After a much shorter than anticipated final day of the $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Georgia’s Daniel Weinman walked away $12,100,000 richer after claiming the title of World poker champion.
The 35-year-old’s victory in the record-breaking Main Event, which drew 10,043 players for a prize pool $93,399,900, was nothing short of spectacular as he was two cards away from falling on Day 8 before hitting a two-outer in what will go down as one of the most pivotal suck-outs in poker history.
It took just 164 hands at the final table for Weinman to secure the victory, marking this year’s Main Event the shortest final table in recent memory. Day 10 was the quickest so far after the elimination of Adam Walton in third place for $4,000,000 and a brief heads-up battle between Weinman and Steven Jones, a real estate investor from Arizona whose poker hobby now brings him $6,500,000.
2023 WSOP Main Event Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Weinman | United States | $12,100,000 | |
| 2 | Steven Jones | United States | $6,500,000 | |
| 3 | Adam Walton | United States | $4,000,000 | |
| 4 | Jan-Peter Jachtmann | Germany | $3,000,000 | |
| 5 | Ruslan Prydryk | Ukraine | $2,400,000 | |
| 6 | Dean Hutchison | Scotland | $1,850,000 | |
| 7 | Toby Lewis | England | $1,425,000 | |
| 8 | Juan Maceiras | Spain | $1,125,000 | |
| 9 | Daniel Holzner | Italy | $900,000 |
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Early Walton Exit Before a Quick Heads-Up Battle
Day 10 was shaping up to be a long one as the three remaining players returned with an average of a hundred big blinds. Despite the deep stacks, the trio wasted no time exchanging chips. In one of the first hands of the day, Jones opened with ace-queen before calling a three-bet from Walton with ace-king. Walton continued on the jack-high flop and Jones opted to raise before a three-bet jam brought a snap-fold from the real estate investor.
It wouldn’t be the last time Walton found himself all in in the first hour of Day 10. In just the second hand after returning from break, Walton flatted in the small blind with eights before facing a squeeze from Weinman. After a fold from Jones, Walton opted to back-jam his stack of more than 80 big blinds, only to be met by a snap from a lucky opponent holding pocket rockets.
Weinman notably got to the final table by cracking the aces of Joshua Payne, but Walton wasn’t as fortunate. Despite flopping a few backdoor draws and turning a gutter, the Las Vegas local and Day 8 chip leader couldn’t improve to fall in third for $4,000,000 after a tumultuous final two days of play.
After an intermission where several briefcases filled with $100,000 bricks of cash, escorted in by a Hitman lookalike wielding a shotgun, were ungraciously dumped on the feature table before being stacked into a neat pyramid valued at $12,100,000, heads-up play commenced with Weinman having a formidable chip lead with over 200 big blinds still in play.
The remaining two players played a bit of small ball over the next level before a deep-stacked collision. In a single-raised pot, Jones continued on the jack-high flop before calling a check-raise from Weinman. Weinman continued on the turn and Jones went in the tank for over four minutes before shipping it to put Weinman to the test. Weinman called before revealing king-jack to be a massive favorite against the inferior jack-eight of his opponent.
With a swarm of black shirts cheering him on, Weinman braced intensely as he awaited the consequential river card. An ace bricked off and Weinman’s rail erupted as their guy earned a meaningful place in poker history.
That wraps up PokerNews’ coverage of the record-breaking Main Event at the 2023 WSOP. Be sure to check out the live reporting hub for coverage of other bracelet events.