Daniel Weinman wins 2023 WSOP Main Event for $12.1 million
The World Series of Poker has a new Main Event champion after Atlanta’s Daniel Weinman topped a record field of 10,043 players to claim the title and US$12.1 million in prize money.
A 35-year-old poker pro from Atlanta is on top of the poker world. Daniel Weinman won $12.1 million, the biggest prize in World Series of Poker (WSOP) history, and his second bracelet. Weinman outlasted a record-breaking field of 10,043 entrants who generated a massive $94 million prize pool for the Horseshoe Las Vegas tournament.
The World Series of Poker has a new Main Event champion after Atlanta’s Daniel Weinman topped a record field of 10,043 players to claim the title and US$12.1 million in prize money.
Coming into the final day’s play sitting second in chips of the three remaining players, the 35-year-old wasted no time cementing his place in the history books, sending Adam Walton to the rail after a huge pre-flop clash holding AA against Walton’s 88, then taking just 24 hands to put an end to heads-up play against overnight chip leader Steven Jones.
Weinman beat Steven Jones, a 35-year-old real estate broker from Scottsdale, Ariz., in a battle of top pair (J-J-8) vs. top pair with a better kicker (J-J-K). When the ace of hearts hit the river, Weinman turned to his ecstatic rail to celebrate.
Jones still won $6.5 million, his first cash in a $10K event, and an extraordinary showing for an amateur player.
Weinman said in an interview with PokerNews shortly after his victory: “I’ve always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible. And to win this Main Event, it doesn’t feel real. I mean, (there’s) so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well, but so many hands that (I got) incredibly lucky for the situations to arise.”
“Final tables can go so many different ways. You need some cards to get chips, there were a lot of good players left with a lot more tournament experience than me. But when we got down to three, I did feel like I was the best player of the three. And a couple good hands at the right time; it all came together.”
His Main Event victory in the 54th year of the WSOP eclipses the record held by Jamie Gold, who outlasted the previous highest field of 8,733 starters back in 2006.
With a price of US$10,000 for each entry, the 10,043 players to take part in the 2023 WSOP Main Event paid a combined US$100.4 million paid in entry and registration fees, creating a US$93.4 million prize pool withheld some US$7 million for fees and staff costs.
The WSOP was first held at Binion’s Horseshoe in 1970 when owner Benny Binion invited seven of the world’s best poker players to compete in a series of cash games, with the winner decided by vote.
Since then, the WSOP has grown into the largest and most prestigious poker series on the planet with the 2023 WSOP featuring 95 separate bracelet events – highlighted by the Main Event itself.
This year represents the second year the WSOP has been held at Las Vegas Strip property Horseshoe Las Vegas, formerly known as Bally’s.
2023 WSOP Main Event Final Table Results
Place – Player – Country – Prize
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
