Two Majors, One December: WSOP Paradise v WPT World Championship

December is usually the quiet cooldown in the poker calendar, but 2025 didn’t get the memo. Instead, WSOP Paradise and the WPT World Championship will run almost side-by-side, producing a month-long test of brand power, prize pools, and how many passports the average poker pro actually keeps at home. 

One series leans on the prestige of gold bracelets; the other counters with the scale and spectacle Las Vegas handles so casually.

Players now have a December dilemma: beaches or neon.

Hosted in the Bahamas, WSOP Paradise positioned itself as the winter extension of the summer series. Their bracelet schedule draws a healthy mix of traveling pros and qualifiers, especially with online satellites feeding players into high-value mains for months now. 

Las Vegas, meanwhile, keeps the WPT World Championship right where it thrives, in a city built for large-field tournaments and even larger logistics. The buy-in spectrum is wide, the festival is packed with side events, and the WPT leans heavily on its ability to create a “series within a series” atmosphere.

If WSOP Paradise is the glamorous winter getaway, the WPT World Championship is the dependable blockbuster release.