2023 WSOP Day 49: Daniel Weinman Wins 2023 WSOP Main Event ($12,100,000)

It has been an amazing seven weeks with records set left and right at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. But all good things must sadly come to an end with just one more day to go.

However, the biggest news from the WSOP will be Daniel Weinman earning poker immortality on Monday after winning the largest-ever WSOP Main Event top prize of $12.1 million after defeating fellow American Steven Jones heads-up.

Meanwhile, Alexander Reard won his second WSOP bracelet on Monday while Kang Hyun Lee won his first. Two other players won coveted bracelets in online events at WSOP.com for players residing in Nevada and New Jersey. Read more about what went down on the penultimate day of the 2023 WSOP:

Daniel Weinman Wins Record-Breaking Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship

It is rare that the top three players on the leaderboard to start a final table all finish an event on the podium. This is exactly what happened during the marathon 10-day Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship before Daniel Weinman became a household name by shipping the event for a record $12.1 million.

Walton’s rail was a who’s who in poker, including multiple bracelet winners Josh Arieh, Jason Mercier, and Shaun Deeb with Phil Hellmuth dropping by as well.

“The Boom happened and I kind of had a think inkling that I would play poker and give it a shot for a few years,” Weinman said about his poker career after winning the Main Event according to the WSOP. “And here we are 16 years later … You just kind of feel like, maybe it’s my time.”

Weinman was the only player among the final three that previously won a bracelet after shipping the 2022 WSOP Event #30: $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-handed last year for $255,359. The American hero normally sticks around for the entire WSOP summer camp but he has felt burnt out in the past by the time the long Main Event comes around. This year, he went home before the Main Event to be with his girlfriend and nearly never came back. We can only assume he is more than thrilled that he decided to return for the Main Event.

“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,” said Weinman. “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.”

Weinman Cruises Through a Quick Final Day

Adam Walton began the final table with a substantial chip lead followed by Steven Jones and Daniel Weinman. During yesterday’s WSOP recap, we shared how these three players advanced to the final day.

The final table was the quickest in recent history taking just 164 hands from start to finish. The final day was even faster, taking Weinman under three hours to eliminate both opponents. The final three locked up a whopping $4 million before the final day began with plenty more on the line with a $6 million runner-up prize and the $12.1 million top prize up for grabs. The money wasn’t the only aspect as the WSOP Main Event winner becomes an instant celebrity which comes with plenty of other money-making opportunities.

All three players came in closely grouped together with Jones kicking off the action with a 119 big blind stack followed by Weinman with 100 big blinds and Walton with 83 big blinds. This makes the pace of play even more of a surprise with players this deep to kick off the action. Weinman snagged the lead by winning a handful of smaller pots before the first break and never looked back.

Stacks were still closely bunched together when fireworks erupted with blinds at 1,250,000/2,500,000 with a 2,500,000 big blind ante. The action started simply enough with Jones opening the button for 6,000,000 with queen-six suited. Adam Walton called with pocket eights from the small blind before Weinman three-bet to 27 million with pocket rockets from the big blind. Jones folded before Walton made a move he is likely still thinking about when he jammed for 209,500,000 for 84 big blinds. Weinman quickly made the easy call and Walton hit the showers in third place after he was unable to improve from his snowmen to crack Weinman’s rockets.

The monster pot gave Weinman a nearly 3:1 chip advantage to start heads-up play against Jones. Jones hung around for a couple of dozen hands before hitting the rail on a small heads-up cooler.

Jones opened the button for 7,000,000 with jack-eight and was called by Weinman with king-jack from the big blind. Both players flopped top pair on the jack-five-deuce flop with Weinman ahead with the better kicker. Weinman check-raised from 6,000,000 to 18,500,000 and Jones called.

A blank four on the turn didn’t resolve Jones’ kicker problems and things quickly went from bad to worse. Weinman fired out for 38,000,000. Jones jammed over the top for 146,000,000. Weinman called less than 30 seconds later and shipped the 2023 WSOP Main Event after an ace completed the board on the river.

Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship

The 10-day Event #76: $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold’em World Championship set a new record not only for this event but grew into the largest poker tournament in history with 10,043 entries creating a mind-blowing $93,399,900 prize pool. The top 1,507 were scheduled to go home with at least a $15,000 min-cash but three players went out on the bubble and were awarded $10,000 each. Check out the final table results below for the historic 2023 WSOP Main Event:

Alexander Reard Wins Event #90: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship ($1,057,663)

The WSOP Main Event wasn’t the only player to award huge money on Monday as Alexander Reard earned his second WSOP gold bracelet after winning Event #90: $10,000 6-Handed Hold’em Championship for a whopping seven-figure prize of $1,057,663. The active French rail provided tons of encouragement but Reard also felt a little pressure about delivering a good result.

“I did feel some pressure coming into the day because I knew that in France everyone was expecting me to be at least in the top two,” Reard said according to the WSOP after his victory. “I wasn’t that worried. I changed my strategy and had to adapt.” 

