The two-week marathon called the WSOP Main Event came to an end tonight. Out of a record 10,043 players, ten demanding days of play made sure that at the end of it all, only one name goes down in history - Daniel Weinman.
The express final was greatly helped by Adam Walton, who missed Weinman's sqeeuze, which cost him his tournament life. With blinds 1m/2.5m, Weinman decided with A A to 3-bet for 27m to Jones' open with Q 6 for 6m and Walton's call with pair 8 8 . Jones backed out of the game, but Walton poured a 209m stack (84bb) into the game without hesitation! Of course, the snap-call followed and after that the biggest pot of the entire tournament:
While Adam Walton went to the cashier after that game for $4,000,000, the tournament was getting ready to start heads-up, which Weinman went into with a 443,000,000 advantage to Jones' 159,500,000 stack. Even though Jones' stack still stood at 64bb, it only took 24 hands to recognize the champion of the biggest WSOP Main Event ever.
In the last hand, Jones opened to 7m with a J 8 combination, which Weinman called with K J . The flop brought J 5 2 , where Weinman check-raised from 6m to 18.5m. The call followed, but the turn 4 brought Weinman's 38m bet. Jones tanked for several minutes, after which he declared all-in for 146m. It took Weinman less than 30 seconds to announce the call, which brought everyone to their feet.
The traditional ace on the river in the form of an A definitely ended not only this hand, but also the entire record-breaking two-week marathon. Runner-up Steven Jones didn't go home empty handed, he took home a record $6,500,000 for his lifetime performance (albeit with a bitter aftertaste). You can enjoy the emotions immediately after this game in the following video:
Weinman's success has the flavor of a fairy tale, especially when you consider the miracle that has happened to him in the last 14 players. After an unfortunate spot in which he ran into not only to Q Q but also to K K with his pocket jacks, he was already one foot out when his chance of survival was only 8%. "Every player has a story about their one-time, but I haven't experienced mine yet. I think it's great that I saved him for a moment like this.''
Weinman is no newcomer to poker, he already has 16 years of experience, during which he won $3,757,357 in live tournaments, including one WSOP bracelet from the $1,000 PLO event in 2022, or two WPT - Seminole Tournament of Champions titles for $381,500 and Borgata Poker Open for $892,433. But all of that will be forever overshadowed by his record-breaking win in the tournament of all tournaments, which earned him $12,100,000.
“This is my 15th or 16th WSOP, I come here every year and play the whole festival. Usually, by the time it's time for the Main Event, I'm already totally burnt out, but it was the same this year. After about two weeks, I told my friend Sarah that I wasn't feeling well, and she called me back home. So I went, I went back to normal, but then Shaun Deeb stepped in and convinced me to come back. I defended myself by saying that I had only gotten into ITM once in 15 years and that I would most likely still lose $10,000 and go home. But in the end, luckily, I let myself be talked out of it (laughs)."
Despite the global fame and huge financial bonus, Weinman is not flying high and has even announced that he is going to return to his job at RF Poker, where they deal with RFID poker tables. "I am a very happy person! But I don't think my life will change much. I'm going to go back to my normal life, I'm going to work next week, but maybe I'll play a little more golf, I'll travel a little more, but my life will be the same as before. Just with a few extra dollars in the bank.”
Source: WSOP, PokerNews, WPT, Twitter, CardPlayer
