We will know who the newest World Series of Poker Main Event champion is later tonight or, if it goes like some final days have gone, tomorrow morning. Just three players – Steven Jones, Daniel Weinman, and Adam Walton – remain, battling it out for astronomical prize money.
It’s anyone’s bracelet at this point. Jones leads with 238 million chips, but both Weinman and Walton are well within striking distance with 199 million and 165.5 million chips, respectively. The “short” stack still has 83 big blinds, so everyone is quite deep.
All three players are from the United States, meaning that the WSOP Main Event will have its first American winner since John Cynn was fitted for the gaudy bracelet in 2018.
The money jumps are just disgusting at this point, so it will be interesting to see if the players go all-out for the title or if anyone hesitates with a big decision at any point because of the gap between second and third. Third place pays $4 million, which is obviously wonderful, but being able to hold out to second place gains a player and additional $2.5 million. First prize is $12.1 million, the largest ever for the WSOP Main Event.
Adam Walton was the prohibitive big stack going into the nine-handed final table Sunday, holding 143.8 million chips, with the closest competitor (Steven Jones) starting with 90.3 million. Speaking with the media afterward, he said he wasn’t frustrated to have barely grown his stack.
“Obviously, I was wishing for something better. But like, this is obviously, like such a fun time. Everybody’s here.”
Daniel Weinman (shout out to Atlanta) said he was thrilled with how things went and that he ran really well.
“Don’t really think I did anything too special. Just played really solid poker, made a few hands at the right time and looking forward to a battle tomorrow.”
Jones is clearly feeling great, as one would who scores multiple eliminations at the final table and goes into the final day of the Main Event with the chip lead.
“It feels amazing,” Jones said in his end-of-day interview. “Everything came into plan as I wanted to do it today. Worked out really well, picked up some big hands at some key spots.”
The decisive day of the 2023 WSOP Main Event will begin at 1:00pm PT. Those who want to watch the action will need to subscribe to PokerGO, which will be on a one-hour delay. Play will go until the champion is determined.
2023 World Series of Poker Main Event – Final Table Results
- TBD
- TBD
- TBD
- Jan-Peter Jachtmann – $3,000,000
- Ruslan Prydryk – $2,400,000
- Dean Hutchison – $1,850,000
- Toby Lewis – $1,425,000
- Juan Maceiras – $1,125,000
- Daniel Holzner – $900,000
Image credit: PokerGO.com