2023 WSOP Main Event Makes History with Largest Field Ever and Weinman as Highest-Paid World Champion

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on July 18th, 2023

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They did it. The World Series of Poker hosted its largest Main Event in 54 years of the series. The 2023 WSOP Main Event surpassed the record by more than 1,200 players. And the 10,043-player field translated into a prize pool of $94M. And as the 2023 WSOP’s 95 live events winds down at Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas, one part of the Horseshoe’s convention area witnessed the historic Main Event reach its conclusion. Daniel Weinman of the United States – Georgia to be more specific – won the largest WSOP World Championship in history for a stunning gold bracelet to perch atop stacks of money that equal $12.1M. The 35-year-old won the most coveted poker title in the world on the game’s biggest stage on Monday, July 17. “It doesn’t feel real,” Weinman told reporters after his victory. Oh, but it is most certainly real.

Largest Main Event Ever

The World Series of Poker wanted to do it. After coming close to breaking the 2006 record last year, WSOP executives implemented a plan to increase participation this year, mostly via satellites at live casinos around the world. It worked. The Main Event Maynia promotion offered live satellites in May to secure prize packages for many players, and online satellites thrived. In fact, the WSOP’s online poker partner, GGPoker, held so many qualifiers in its Road to Vegas promotion that it awarded 774 seats to the Main Event. The WSOP was ready for big numbers and found them.   The field finally played down enough to join together on Day 3 on Sunday, July 9, with a rather sizeable group of 3,538 starters turning into just 1,518 by night’s end. Day 4 began close to the money bubble, as only 1,507 players would be paid the $15K min-cash. It took only 30 minutes to reach official hand-for-hand play at the 1,510-player mark. It took more than an hour to burst, and it did when three players busted at different tables. Normally, the actual bubble player wins a $10K seat into the next year’s WSOP Main Event. As three players busted at once, they all split a min-cash (for $10K each) and flipped a coin for the 2024 seat. Day 5 started with 441 players and reduced that number to 149, Day 6 thinned the field to just 49 competitors, and Day 7 wound it down to just 15 of them. Day 8 found the final table of nine.

Nine Paths to the Final Table

The final nine players worked hard for their seats at the final table. None of them had easy journeys. It wasn’t until the end of Day 4 that any of them (Juan Maceiras) finished in the top 10. None of them were even in the top 30 at the end of Day 5. As the chart shows, Maceiras and Dan Weinman started Day 7 with top 10 stacks, but Holzner entered that day with the third-lowest stack. Even at the start of Day 8, Weinman, Holzner, and Dean Hutchison were at the low end of the leaderboard.   The final nine then took these chip counts to the final table:   https://twitter.com/PokerNews/status/1680380052071145473?s=20

And…Action!

The goal was to play down to three finalists…or a reasonable time of night. Play started with action from the start, with Jachtmann taking some chips and Lewis showing a willingness to get into the mix. By the 11^th hand of the night, Holzner was ready to risk his stack with A-K, but Jachtmann called with A-K, and they chopped. Walton and Jachtmann controlled the first few rounds of play. The latter continued to pursue Holzner’s chips, while Jones took some from Maceiras. Weinman climbed the leaderboard quietly, but Holzner doubled through Weinman to stay alive. Maceiras took a few from Jachtmann. On the 43^rd hand of the night, Holzner shoved again, this time with A-J. Jones called with pocket tens, and the board of Q-Q-3-2-4 sent Holzner home with a ninth-place finish. Just two hands later, Maceiras made his move with K-9, and Lewis called with A-T. The dealer showed A-J-2-4-K, and Maceiras accepted eighth-place money. https://twitter.com/pokerorg/status/1680758904895205376?s=20 Hutchison and Lewis were the shortest stacks, followed closely by Prydryk. And by the 52^nd hand of the evening, Lewis was ready to see what he could do with K-J. Jones looked him up with pocket tens, but nothing on the 7-3-A-A-2 board changed anything. Lewis departed the table in seventh place. Jones was atop the leaderboard and climbing, though Weinman was moving in as play allowed. On the 84^th hand, Hutchison took his stand with pocket fives, but it just so happened that Jachtmann had pocket sevens. The J-9-2-A-4 board let the sevens stand and knocked out Hutchison in sixth place. https://twitter.com/pokerorg/status/1680770472177467392?s=20 Two hands later, Prydryk doubled through Jones to keep his dream alive, and he took a few extra chips from Jachtmann just for kicks. Prydryk became more active, but the other stacks weren’t having any bullying from the short stack. When Prydryk finally fell to just 24M chips, he pushed all-in with Q-T. Weinman had A-J, though, and the board was dramatic with it’s a-J-2-Q-8 but only really improved Weinman’s hand. Prydryk accepted fifth-place money for his finish. As Jones and Weinman ruled the table, Jachtmann began to lose ground. On the 116^th hand of the night, he pushed his chips all-in with K-Q, but Walton woke up with pocket aces. The board produced no help, leaving Jachtmann out in fourth place. https://twitter.com/pokerorg/status/1680799270759170049?s=20 https://twitter.com/PokerNews/status/1680848032315895808?s=20

Three, Two, One

The final three started with these chip counts:   Weinman started this final day by taking chips from Walton, and Jones did the same. Walton climbed back to near his starting stack as Weinman took over the top spot and Jones fell to third. Little more than 20 hands into the day, though, Walton and Weinman got involved with the former all in holding eights and Weinman insta-calling with aces. The board of 7-5-3-9-K left Walton out in third place. https://twitter.com/PokerNews/status/1681064668851499008?s=20 Heads-up started with Weinman holding 443M chips and Jones trailing with 159.5M. Jones started strong and climbed over 200M but couldn’t maintain any momentum. The two went back and forth for 23 hands before it happened. The two saw a flop of J-5-2 with two spades. Jones raised again, and Weinman check-called to see the inconsequential 4 on the turn. Weinman bet, and Jones thought for several minutes before pushing all-in. Weinman called quickly and showed K-J for top pair, prompting Jones to show his J-8 with the same pair but worse kicker. The ace of hearts on the river ended the tournament.   Weinman spent time receiving hugs (and beer on his head) from his friends and family on the rail. https://twitter.com/PokerNews/status/1681115248873582592?s=20 The emotional world champion then accepted the massive gold bracelet from 2006 WSOP champion Jamie Gold and posed for photos with the jewelry and cash that had been piled on the table. Smiles all around closed out the 2023 WSOP Main Event with a new world champion. https://twitter.com/WSOP/status/1681083643362709506?s=20