornhill, Ontario took home $510,245 in the Main Event
Photo Credit: Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto
TORONTO, ON (April 29, 2025) – Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto once again played host to the World Series of Poker® (WSOP) Circuit Event in partnership with GGPoker and this year’s event shattered expectations, setting new records across the board. Great Canadian Toronto is the only destination in Ontario for hosting World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments including prestigious ring and bracelet events.
Running from April 10-22, 2025, the event saw 8,203 total entries across 11 WSOP Circuit Ring Events, marking a 35.9% increase from 2024. The total prize pool soared to an astonishing $7.56 million, up 35.4% year-over-year, as 3,150 unique players brought energy and excitement to Toronto’s premier casino resort. 11 WSOP rings were awarded at the event.
This year, Great Canadian Rewards members had exclusive access to purchase tickets online – a new offering for 2025 – resulting in 2,123 entries registered through the online platform. Last year, online registration was not available.
A highlight of the series was the prestigious $2,000 Main Event, which drew an incredible 2,139 entries and generated a record-setting $3.74 million prize pool, up from $2.8 million last year. With 413 Main Event online qualifiers from GGPoker (another sharp increase from 2024) the buzz around this year’s WSOP Circuit was palpable.
In a storybook moment, Pengxiang Ruan, a Great Canadian Rewards member and restaurant worker from Thornhill, Ontario captured the Main Event title and a life-changing $510,245 first-place prize. A passionate poker player for 10 years, Ruan plans to use his winnings to fulfill a lifelong dream of opening his own restaurant.
“This event proves once again that Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto is the home for world-class poker in Canada,” said Michael Kim, Executive Vice President, Great Canadian Entertainment. “The record-breaking turnout, amazing competition, and incredible stories like Pengxiang Ruan’s are exactly what make the WSOP Circuit such a special experience. We are proud to exclusively bring the magic of the WSOP to Toronto and look forward to building on this incredible momentum.”
The various tournament events included the $3,500 High Roller Event which attracted 291 entries and built a prize pool of $906,465, and the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em drew a total of 847 entries, with a prize pool of $719,950. New events this year included the Ladies, Seniors, and Mystery Bounty, generating prize pools of $59,280, $172,800, and $585,420, respectively.
Great Canadian Rewards members enjoy exclusive perks, enhancing their loyalty experience at Toronto’s premier entertainment destination, and across all Great Canadian properties in Ontario. Great Canadian Rewards membership is free. To learn more please visit the Great Canadian Rewards website.
For more information about upcoming poker events please visit our website or follow us on X.
About Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto
Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto, adjacent to Woodbine Racetrack, is Canada’s newest and largest casino resort and one of the largest in North America. The destination is home to 328,000 square feet of gaming space featuring an extensive range of options, including 4,800 slot machines, 175 live table games, VIP rooms, dedicated poker room, and sports betting kiosks. Whether you’re a seasoned player or Vegas-style entertainment seeker, Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto offers an exhilarating atmosphere that caters to all preferences.
The landmark resort, situated on an impressive 33 acres is redefining entertainment in Toronto. Seamlessly integrated is a luxurious 400-room hotel, featuring well-appointed rooms and suites across 11 floors. The hotel also offers a fully equipped wellness centre featuring an indoor pool, sauna, steam room and contemporary fitness equipment. Entertainment fans have a home at the property’s state-of-the-art 5,000-person entertainment venue, providing a versatile destination for live music, comedy, sports and special events. Through an exclusive booking partnership with Live Nation, The Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto features world-class artists to amplify the guest experience.
Consistent with Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto’s commitment to responsible gambling, the property also features two PlaySmart Centres on the gaming floor, filled with engaging interactive tools and valuable responsible gambling resources available for all players, including information on how to participate in OLG’s voluntary My PlayBreak program if they choose to take a break from gambling.
About Great Canadian Entertainment
Founded in 1982, Great Canadian Entertainment is Canada’s leading gaming and hospitality company, with a robust portfolio comprising 23 distinct gaming, entertainment, and hospitality properties located in Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. With over one million square feet of gaming space, over 18,000 slot machines, and 600 live table games, as well as more than 60 restaurants catering to more than 20 million gaming visitors annually, Great Canadian Entertainment is renowned for providing the ultimate entertainment experiences. The company proudly boasts Canada’s newest and largest casino resort, Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto.
Committed to investing in and offering opportunity to those in the communities in which it operates, Great Canadian supports hundreds of charitable and non-profit organizations across Canada under its PROUD program; “PROUD of our people, our business, our community”. A significant portion of gross gaming revenue from Great Canadian’s gaming facilities is retained by Crown partners on behalf of their provincial governments for the purpose of supporting programs that benefit healthcare, education, and social services in Canada. To learn more, please visit greatcanadian.com or follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn
About GGPoker
GGPoker is the World’s Biggest Poker Room, with a global player base. It offers a range of innovative games and features such as the patented Rush & Cash poker, All-In or Fold, Flip & Go, Spin & Gold, Mystery Battle Royale, GGCare & GGCheers, integrated staking platform, SnapCam video messaging, PokerCraft, and Smart HUD, all designed to enhance gaming experiences and make poker more fun than ever. In 2020, GGPoker hosted the world record-breaking WSOP Online main event and in 2022 became the world’s largest online poker room. GGPoker sent over 1,000 players to WSOP Paradise at the Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas in 2023, while more than 1,100 GGPoker players took their seats in the WSOP 2024 Main Event, which smashed attendance records for the second year running. GGPoker was named Poker Operator of the Year at the EGR Operator Awards 2024.Find out more about GGPoker at GGPoker.com and on Facebook, X and Reddit.
About the World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker® is the largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event and poker brand in the world, having awarded more than $4 billion in prize money over the past six decades. Featuring a comprehensive slate of tournaments in every major poker variation, the WSOP is poker’s longest-running tournament dating back to 1970. In 2024, the flagship event in Las Vegas attracted 229,553 entrants and awarded more than $438 million in prize money – both all-time records for the series. The WSOP portfolio of events includes approximately 40 WSOP Circuit Events annually across five continents, WSOP Europe (since 2007), WSOP Paradise (since 2023) and the record-breaking WSOP Online festival. International satellites to WSOP live events are hosted exclusively at GGPoker, the World’s Biggest Poker Room. For more information, please visit www.wsop.com.
