And then there were three… Steven Jones, Daniel Weinman, Adam Walton to battle for the 2023 WSOP Main Event title; Jason Clarke wins 30 years free Main Event entry

After two weeks of intense poker action that brought together a monumental 10,043 players, the 2023 WSOP Main Event is now down to just three players – Steven Jones, Daniel Weinman, and Adam Walton. Coming Monday, July 17, one player will lock up the ultimate title, the championship gold bracelet, and the $12.1 Million first prize.

The 54th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) $10,000 No Limit Hold’em World Championship shattered all previous records, attracting an astounding field of 10,043 players and amassing a monstrous prize pool of $93,399,900. To commemorate the historic moment, the WSOP held a Main Event for Life draw that awarded one lucky player a free entry to the Main Event for the next 30 years. That lucky player was Canadian player Jason Clarke.

In an interview with WSOP, Clarke shared,

“I missed the phone call call and then I had a text message from Jack Effel so I called him back. He let me know the news. At first I was a little skeptical, I thought it might have been a friend pulling a prank, but it was true, I feel blessed. I am excited for the opportunity.”

After the awarding, 2022 WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad delivered the customary speech and famous words,

“Congrats to the final 9. Just making it to the final 9 of this big big tournament is a big accomplishment. You should all be proud of that…. enjoy this experience, embrace the moment. For most of us it is going to be a once in a lifetime experience so be present, enjoy it, good luck, have fun, shuffle up and deal!”

Main Event – Day 10 rundown

With that, the Main Event race resumed. The final 9 players were each guaranteed a minimum payout of $900,000. You can watch the blow by blow action via pokerGO. We also have a rundown of the players as they fell.

9th place: Italian farmer Daniel Holzner was gifted his WSOP Main Event ticket by friends and family for his 30th birthday. One of his toughest challenges was entering Day 7 with just 8 bb. At the final table, Holzner’s aces were outdrawn by Jan-Peter Jachtmann’s pocket tens to drop in chips and eventually bow out in 9th place. He earned a career high payout of $900,000.

Holzner
Steven Jones
Board

8th place: Spaniard Juan Maceiras entered the final table with 57 bb, lost over half with top pair against Steven Jones’ set. His attempts to recover led to his demise in 8th place. Maceiras earned a career high seven figure payout of $1,125,000.

Maceiras
Toby Lewis
Board

7th place: UK’s Toby Lewis was the most decorated player at the final table with easily over $8.2 Million in live tournament earnings. He also had four prior WSOP Main Event cashes however entered as the shortest stack with just 17 bb. Despite chipping up and eliminating Maceiras he finished in 7th place for a career high payout of $1,425,000.

Lewis
Jones
Board

6th place: Dean UK’s Dean Hutchison earned his first WSOP Main Event cash and a career high score of $1,850,000 for 6th place. His strong run began in Day 3, closing the heat in the top 9% of the field. At the final table, Hutchison was unable to gain momentum to fall to Jachtmann.

Hutchison
Jachtmann
Board

5th place: The lone Ukrainian at the table, Ruslan Prydryk, engaged in numerous pots that sent his stack swinging, especially at five-handed. He was stopped in 5th place to earn his first ever WSOP Main Event payout which was a career high payout of $2,400,000.

4th place: Germany’s lone representative / PLO player Jan-Peter Jachtmann rarely plays No Limit Hold’em but it did not show with his strong persona at the final table. However, he had to settle for 4th place after attempting to steal the pot but ran into Adam Walton’s aces.

Jachtman
Adam Walton
Board

Final 3 players

Steven Jones – USA – 238,000,000 – 119 bb
Adam Walton – USA – 165,500,000 – 83 bb
Daniel Weinman – USA – 199,000,000 – 100 bb

Race to the title begins at 1:30pm at Horseshoe Las Vegas

Main Event details

Buy in: $10,000
Players: 10,043
Prize pool: $93,399,900
ITM: 1,507

*All photos by pokerGO