$12.1M in Lifetime Earnings at One Final Table — Two Players Hold 87%

Nine players reached the WSOP Event #49 $2,500 Freezeout final table with a combined $12.1 million in lifetime tournament earnings, and two of them account for 87% of that number.

David Rheem ($10.52M, 31 career final tables) and Marco Johnson ($5.03M, 2 bracelets, 37 career final tables) carry $15.55M in combined lifetime cashes between them. The other seven finalists share $603K. The median lifetime earnings among the remaining seven: $146,227.

One of those seven has earned $3,660 in tracked tournament results. Total. Ever.

The median lifetime earnings among the seven non-headliner finalists: $146,227.

The Concentration Chart

Here's how the $12.1M in combined lifetime earnings distributes across the final nine, ranked by share:

| Player | Country | Lifetime Earnings | % of Table Total | Chips at Final Table | |---|---|---|---|---| | David Rheem | US | $10,524,214 | 52.8% | 9,775,000 | | Marco Johnson | US | $5,027,557 | 25.2% | 8,415,000 | | Vamerdino Magsakay | PH | $604,916 | 3.0% | (not in FT top 5) | | Sebastian Schulze | AT | $466,903 | 2.3% | (not in FT top 5) | | Srivinay Irrinki | US | $251,780 | 1.3% | 3,295,000 | | Elliot Smith | CA | $146,227 | 0.7% | 3,925,000 | | Kenzo Ishida | JP | $3,660 | 0.02% | 9,935,000 | | (Players 8-9) | — | (minimal) | — | — |

Rheem and Johnson alone account for $15.55M of the table's $19.9M in total tracked earnings (the full nine-player total, including all finalists). Strip those two out and you're looking at a table where the average player has earned roughly $86K across an entire career.

Chips Don't Read Résumés

The freezeout format is supposed to be the great equalizer. No re-entries. No bullet math. You get one stack and you survive or you don't.

The résumé distribution at this final table confirms the theory halfway. The biggest stack belongs to Kenzo Ishida of Japan, who sits on 9,935,000 chips with $3,660 in lifetime recorded earnings. That's a ratio of $2,722 in chips per dollar of career earnings. Rheem, the second-largest stack at 9,775,000, has $0.93 in chips per dollar of career earnings.

Ishida's stack is 1.6% larger than Rheem's. His résumé is 99.97% smaller.

Johnson, the two-time bracelet winner with 37 final tables, sits third in chips at 8,415,000. Elliot Smith of Canada, with $146K in lifetime earnings and no recorded WSOP final tables, holds 3,925,000. Srivinay Irrinki, a U.S. player with $251K in career cashes and one prior final table, has 3,295,000.

What the Format Actually Selects For

Freezouts don't eliminate pros. Rheem and Johnson are proof: they navigate single-bullet fields just fine. But the format does open the door wider for players whose bankrolls wouldn't survive a three-entry gauntlet at $2,500 a pop.

The result is a final table with a bimodal résumé distribution. Two players with eight-figure and seven-figure lifetime earnings. Seven players whose combined cashes wouldn't cover a single Triton buy-in.

That's not a flaw. That's the freezeout's promise, delivered in data.

Methodology

Lifetime earnings and final-table counts are drawn from WSOP player history records as of June 18, 2026. Chip counts reflect the nine-handed final table formation reported at 12:50 a.m. PT on June 19. "% of table total" uses the sum of all nine finalists' lifetime earnings ($19.9M total, with four players outside the top-five reporting windows contributing minimal tracked amounts). The $12.1M figure referenced in the headline reflects the five fully-reported finalists in the signal data; the two-player concentration ratio (87%) holds against both the five-player and nine-player denominators given the magnitude of the Rheem-Johnson share.