The first payday has been awarded for the 2023 seven-number poker tournament. Ben Wong defeated a field of 1,142 entries in the return championship The $5,300 No Limit Hold’em event takes place on January 8 at The Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ. The Philadelphia native earned a high payday of $1,000,000 for the victory.
With this landmark victory under his belt, Weng has now racked up over $2.9 million in recorded tournament results. This race also saw Wong awarded 1,920 card player Player of the Year points. As a result, he has taken the lead early in 2023 POY sponsored race Global Poker.
This event included two trip starts and three more days of work. The first kickoff saw 562 entries, with a further 580 on Day 1B. Strong turnout saw the $3 million guarantee easily exceeded, with $5,538,700 in prize money ultimately being paid out among the top 110 finishers.
Big names included World Series of Poker Bracelet winner Joey Weissman (85th place), bracelet winner Mike Jokic (52nd place), bracelet winner Jesse Lunis (48th place), bracelet winner and others WPT World Championship The finalists include Frank Funaro (46th), three-time bracelet winner Dan Zak (44th) and Mukul Bahuga (14th).
The final day started with eight players remaining and 2015 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe McKean is in the lead and Wing is in the middle of the pack. An early coin flop saw Weng’s AQ outperform an eight-pocket in recent times. return Mystery Event Prize Winner Sam Laskowitz (8th place – $144,006). Wong found himself in a similar situation shortly thereafter, as AQ manipulated Christopher Ng’s pocket breakout (7th – $193,855). Weng fumbled an ace and caught it from there to narrow the field to six.
McKeehen added some distance between himself and Weng when his pocket handles were clipped to Lanny Vaysman’s pocket scores. McKeehen ended up with full jacks to send Vaysman packing in sixth place ($246,472).
Two-time bracelet-winning Justin Saliba’s run in the event ended in fifth when AQ ran into McKean’s aces. Saliba earned $304,629, the second highest score of his career. He now has over $2.5 million in recorded earnings.
Wong added to his stack in a key way when he failed in a pair with a 6-4 suit against a pair of Jonathan Bornstein’s Pocket Kings. The chips fell and Borenstein couldn’t improve, earning $368,324 as the fourth-place finisher.
The Preflop master currency dramatically changed the leaderboard early in the action-three. Weng raised the button and then all four bets fumbled on McKeehen’s small three blind bet with an AK. McKeehen contacted Jj. A board is sold outa974 Weng made trips to win the bowl and take the lead.
McCain’s pile took another pile when he cracked his pocket kings with Sundiata Devore’s pocket plugs. He quickly found himself up and running with AJ leading A-5 in Devore, but five on the river sent the three-time bracelet winner home with $440,327 for a third-place finish.
With that said, the head-to-head game started with Weng leading and Devore not too far behind. At halftime, the final two struck a deal that redistributed the remaining prize money, with the runner-up taking $926,128 and $1,000,000 going to the champion.
The final hand saw Wong lift the button and call upon Devore’s three bet push. Weng A. heldKwhich had Devore’s As take over. Download the board74a3 To lock up the pot and surname Weng. Devore got the payout he negotiated as the runner-up, which was by far the biggest payday to date on his tournament resume.
Here is a look at payments and POY Points awarded at the final table:
Place | player | earnings | POY points |
1 | Ben Wong | $1,000,000 | 1920 |
2 | Sundiata Devore | $926,128 | 1600 |
3 | Joe McCain | $440,327 | 1280 |
4 | Jonathan Bornstein | $368,324 | 960 |
5 | Justin Saliba | $304,629 | 800 |
6 | Lanny Weissman | $246,472 | 640 |
7 | Christopher Ng | $193,855 | 480 |
8 | Sam Laskowitz | $144,006 | 320 |
Winner photo credit: Pokernews / Rachel Kay Miller.