Texas poker player Winston Djonli has turned a breakout stretch into a full-blown career surge. After entering late 2025 with just over $72,000 in recorded live earnings, Djonli has rocketed to $453,479 following a series of deep runs capped by a win in the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event.
Djonli’s heater began quietly in November 2025, when he finished 13th in a $1,200 Trailblazer Poker Tour event at Texas Card House for $7,060 — then his largest score. Momentum quickly followed. The following month, he cashed the prestigious $10,000 WPT World Championship in Las Vegas for $25,000 before closing that same festival with a runner-up finish in a $3,000 buy-in event worth $115,682.
That run set the stage for his biggest moment yet: a victory in the $1,700 WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event, where Djonli claimed $232,680 and his first Circuit ring.
Breakthrough at Choctaw
The WSOP Circuit stop at Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma featured 18 ring events and attracted hundreds of players, awarding more than $2 million in total prize money.
The series culminated with the Main Event, which ran January 8–9 and drew a massive 922-entry field. The turnout pushed the prize pool past the $1 million guarantee to approximately $1.2 million, setting up a high-stakes finale.
Djonli navigated the field and defeated Matthew Barnett in heads-up play to seal the win. The final table was stacked with experience, including Venkat Nagabha, Chris Vickrey, and Kenneth Lemer, all of whom earned five-figure payouts.
A Strong Showing Across the Series
The Choctaw stop opened with William Hesser capturing Event #1: $500 Monster Stack No-Limit Hold’em for $41,310 and concluded with Srinivasa Vadlamudi winning Event #18: $400 No-Limit Hold’em for $20,530.
Outside of the Main Event, Jason Royman posted the largest non-championship score of the series, taking down Event #13: $500 No-Limit Hold’em for $38,800. Other ring winners included Gregg Merkow, Eric Bunch, and Cammie Allen, who prevailed in the $250 Ladies Event that also featured content creator Ashley Frank at the final table.
A New Chapter for Djonli
With a WSOP Circuit title now on his résumé and nearly $400,000 added to his earnings in just two months, Winston Djonli has firmly established himself as a player to watch. What began as a promising late-2025 upswing has evolved into a defining breakthrough, and if his current form is any indication, this may be just the beginning of a much bigger run.
