$25K WSOP Fantasy Draft Results

The much-anticipated $25K Fantasy Draft for the 2025 WSOP was held on Tuesday, as the teams are now set for the battles this summer.

The draft was held amidst much fanfare, with representatives from several poker media outlets present to document the selections. There were a total of 24 teams, each selecting eight players.

The 24-team field is the largest ever, surpassing the 2024 field, which had only 19 teams, and the 2023 field, with 20 teams. This will create the largest prize pool in $25K fantasy history, totaling $600,000.

Each player selected had a dollar value based on their perceived value and was chosen in a set order, one by one, with teams rotating picks, much like drafts in various sports. The draft loaded up the teams with players who are now ready for action to come on the 2025 WSOP schedule.

Team Negreanu

As always, Daniel Negreanu was one of the most prominent participants in the $ 25,000 fantasy draft, as his team garnered a lot of attention. He made the unconventional choice of selecting himself as the first option.

After that, his team ended up being an interesting mix, featuring old-school names such as Mike Matusow and Erick Lindgren, who had recently achieved a seven-figure result on a Hustler Casino Live satellite. He also made the under-the-radar selection of WSOPC wildcard Nick Palma, who expressed his gratitude and excitement.

I got drafted by @RealKidPoker in 25k fantasy. That’s pretty cool to me to be honest only 192 players got selected and there are many greats. Will be cool to have a lil cameo or 2 in the vlog although he’s always nice to me and puts me in sometimes already. Head down all summer🫡

— NICKY P 🧙 (@Nick_Palma1010) May 28, 2025

Other Selections

The first pick of the draft was Jeremy Ausmus, selected by “Team DPMD”, a choice that makes a lot of sense considering Ausmus is often in the discussion for WSOP Player of the Year due to his prowess in various types of poker games, with Omaha poker being his particular specialty.

Players with skills in multiple forms of poker were highly prioritized in the draft, as evidenced by some of the other top picks, such as the second pick, which was the reigning 2024 WSOP Player of the Year, Scott Seiver, who can play every variant of poker out there. The same goes for Brazilian superstar Yuri Dzivielevski, who was the third overall pick.

But mixed game skills were not the only things valued by the team drafters. No-Limit Hold’em crushers were also picked highly, such as arguably the hottest player in the world right now, Jesse Lonis, who is coming off several wins in the last month. He was selected sixth overall by “Team Girl Dads”.

The complete list of teams for 2025 is now ready to go and as expected there is much debate over whose team will reign supreme in 2025.

Key Omission?

While most of the players that were expected to be drafted were among the 192 players taken overall, there was one well-known player who made some noise about not being selected in the draft. Allen Kessler was undrafted for only the second time in the history of the event. A surprise, considering Kessler’s propensity to make pile-up min-cashes and his mixed game skills.

Most shocking undrafted player? Has to be @AllenKessler – undrafted for the 2nd time in history of #25KFantasy pic.twitter.com/03sQ8yWW5t

— 25kfantasy (@25kfantasy) May 28, 2025

New Rules For 2025

There are a couple of new rules for the 2025 version of the $25K fantasy competition.

1. Events with a buy-in of $1,500 and less will have the field size bonus capped at 9 tables (81 players) and the field size bonus is capped at 100 points.
2. A bracelet is now worth a 25 point bonus, no multiplier applied, just a straight 25 points extra.

The full rules for 25K fantasy will determine which teams get the most points. Players must cash in an event to earn points, with point multipliers determined by the size of the buy-ins. The website will provide up to date results so those interested can track the progress daily as the 2025 WSOP goes on.