Koray Aldemir is a German poker player. He won the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $8,000,000 and has amassed over $20 million in lifetime earnings.

Biography

Aldemir discovered poker in 2006 before playing online. He eventually moved to Vienna and picked up his first recorded cash in 2012. He spent most of the 2010s traveling around Europe to play, while also visiting the WSOP in Las Vegas.

The best result of his early career was a 16th place finish in the 2015 EPT Malta Main event for €35,800, but the following year he would smash that with the first six-figure cash of his career. He finished second in Event #33: $1,500 No Limit Hold'em Summer Solstice for $252,805 before notching his first-ever seven-figure score of $2,154,265, finishing third in Event #67: $111,111 No Limit Hold'em High Roller for One Drop.

Aldemir would continue to travel and play, winning a Triton Poker Main Event title in the Philippines for $1.29 million, and narrowly missing out on the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event title, finishing third.

Now a regular on the High Roller scene, Aldemir would cash at the 2018 Poker Masters and the 2019 US Poker Open, winning Event #9: $50K NLH for $738,000.

Aldemir had already cashed eight times at the 2021 WSOP before he made the final table and had a comfortable run to make the final nine players. He entered the final table as the chip leader and remained as such for most of the action, eventually defeating George Holmes heads-up to be crowned world champion.

In 2022, Aldemir made another deep run in the Main Event in his quest for the first title defense since Johnny Chan in '87 and '88. He made it to Day 5 as of the time of writing.

WSOP Main Event Winners 2012-21