Daniel Sepiol Wins WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas

The 2023 World Poker Tour World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas drew a file area of three,835 entries. The large turnout for the $10,4000 no-limit maintain’em was the biggest in WPT major tour historical past however nonetheless was not fairly sufficient to fulfill the lofty $40 million assure. The huge prize pool resulted in seven-figure paydays for the highest six finishers, with the biggest chunk going to eventual champion Daniel Sepiol. The poker professional primarily based out of Indiana took residence $5,282,954 and his first WPT title for the win.

This was Sepiol’s two hundredth recorded match money, and by far his largest. To put in perspective how massive this ultimate desk was for the 29-year-old, the pay bounce from sixth to fifth place on this occasion ($376,100) was bigger than his earlier prime rating of $204,735 he earned for taking down a $2,700 buy-in occasion at this yr’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. The 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Riverside champion now has practically $6.9 million in recorded match scores to his identify.

Sepiol was awarded 3,300 Card Player Player of the Year factors for taking down this occasion. This was his third title and tenth final-table end of the yr. With 5,135 complete factors, he has shot up the standings and into twentieth place on the 2023 POY leaderboard offered by Global Poker.

Sepiol got here into the stacked ultimate desk because the second-shortest stack however managed to combat his approach up the chip counts and overtake the lead in time for a large preflop race for greater than 80 % of the chips in play. Sepiol’s pocket jacks held up towards the A-Okay of Andrew Licthenberger to offer Sepiol greater than a 4:1 chip lead going into heads-up play.

“The big turning point was the big flip versus [Lichtenberger], jacks versus ace-king,” Sepiol instructed WPT reporters after popping out on prime. “Just get luckier than everyone else. That was my strategy, yeah. Try and pick my spots and get lucky.”

This occasion ran from Dec. 12-21, with 4 beginning flights and 6 extra days of combined-field motion. Plenty of huge names earned a chunk of the $40,000,000 prize pool, together with Alex Foxen (thirty ninth), Roberto Romanello (thirty eighth), Kristen Foxen (thirty third), James Chen (thirtieth), and Ren Lin (twentieth).

The ultimate desk started with Lichtenberger nicely out in entrance and Sepiol in fifth chip place. The stacked affair included a number of of the highest gamers within the sport, with greater than $65 million in mixed earnings between the ultimate six. One of essentially the most thrilling arms from the primary few hours of play additionally featured Sepiol and Lichtenberger. Sepiol ran a multi-street bluff, finally drawing the fold with a river shove. Check out a replay of that wild hand beneath by way of a social media put up from the WPT:

DAN SEPIOL

Soon after the beginning of the #WPTWorldChampionship Final Table WynnLasVegas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WynnPoker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">WynnPoker, Dan Sepiol tangles with chip chief @luckychewy!

LIVE NOW – https://t.co/BG1jzIkdkZ pic.twitter.com/2fjoGfFIBJ

— World Poker Tour (@WPT) December 22, 2023

The first knockout at the ultimate desk noticed European Poker Tour champion and two-time bracelet winner Artur Martirosian run his pocket fives into the pocket sevens of Sepiol. The bigger pair held up and the Russian poker professional settled for $1,207,000 because the sixth-place finisher. This was the third-largest rating of his profession. It elevated his lifetime earnings to greater than $15.2 million. He was additionally awarded 1,100 POY factors for his efforts. This was his sixteenth final-table end of the yr, with two POY-qualified titles gained alongside the way in which. His 6,582 complete factors are good for tenth within the total standings.

Sepiol climbed to second in chips after scoring that knockout and shortly overtook the lead by profitable a wholesome pot with a turned straight towards the 2 pair of bracelet winner Ben Heath. The British poker professional ended up ending fifth for $1,583,100. His ultimate hand noticed him commit his stack preflop with Q-J. He was unable to beat the A-7 suited of three-time bracelet winner Georgios Sotiropoulos and was despatched to the rail with the third-largest payday of his profession. Heath now has greater than $21.5 million in recorded earnings. This was his ninth final-table end of the yr. With 4,923 complete POY factors, he climbed to twenty second place within the rankings.

Two-time bracelet winner and 2014 WPT L.A. Poker Classic major occasion champion Chris Moorman was the following to be knocked out. In a battle of the blinds, Sotiropoulos raised sufficient from the small blind to place Moorman at threat. He referred to as from the massive blind with Q and was up towards OkayQ. The AA1097 runout saved Sotiropoulos’ hand forward and Moorman was eradicated in fourth place ($2,095,300). This was the biggest rating ever for the 38-year-old British skilled. He now has greater than $9.7 million in recorded scores after this sturdy exhibiting.

LThree-handed play lasted simply 20 offers. The 102nd hand of the ultimate day was the beforehand mentioned monster coin flip between Sepiol and Lichtenerger. With blinds of 1,300,000-2,500,000 and an ante of two,500,000, Lichtenberger limped in from the small blind with AOkay. Sepiol raised to eight,500,000 from the massive blind with JJ. Lichtenberger then three-bet to 32,500,000. Sepiol went into the tank for a bit earlier than transferring all-in for 165,700,000. Lictenberger referred to as off his 142,300,000 stack to arrange the basic race. The board ran out Q97210 and Sepiol’s pocket jacks held-up to earn him the pot and the knockout.

Lichtenberger was awarded $2,798,700 because the third-place finisher. This was the biggest money but for the 36-year-old bracelet winner primarily based out of Las Vegas. The rating elevated his profession earnings to greater than $20.6 million.

Heads-up play started with Sepiol holding 310,500,000 to Sotiropoulos’ 72,600,000. The ultimate two took a fast break earlier than the cash presentation. They went on to battle for 27 arms. Sepiol was capable of prolong his result in begin, however a pair of double-ups for Sotiropoulos noticed the Greek participant shut the hole. On a break in play, the 2 got here to a deal that locked up $4,682,954 for Sepiol (who held 267,200,000 to Sotiropoulos’ 115,900,000). Sotiropoulos was assured $4,167,246. That left the title and $600,000 in remaining prize cash to play for.

Soon after play resumed, Sotiropoulos rivered journey jacks to finest the flopped pair of queens of Sepiol. His worth guess on the tip was referred to as and Sotiropoulos took down the wholesome pot to maneuver into the lead.

The penultimate hand of the match started with Sepiol min-raising to six,000,000 on the button with J2. Sotiropoulos referred to as from the massive blind with QJ and the flop got here down J92. Sotiropoulos checked his prime pair and Sepiol fired 5,000,000 with jacks and deuces. Sotiropoulos check-raised to 18,500,000 and Sepiol referred to as. The 10 flip noticed Sotiropoulos check-call a 35,000,000 guess from Sepiol. The 7 accomplished the board and Sotiropoulos moved all-in. Sepiol referred to as for 97,200,000 and confirmed his profitable two pair.

Sotiropoulos was left with simply 22 massive blinds after the hand. He raised to 7,000,000 on the following take care of OkayQ and Sepiol three-bet shoved holding Okay3. Sotiropoulos made the decision and the board got here down J8432 to offer Sepiol a pair of threes for the win.

Sotiropoulos took residence the $4,167,246 he negotiated for because the runner-up. This was his first seven-figure payday. It grew his lifetime earnings to greater than $8.4 million.

Here is a glance at the payouts and POY factors awarded at the ultimate desk:

Photo credit: WPT / Drew Amato.