Adam Walton Leads The Final Table of the Largest World Series of Poker Main Event Ever Held

The final table has been set in the largest World Series of Poker main event ever held.

The 2023 WSOP $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship drew a record field of 10,043 entries, blowing away the previous top turnout of 8,773 set back in 2006 to create a $93,399,900 prize pool. Now, just nine players remain with a shot at the championship bracelet and the record top prize of $12,100,000.

It took just over five hours to narrow the 15 players that returned to the Horseshoe Las Vegas Events Center down to the official final table. Those still in contention have all locked up at least $900,000 by making it to this point, and are just one elimination away from the seven-figure payouts. A full listing of the remaining prize money can be found at the bottom of the page.

When the dust settled, it was Adam Walton sitting atop the chip counts with 143,800,000, good for just shy of 24 percent of the total chips in play.

“I just obviously feel extremely fortunate like that luck just happened to land on me for something like this. It’s kind of a surreal moment. Nobody ever thinks this is gonna happen to them, and here I am. So yeah, it hasn’t really sunk in, to be honest.

The 40-year-old professional poker player from Seattle, Washington primarily plays cash games but has gotten more into tournaments during the blossoming post-pandemic boom on the live circuit. Walton has more than $951,000 in prior tournament earnings, including a 42nd-place finish in this event just two years ago.

“I massively punted deep… or I don’t know if it was a massive punt, but it wasn’t a good play to go out and it was really frustrating and I did the exact same thing again this year, except I doubled. So, I guess the lesson of the story is: get there,” said Walton on making a second deep run in the world’s biggest poker tournament.

The second-largest stack at the end of the night belonged to 35-year-old Phoenix, AZ real estate broker Steven Jones (90,300,000). Hot on his heels is two-time World Poker Tour champion and WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Weinman with 81,700,000. The 35-year-old poker pro won the wildest hand of the day, coming from behind in a three-way all-in clash to surge up the chip counts.

Joshua Payne raised from early position with KK and Jose Aguilera three-bet with QQ from the button. Weinman looked down at JJ and four-bet shoved for just over 36 big blinds. Both players called and the flop came down A74. Payne had 83 percent equity after that flop, but the J on the turn shot Weinman from third place into a commanding lead in the hand. The 3 on the river changed nothing and Weinman knocked out Payne in 14th place ($430,200).

Check out a replay of the hand via a Twitter post by PokerGO, the exclusive live-streaming provider of the WSOP.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!

There might be a new contender for most ridiculous hand this @WSOP. pic.twitter.com/AqW94VvaZs

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 14, 2023

“As soon as Josh went with his hand, I knew I was dead there, but at least I had him covered. But as soon as Aguilera called, I know my hand is completely dead. And it’s like, ‘Alright, you know, it was a fun run. It’s over now,’ and then… everyone talks about their one time and I’ve never really used my one time, so I kind of internally had a little feeling that something might happen there,” said Weinman when asked about the hand.

Weinman has more than $3.7 million in tournament earnings heading into this final table, and could more than double his lifetime total by making it to the top three.

German bracelet winner Jan-Peter Jachtmann sits in fourth place with 74,600,000. The 55-year-old marketing CEO and serious poker player has more than $1.2 million in prior cashes, including the $661,000 he earned for taking down the 2012 WSOP $10,000 pot-limit Omaha championship.

Juan Maceiras came into the day as the chip leader, and spent much of the early action on top of the counts before losing a sizable pot midway through the day to Walton when he went for an ace-high hero call on a paired board only to have Walton reveal A-K for top pair with a king kicker to go along with the pair of sevens among the community cards. The 39-year-old Spanish poker pro ended up in fifth chip position by the end of day 8, with 68,000,000 to play with when the final table resumes.

50-year-old Ruslan Prydryk sits in sixth chip position with 50,700,000. The Ukrainian poker pro’s top score, prior to this deep run, was a fifth-place showing in the 2009 European Poker Tour Warsaw main event for $104,637.

Scotland’s Dean Hutchison ended with 41,700,000. The 36-year-old Glasgow resident has nearly $687,000 in live tournament earnings to his name already, including a win in a UKIPT Edinburgh £1,100 event for $154,935.

Italy’s Daniel Holzner is the youngest player still in contention at 31. He was the clear short stack when ten-handed play began, but managed a crucial double up through Walton early to get out of the danger zone. He ended with 31,900,000.

Rounding out the final table is the most accomplished tournament player still in contention: Toby Lewis. The 33-year-old British poker pro has more than $8.4 million in lifetime earnings, including wins in the 2010 EPT Vilamoura and the 2018 Aussie Millions main event. He is the only player remaining with a seven-figure score to their name, a feat he accomplished twice. He earned $1,235,204 as the third-place finisher in the 2021 Wynn Millions $10,000 buy-in championship, and another $1,156,205 for his big win down under half a decade ago.

Day 8 came to a conclusion with the elimination of Jose Aguilera in 10th place ($700,000). The hand began with Jachtmann opening to just over a min-raise with A8 from early position. Aguilera three-bet to 6,700,000 out of the hijack with AJ, leaving himself just 2,500,000 behind. Jachtmann made the call and the flop came down 654 and Jachtmann bet enough to put his opponent all-in. Aguilera made the call and was ahead, but the 7 on the turn gave Jachtmann an eight-high straight. The 2 on the end confirmed Aguilera’s elimination, setting the official final table.

In addition to Aguilera and Payne, Jack O’Neill (15th – $430,200), Sachin Joshi (13th – $535,000), Cong Pham (12th – $535,000), and Alec Torelli (11th – $700,000) were eliminated during playdown.

The final nine will return at 2:00 PM local time on Sunday, July 16. The plan will be to play down to the final four that evening, with the winner to be determined on Monday, July 17. Blinds will resume at 600,000/1,200,000 with a big blind ante of 1,200,000 for the duration of level 38.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the final table:

Remaining payouts up for grabs in the 2023 WSOP main event:

Visit the Card Player 2023 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.

Final nine photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.