Dan Sepiol Wins 2023 WPT World Championship for $5,282,954

Dan Sepiol has won the 2023 WPT World Championship after defeating a field of 3,835 entrants. The American banked $5,282,954 after agreeing an ICM chop with Georgios Sotiropoulos from Greece.

The event took ten days to complete and saw the vast majority of the poker tournament elite arriving to battle for the winner’s share of the massive $40 million guarantee at the Wynn Resort.

When the WPT announced the high-stakes record-breaking guarantee, many of us weren’t sure if they stood any chance of making up the numbers. As it was, they fell slightly short giving the players an overlay of more than $1 million to juice up the value on offer.

It was Andrew Lichtenberger who comfortably led the way when the final table was set. Sepiol was struggling and could do no more than wait for his chances.

Legendary player Chris Moorman was also still in the running and no doubt a guy that the other players would rather not have to deal with.

Russia’s Artur Martirosian was the first to leave, closely followed by Ben Heath from England.

Then it all went wrong for Moorman when he called off his remaining 16 big blinds with QJ only for Georgios Sotiropoulos to flip over KQ on a board that neither player hit.

Lichtenberger was still the man to beat when three-handed play kicked off, but Sepiol had steadily caught him up almost.

And then Sepiol’s big moment arrived, which ended up being the biggest pot of the tournament.

Lichtenberger, holding AK, limped-raised Sepiol with jacks and the money all went in blind versus blind.

No help came for AK and we were straight into heads-up play with Sepiol holding a 4-1 chip lead.

Sotiropoulos was unable to bridge the gap for some time, but he still made an interesting fight over it.

But then a couple of timely double-ups made it a real battle once again before Sepiol started to rebuild.

The players then agreed an ICM chop for the money, playing on only for the trophy and bragging rights.

Sepiol sealed the deal when both players got all in pre-flop hold kings but a three on the river gave the American two pair and a fabulous victory.

Speaking to the WPT reporters afterwards, Sepiol said:

“The big turning point was the big flip versus Lichtenberger, jacks versus ace-king. Just get luckier than everyone else. That was my strategy, yeah. Try and pick my spots and get lucky.”

WPT World Championship Final Table Results