Four players with impressive poker resumes returned for the fourth and final day with $306,355 locked up. Reard kicked off the action with a massive chip lead with more than half the chips in play but things didn’t go smooth in the beginning as he doubled up AJ Kelsall before Justin Liberto briefly snagged the lead.

Reard quickly bounced back to regain the chip lead and never looked back. Meanwhile, Liberto quickly went from hero to zero. Things could have turned out much differently if Liberto’s tens were able to hold against Reard’s ace-ten. But that wasn’t meant to be after an ace spiked the turn to extend Reard’s lead and send Liberto to the rail in fourth place.

Stephen Chidwick then ousted Kelsall in a three-way hand with his eights holding against Kelsall’s ace-deuce suited and Reard’s ace-four suited.

Reard began heads-up play with nearly triple the stack of Chidwick. Chidwick wasn’t able to get much going and was eliminated just one player shy of his second WSOP bracelet after getting it in on the turn with top pair holding eight-trey only to be drawing dead to Reard’s straight with four-trey suited on a eight-five-deuce-six on the board.

Event #90: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table Results

The four-day Event #90: $10,000 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em Championship attracted a banner field of 550 entries to create a $5,155,000 prize pool. The top 83 players banked at least a $16,088 min-cash with 2022 WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad becoming the first player to hit the rail in the money. Check out the final table payouts below:

Kang Hyun Lee Wins Event #92: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout

Another day could have been easily added to Event #92: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout with a marathon taking place on the second and final day. A first-time bracelet winner was guaranteed by the 10-player final table rolled around despite a list of impressive names including the likes of Kane Kalas, Eric Mizrachi, Asher Conniff, Quoc Le, and Vanessa Cade.

“It feels amazing!” Lee said according to the WSOP after his victory. “Just being a poker enthusiast my whole life, to finally get the most coveted award in the game, it just feels surreal.”

Only Kalas was ahead of Lee to commence the final table action. Lee quickly gained the lead after his king-queen suited was more than enough to eliminate Le with a dominated queen-ten in 10^th place.

Ivan Millian then went on a tear to take the lead and eliminated two players to take the lead with two premium hands. His cowboys were good against tens to eliminate Edler Cruz in ninth place before his rockets were more than fine against king-ten to oust Kade in eighth place.

Ricardo Nakamura then lost his short stack to Abdul Almagableh before Millian was back at it again with his sevens holding against sixes to eliminate Conniff in sixth place.

Millian had the lead for several blind levels before Almagableh doubled through Millian on a flip with his ace-jack winning against sevens to become the table captain. Millian managed to take the lead back later before delivering a bad beat to Kalas to eliminate him in fifth place when his ace-jack won against ace-king.

Lee snagged the chip lead for a second time and this time it was for good. He won a key flip with eights against ace-nine to end the impressive run of Almagableh in fourth place.

The eventual winner then ousted a short-stacked Millian when his queen-ten improved to top pair against big slick.

Lee had more than quadruple the chips of Mizrachi to commence the heads-up action. Unlike the rest of the final day, the heads-up battle was quick and only lasted five hands. Mizrachi jammed his final five big blinds with eight-five and was dominated by king-five after Lee called. No magic came and Lee denied Mizrachi to join his brothers as WSOP bracelet champions en route to winning his maiden bracelet.

Event #92: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout Final Table Results

The two-day Event #92: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout attracted 1,710 unique players to create a $1,521,900 prize pool. The top 257 players were awarded at least a $1,603 min-cash with the final table payouts listed below.

Ongoing Events

The originally scheduled three-day Event #91: $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. added a fourth day with just two players remaining out of the field of 331 entries that generate a $886,440 prize pool. Both Ryan Miller and Leonard August locked up the runner-up prize of $128,835 and will be battling it out for the bracelet and the $208,460 top prize. Miller will begin with more than double the stack of August when the action resumes on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Just five players remain in the three-day Event #93: $10,000 Short Deck Championship from the original field of 84 hopefuls that created a $895,300 prize pool. Martin Nielsen leads the way in the hunt for his first bracelet with Eric Wasserman, Hong Wei Yu, Day 1 chip leader Ivan Ermin, and five-time WSOP champ and Poker Hall of Fame member John Juanda all still in the mix when the action plays down to a winner starting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, two-time WSOP champion and American poker baller David Peters leads the way in the two-day Event #94: $5,000 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em among the 60 Day 1 survivors from the 813 entries to get into the action. This event as well is scheduled to crown a champion on Tuesday with the action kicking off at 12 p.m.

July 17 WSOP Schedule

Tuesday, July 17 is the final day of the 2023 World Series of Poker. Several ongoing events will award their bracelets with one last chance saloon for players to win a bracelet beginning at 10 a.m. with plenty of action to be had in the one-day Event #95: $1,000 Super Turbo No-Limit Hold’em.

Below is a look at today’s schedule while head to the PokerPro opening WSOP article to check out the full schedule of the 2023 World Series of Poker.

Images and hand details courtesy of WSOP/PokerNews.