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Daniel Weinman bested 10,043 players to win the largest World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in the 54 years of the tournament. Weinman outlasted a record number of players over 10 days at Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas to take home a record first-place prize of $12.1 million.
His take was a small portion of the largest ever live poker prize pool of $93,399,900. Winner of the 2006 WSOP Main Event Jamie Gold was on hand to present Weinman with the highly coveted WSOP Main Event bracelet. Gold won the WSOP over a then-record 8,773 players in 2006.
World Series of Poker Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Ty Stewart said:
“Today will hold a special place in the history of live tournament poker. After 17 years, we have named the winner of the largest Main Event in the history of the WSOP. To watch Daniel’s emphatic victory over the 10,043 entrants was nothing short of spectacular.
It will be an honor to raise his banner next year and display his picture in the new Gallery of Champions Exhibit at the Horseshoe. This year’s WSOP broke records left and right and we are excited to keep the momentum rolling to WSOP Europe in the fall and WSOP Paradise this winter.”
A come-from-behind win
Weinman didn’t start the final day of the WSOP in the chip lead. Steven Jones was the leader of the tournament to start the last day of the Main Event with a chip count of 238,000,000.
Weinman knocked out third-place finisher Adam Walton with pocket aces. He and Jones played 23 hands heads-up to decide the winner of the 2023 WSOP Main Event.
He and Jones both turned over a pair of jacks on the final hand. Weinman out-kicked Jones with a King and is taking home the WSOP Main Event Championship.
The 35-year-old Weinman is the first American WSOP Main Event champion since 2018.
Jones takes home $6.5 million for a second-place finish. Walton walks away with $4 million for finishing in third place.
All but one player from the final table at the WSOP this year is walking away with a prize greater than $1 million. The ninth-place finisher, Daniel Holzner, won $900,000 for his efforts.
After the victory, Weinman told reporters he was on the fence about returning to WSOP. He also said: “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.”
When asked about his plans for the more than $12 million he won at WSOP, Weinman told reporters that he’s cautious with spending money and will probably invest the winnings.
WSOP Paradise is coming this winter
Organizers announced the launch of WSOP Paradise as soon as Weinman was crowned as the champion of the Main Event. WSOP’s new winter series will take place from December 3-14, 2023, at Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Stewart says WSOP is looking forward to the new Winter event:
“We have the strongest online partner in the world, and they are set to send a record number of qualifiers to a live tournament.
Atlantis also has a great legacy in poker, and we believe this combination of partners can deliver poker’s most powerful new franchise for years to come. Many players say summer in Vegas is the best time of year. We hope that will only be rivaled by winter in paradise.”
WSOP Paradise will feature 15 bracelet events with $50 million in guaranteed prize pools. The $5,000 WSOP Paradise Main Event will have a guaranteed $15 million total prize pool.
There are also events for high rollers at WSOP Paradise. WSOP Paradise will feature a gigantic $100,000 event with $5 million guaranteed.
A $50,000 event will have a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million. Additionally, two Pot Limit Omaha events will have seven-figure in guaranteed prizes.
The biggest event will be a signature $25,000 GGMillion$ event. This will have a massive $10 million total prize pool guarantee.
WSOP will announce the full schedule of events later this year.
