WPT Report:
Dan Sepiol claims his spot in the World Poker Tour® Champions Club and wins a grand prize of $5,282,954 by conquering the 2023 WPT® World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
“The big turning point was the big flip versus Chewy, jacks versus ace-king,” said Sepiol following his victory. “Just get luckier than everyone else. That was my strategy, yeah. Try and pick my spots and get lucky.”
The $10,400 buy-in tournament was enriched with an ambitious $40 million guarantee. When registration closed, the field stood at 3,835 entries, leaving a $2,417,000 overlay. The sum was added to the prize pool to complete the $40 million promise and a cash was ultimately awarded to the top 480 finishers.
“The sincere hope for year two of the WPT World Championship was to improve upon the success of last year. With the help of player feedback, we feel that together we have met our goal,” said Adam Pliska, WPT CEO. “Thank you to all the players, qualifiers, fans, dealers, and Wynn staff. On behalf of WPT, I want to congratulate Dan on his incredible achievement and new place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.”
Each player at the final table walked away with a seven-figure payday. Georgios Sotiropoulos finished as the runner-up, earning $4,167,246 after making a deal with Sepiol during heads-up action, Andrew Lichtenberger placed third for $2,798,700, WPT Champion Chris Moorman placed fourth for $2,095,300, Ben Heath placed fifth for $1,583,100, and Artur Martirosian placed sixth for $1,207,000.
Many notable names participated in the second annual WPT World Championship and secured a cash, such as Kristen Foxen (33rd place) and two-time WPT Champion Alex Foxen (39th place), TV personality Princess Love (40th place), WPT Ambassador Brad Owen (88th place), former World Series of Poker Main Event Champions Joe Cada (108th place) and Hossein Ensan (144th place), WPT Champion Chance Kornuth (137th place), 2022 WPT World Championship Champion Eliot Hudon (186th place), and WPT Anchor Lynn Gilmartin (454th place), to name a few.
With the significant increase in field size, the WPT World Championship set the WPT record for most entries in a Championship event along with the largest prize pool in WPT history at $40 million. The final table was filmed for television at Wynn Las Vegas and will air in 2024 on Bally Sports.
The 2023 Championship tour kicks off in January with the WPT Cambodia festival at NagaWorld Integrated Resort from Jan. 17-30.
