Daniel Weinman wins the 2023 WSOP Main for a record $12.1 million prize
The afternoon of Monday, July 17, 2023 saw a new poker champion crowned as Daniel Weinman from Atlanta, Georgia outlasted all his competition to become the winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Along with ultimate bragging rights and the coveted gold bracelet, Weinman took a prize of $12.1 million.
The tournament was the largest WSOP Main Event to date and was co-hosted by Paris and Horseshoe (formerly Bally’s) casinos in Las Vegas, just as the Main Event was last year. There were 10,043 participants who paid enough buy-ins to create a prize pool of $93,399,900. Both numbers surpassed the records set in 2006, when 8,773 players registered for the Main Event, which had a prize pool of $82,512,162.
Action from the last day
Heading into the Horseshoe Events Center for the 10th and final day of the tournament, the field was whittled down to just three. Daniel Weinman had about 100 big blinds in his stack, putting him between Stephen Jones’ 119 and Adam Walton’s 83. Curiously, all three remaining contenders are from the United States, so whoever wins will be the first time an American has won the WSOP Main Event since John Sinn did it in 2018.
Weinman was able to increase his stack to more than any of his opponents through aggressive play. Then a fateful hand occurred after about two hours of play that saw Daniel Weinman’s A♥ A♦ face Adam Walton 8♠ 8♣ all-in before the flop. The 7♣ 5♥ 3♣ 9♠ K♣ the board didn’t call either player and Weinman’s aces prevailed, giving him a nearly 3:1 chip advantage in heads-up play against Steven Jones.
Heads-up game
The one-on-one showdown at the WSOP Main Event didn’t last too long this time. After some inconclusive scrimmages that lasted about an hour and saw little movement in the chip stack, the final hand took place.
Jones opened from the button and Weinman called. After checking, Jones c-bet to J♠ 5♠ 2♦ flopped and Daniel check-raised. Steven called.
It’s your turn 4♣, and Daniel continued his aggression from the previous street by leading. Jones thought for a few minutes before raising the rest of his stack. Weinman called and the hands were revealed:
Stephen Jones: J♣ 8♦
Daniel Weinman: K♣ J♦
Both held top pair, but Daniel had the better kicker. The river was irrelevant A♥and Daniel Weinman became the 2023 Poker Champion.
Although Weinman booked the event’s biggest prize with $12.1 million, everyone at the final table walked away with at least $900,000:
- Daniel Weinman (US): $12,100,000
- Stephen Jones (US): $6,500,000
- Adam Walton (US): $4,000,000
- Jan-Peter Jachyman (Germany): $3,000,000
- Ruslan Pridrik (Ukraine): $2,400,000
- Dean Hutchison (UK): $1,850,000
- Toby Lewis (UK): $1,420,000
- Yaun Maceiras Lapido (Spain): $1,125,000
- Daniel Holtzner (Italy): $900,000
Not Daniel Weinman’s first rodeo
Weinman, 35, is no stranger to live tournaments. His first cashing in a WSOP event dates back to 2010, though Daniel said he’s been grinding the streak longer than that, since around 2007.
Despite notching 79 World Series of Poker tournament cashes – including international and circuit events – before 2023, Daniel wasn’t satisfied with his performance. It should be noted that much of his previous success has come in low-priced tournaments, and he’s only actually cashed in one Main Event before that for a relatively modest $44,200. “Honestly, I wasn’t even ready to come back and play in this tournament,” he remarked after Monday’s victory.
When he’s not arranging fools, Daniel works as a coderHowever, there were obvious signs (perhaps only in retrospect) that Daniel was working towards greater fame in recent years. In 2015, he picked up his first WSOP Circuit ring for winning the Harrah’s Cherokee $1,675 Main Event, good for $280,260. In 2017, he won two prestigious World Poker Tour festivals, winning both the Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 Main Event and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $15,000 Tournament of Champions: worth $892,433 and $381,500 respectively. Then last year, Weinman secured his first WSOP bracelet in a $1,000 PLO event, taking home $255,359.
Daniel’s win on Monday brings his WSOP bracelet count to 2 and his total live tournament earnings to $15,857,357. On the all-time Georgia money list, Daniel is now tied for second place between Kari Katz ($38.6 million) and Josh Arie ($12.2 million).
Reactions
When the last card was dealt and Daniel’s rail erupted in celebration, the passers-by included not only the usual friends and family from home, but also several poker pros. After all, Weinman had attended the WSOP for 16 straight years, and he naturally made new friends over the years. Josh Arie and Sean Deeb were among the crowd ready to congratulate him.
Speaking about his win, Daniel Weinman said:
Final tables can play out in many different ways. You need a few cards to get chips, there are a lot of good players left with a lot more tournament experience than me. But when we got down to three, I felt like I was the best player out of the three. And a few good hands at the right time; everything came together.
WSOP CEO Ty Stewart opined press release:
Today will hold a special place in the history of live tournament poker. After 17 years, we’ve decided the winner of the biggest Main Event in WSOP history. Watching Daniel’s emphatic victory over 10,043 participants was nothing short of spectacular.
2023 WSOP Information
2022 was the first year the World Series of Poker was held at its current venues Paris Casino and Horseshoe Casino after moving from the Rio Casino, which had hosted the Series for more than a decade and a half. The new venues have proved popular with punters, prompting organizers to do everything possible to make the 2023 festival one to remember.
Horseshoe Casino (adjacent to Casino Paris)For the first time this year, the WSOP held a Global Qualifying Weekend on May 20 and 21 in 15 card rooms around the world, including Horseshoe Las Vegas and Turning Stone in New York. These participating card rooms held $140 satellites that resulted in a $1,175 mega that gave at least one guaranteed seat to the WSOP Main Event along with travel expenses. In addition, more than 700 seats were awarded online through GGPoker and WSOP.com.
Both promotions likely contributed to Main Event attendance exceeding all previous iterations. As this record was broken by 10,043 recorded entries, a special raffle was held among all Main Event entrants. Canadian Jason Clarke has won a Seat for Life, which consists of free entry to the WSOP ME until 2053.
Some of the other records set at this year’s premier poker event were:
- Phil Hellmuth increased his record from 16 bracelets to 17 by winning Event #72: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty
- The total prize pool across all live bracelet tournaments in the series was $402,808,892, breaking last year’s record of $347,941,800
- Mike Holtz has won 25 bracelet events, ahead of Daniel Negreanu and Chris Ferguson, who each cashed in 23 times in a single streak
- 36 people won a prize of over $1 million, setting a streak record
Play online to practice for the big game
Although there is no online poker tournament cash at the World Series of Poker Main Event, there are still many reputable places on the internet where you can win real money in poker tournaments. Even as you rack up the online winnings, you’ll be training for the day you take your seat at the WSOP. Some offshore poker sites even host satellites to major live events, so you can win your way to the Main Event without having to put up the entire $10,000 yourself.
To learn more about your online poker playing options, check out this guide to US online poker. It is perfectly legal to participate in these sites and you can learn more about this topic from this page dedicated to the legality of online poker in the United States.